The Charter created what may be termed the first Port official by designating the county sheriff as water bailiff. It also gave the Corporation of Philadelphia its first share in the regulation of the Port by providing that the Mayor , Aldermen and Common Council might determine how far into the river inhabitants might build piers. No adequate study of Philadelphia's subsequent role in the operation of the Port could be made without referring to the Statutes at Large or Acts of the General Assembly of Pennsylvania and Ordinances of the City of Philadelphia pertaining to it. The Statutes define the responsibilities of the Corporation and other City officials. Duties of Philadelphia officials defined in the Statutes include such things as the purchase and repair of wharves and collection of wharfage, fire regulations aboard vessels in the harbor, issuance of permits for the landing of passengers, the naturalization and indenture of passengers, appointment of port officials, licensing of pilots and establishment of rates of pilotage, customs, health regulations, and the construction and maintenance of bridges and ferries.
Ordinances often apply the purpose of the act to a specific local context.
The City's ordinances relate to such topics as the construction, alteration and repairs of wharves, survey of them, repair of the river bank, creation of a Board of Harbor Commissioners, advertising of the Port, and the leasing of the City's wharves to the Philadelphia Port Corporation. The City Archives holds published Statutes at Large for the years 1676 to 1809, manuscript or published ordinances 1803 to date and digests of ordinances and Acts of Assembly 1812 to 1910. A complete set of the Pamphlet Laws or Acts of the Assembly and earlier digests are held by the Jenkins Law Library of the Philadelphia Bar Association. Unfortunately, the first compilation of the City ordinances did not take place until the publication of Zachariah Poulson's 1798 digest and, therefore, there is no complete set of the City's ordinances for the first seventy-five years of its history. However, this deficiency is partially remedied by reference to the Common Council Minutes for the period 1704 to 1776 which the City Archives holds in both manuscript and print.