Lancaster County
Lancaster County, also called the “Garden Spot of America,” was established on May 10, 1729. Lancaster County is located in the south-central part of Pennsylvania and its county seat is the city of Lancaster. The county is a popular tourist destination, due in large part to the presence of the Amish, or Pennsylvania Dutch as they are sometimes known. The term ‘Pennsylvania Dutch’ gets its origins from the earlier use of “Dutch” to apply to all immigrants from middle Europe.
Lancaster County’s own native son James Buchanan became the 15th President of the United States in 1856–the only Pennsylvanian thus far to achieve that honor. President Buchanan’s former home, Wheatland, is now a museum in Lancaster. Thaddeus Stevens, another Lancaster County native son, served in the United States House of Representatives from 1849-1853 and again from 1859 until his death in 1868. Stevens left a $50,000 bequest to start an orphanage which is now the state-owned Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology. Both native sons are buried in Lancaster.
Pennsylvania lawyers practicing law in Lancaster 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 Lancaster 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 Lancaster County:
City
- Lancaster
Boroughs
|
Townships
|
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.
|
Other communities
Many communities are neither incorporated nor treated as census-designated places.
- Bainbridge
- Intercourse
- Kinzers
- Kirkwood
- Kissel Hill
- Lampeter
- Leaman Place
- Lyndon
- Martindale
- Mastersonville
- Mechanics Grove
- New Danville
- Neffsville
- Nickel Mines
- Penryn
- Pequea
- Refton
- Reinholds
- Ronks
- Safe Harbor
- Schoeneck
- Bausman
- Bird-in-Hand
- Brownstown
- Blainsport
- Blue Ball
- Bowmansville
- Buck
- Churchtown
- Cocalico
- Conestoga
- Conewago
- Dillerville
- Elm
- Falmouth
- Farmersville
- Fivepointville
- Georgetown
- Goodville
- Gordonville
- Hempfield
- Hinkletown
- Holtwood
- Hopeland
- Silver Spring
- Smoketown
- Stevens
- Talmage
- Wakefield
- Washington Boro
- White Horse
