Pennsylvania Act 1887-18 — TIME STANDARD ESTABLISHED

Act text

AN ACT

For the establishment of a uniform standard of time throughout the Commonwealth.

Section 1. Be it enacted, &c., That (a) on and after the first day of July, Anno Domini one thousand eight hundred and eighty-seven, the mean solar time of the seventy-fifth meridian of longitude west of Greenwich, commonly called eastern standard time, shall be the sole and uniform legal standard of time throughout this Commonwealth; and on and after the date aforesaid all days shall everywhere be taken to begin and end in accordance with said standard; and every mention of, or reference to, any hour or time in any and all existing future acts of Assembly, municipal ordinances, and corporate bylaws, in any and all existing or future rules or regulations adopted by any public officer or official board, in any and all rules of the courts of the Commonwealth or any of them, whether standing or special, and whether now in force or hereafter to be promulgated, in any and all orders, judgments and decrees of said courts or any of them, and judgments and sentences of magistrates pronounced or entered on or after the date aforesaid, in any and all contracts, deeds, wills, and notices, and in the transaction of all matters of business, public, legal, commercial, or otherwise,--shall be construed with reference to, and in accordance with, the said standard hereby adopted, unless a different standard is therein expressly provided for: Provided, however, That this act shall not operate to impose upon any person any forfeiture of rights, or subject him to the consequences of any default, by reason of any failure, occurring prior to the date aforesaid, to comply with the requirement of, or do any act under or in pursuance of any law, ordinance, contract, notice, deed, will, regulation, rule, order, judgment, sentence, or decree, if such person shall, before the said date, have properly done the act or acts which would be requisite to save such forfeiture or prevent such default had this law not been enacted: And provided, further, That when the standard time shall be advanced, for any portion of the year, by any act of Congress, now in force or hereafter passed, the time so fixed by such act of Congress shall be the standard time of this Commonwealth for such portion of the year: And provided, That no county, city, borough, town, township, or other municipal subdivision of the Commonwealth shall, by ordinance, resolution, or rule, adopt a different standard of time for any year, or any portion of the year, than that herein provided; and all ordinances, resolutions and rules heretofore adopted, contrary to this proviso, are declared to be void and of no effect.

(b) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (a), the standard of time in this State, between 2 o'clock antemeridian on the last Sunday in April and 2 o'clock antemeridian on the last Sunday in October of each year, shall be one hour in advance of that prescribed above, commonly known as daylight saving time. (1887, April 13, P.L. 21, Sec. 1; amended 1965, Aug. 26, P.L. 379, Sec. 1)