Georgetown Law
Georgetown Law Library

Maryland Resources

This State Guide provides an in-depth look at sources of law in Maryland.

Reported Appellate Court Opinions

Court of Appeals

Maryland Reports: Cases Adjudged in the Court of Appeals for Maryland (Md.)

Maryland Advance Reports, Call Number: State 1st Floor KFM1245 .A3. (Published weekly, except last week of September and first week of October. Currently updated at Law Library).

Atlantic Reporter (A., A.2d, A.3d)

Maryland Appellate Court: The database includes reported opinions, in pdf format, from the Court of Appeals and the Court of Special Appeals from 1995 to date. There are two ways of accessing the opinions you need. You can do a full-text keyword search. Opinions can also be listed by case docket number/term, by official case citation, by appellant's (or first party's) name, by date opinion is filled by court, or by judge. You can choose one particular year or all years. Reported opinions are posted on the web site on the day they are filed.

MD Court of Appeals of Maryland from 1658 on Lexis (1658 - ). Includes official and parallel citations from 1A. from 1885); 1H. & J. (1800 - ); 1H. & McH. (1770 - ).

Maryland State Cases, Combined on Lexis. Contains all published decisions from the Court of Appeals since 1770 (1H. & McH.), from the Court of Special Appeals since February 1967 and from the Tax Court since January 1979. Selected unpublished decisions from 1967 for Court of Appeals and from 1982 for Court of Special Appeals.

Maryland Court of Appeals Cases on Westlaw (1787 - )

Maryland Cases on Westlaw: Covering cases from Provincial Court, Proprietary Province of Maryland (1714 - 1774), General Court (1781 - 1805), Court of Appeals (1787 - ), Court of Special Appeals (1967 - ), Tax Court (1960 - ).

Court of Appeals of Maryland on Bloomberg Law (1658 - )

Special Appeals

Maryland Appellate Reports, Cases Adjudged in the Court of Special Appeals in Maryland (Md. App.), Call Number: State 1st floor KFM1248 .A2 (v.1 1967 - , currently updated at Law Library).

Court of Special Appeals on Bloomberg Law (1966 - )

MD Court of Special Appeals of Maryland from 1967 on Lexis (Feb. 1967, 1 Md. App. - ).

Maryland Court of Special Appeals Cases on Westlaw (1967 - )

Tax Court

Tax Court on Bloomberg Law 

Maryland Tax Court Cases on Westlaw (1960 - )

Court Opinions Finding Aids

In print: Maryland Digest 2d: Covering Cases from State and Federal Courts, Call Number: State 1st Floor KFM1257 .M3 1993, v.1 - v. 49 (Law Library retains current volumes only).

In print: West's Atlantic Digest 2d, held by Library of Congress.

Other Sources

Unreported Appellate Court Opinions

Maryland Unreported Decisions by Maryland Courts, coverage from May 2015 (Md. Ct.s). Under Maryland Rules 1-104, unpublished opinions are not precedent and also not persuasive authority; therefore, you should not cite them in documents submitted to Maryland courts.

Circuit Court Opinions

As noted in Pamela Gregory, Legal Research in the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia (2000), Call Number: Reference Desk KF240 .C43 2000):

"Opinions of the circuit courts seldom are ever published, as they are nisi prius opinions. Occasionally an opinion will be of such general interest or uniqueness that the Daily Record will publish it, but those instances are rare." (p. 2-60).

Daily Record: A daily newspaper containing legal announcements, court calendar, opinions of the Attorney General, and synopses of important court decisions.

Circuit Court Dockets:

Dockets

Maryland Judiciary Case Search (Md. Judiciary). Provides basic docket information (filing date, party names, attorney names, and case status) for all Maryland circuit and district courts except those of Prince George's and Montgomery Counties. Dates of coverage vary by court. The Maryland Judiciary Case Search is a free service searchable by participant (party, attorney) name and docket number.

In microformat: Records and briefs of the Maryland Court of Appeals and Maryland Court of Special Appeals, Call Number: Media 1st Floor MCS 7 Micro. Court of Appeals coverage: 1980 - 2004; Court of Special Appeals coverage: 1979 - 2003.

Research Guides

Further Readings

Court Structure

Maryland Court Structure (linked to Maryland Courts)

Case Law Research Tutorial

Tutorial "play" tile.