Bucks County
Bucks County, with the county seat Doylestown, was one of the three original counties in the state of Pennsylvania. William Penn named the county in 1682 after Buckinghamshire, England, the county where he lived and from where his family originated. Bucks is the abbreviation for Buckinghamshire, and Englanders use both names. Penn’s home, Pennsbury Manor, is located within Bucks County, PA.
In December 1776, Bucks County set the stage for Gen. George Washington and his troops during their preparations to cross the Delaware and storm Trenton, New Jersey on Christmas Day. Their attack took the Hessian army by surprise and marked a major turning point in the Revolutionary War. The town of Washington Crossing, Pennsylvania and Washington Crossing Historic Park are named in honor of President Washington and to memorialize the event.
Bucks County, originally much larger than it is today, is now comprised of approximately 608 square miles of land and 15.8 square miles of water. Just about 620,000 people reside within 23 boroughs and 31 townships in the county. As of the 2000 census, it was listed as the 76th wealthiest county in the nation when measured by median family income.
The following official county symbols were dedicated 28 years ago by third to ninth graders in 13 school districts throughout Bucks County:
* County Flower: Violet
* County Bird: Cardinal
* County Mammal: Cotton Tail Rabbit
* County Tree: Dogwood
* County Fish: Catfish
* County Rock: Diabase
Pennsylvania lawyers practicing law in Bucks County specialize in various niches of the law, including areas like bankruptcy law, employment law, personal injury law, immigration, family law, medical malpractice law, workers compensation law, and even criminal law. Criminal law involves, logically enough, crimes committed by one party against another and are broken up into two subsets: felonies and misdemeanors. Felonies are larger offenses that typically result in harsher punishments. Misdemeanors are smaller offenses that yield sentences that are not quite as harsh. It is recommended that defendants retain one of the many experienced Pennsylvania lawyers practicing criminal law to represent them no matter which type of crime they have been accused of committing.
One common area of law for which Pennsylvania residents of Bucks County often need the assistance of a good Pennsylvania lawyer is that of employment law. Under Pennsylvania law, employment is presumed to be “at will.” Under at-will employment, either employees or employers may end the employment relationship for any reason, so long as it is not illegal. Contract employees, on the other hand, can usually only be terminated for reasons specified in their employment contract. In order to overcome the presumption of at-will employment guided by Pennsylvania law, employees must demonstrate some set of circumstances and facts that created some tenure of employment. It is difficult to overcome that presumption under Pennsylvania law and many view it as an up-hill battle.
Both federal and Pennsylvania laws require that most employers provide a workplace free of recognized hazards that cause or are likely to cause death or serious physical harm to employees. In most jurisdictions, employees can lodge anonymous complaints to a state or federal agency if they feel their company provides a hazardous or unsafe work environment, free from the threat of employer reprisals.
Pennsylvania law provides for four types of incorporated municipalities: cities, boroughs, townships, and, rarer cases, towns. Below are listed the cities, boroughs and townships located in Bucks County:
Boroughs
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Townships
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Census-designated places
Census-designated places are not actual jurisdictions under Pennsylvania law, but are compiled by the U.S. Census Bureau in order to compile demographic data. Other unincorporated communities, such as villages, are sometimes categorized here as well.
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