Maryland Resources

Introduction

Maryland's present constitution was ratified September 18, 1867, but has been amended approximately 200 times. The General Assembly can propose amendments to the Maryland Constitution. Each amendment must be proposed in a separate bill, embodying the constitutional article or section. Amendments must first be approved by three-fifths of all the members elected to each of the two houses of the General Assembly, then published in newspapers around the state and approved by a majority of Maryland voters. Md. Const. art. XIV, § 1.

Every 20 years (beginning in 1970), as part of the general election, Maryland voters must decide whether to call a constitutional convention for the drafting of a new constitution. If such a convention is called, any draft constitution it produces must be approved by a majority of Maryland voters. Md. Const. art XIV, § 2.

Maryland had three other constitutions before the Constitution of 1867: 1776, 1851, and 1864.

Readings

• Charles A. Rees, Remarkable Evolution: The Early Constitutional History of Maryland, 26 U. Balt. L. Rev. 2017 (2007).
• Dan Friedman, The Maryland State Constitution (2d ed. 2011), Law Library Call Number: State 1st Floor KFM1601 1867 .A6 F747 2011.

Current Constitution

Databases

• Maryland Constitution on Lexis. Contains the Constitution of the State of Maryland from the Annotated Code of Maryland.
• Constitution of Maryland Adopted by Convention of 1867, within Maryland Statutes & Court Rules on Westlaw
• Maryland Constitution on Bloomberg Law

Website

• Maryland Manual On-Line: Constitution of Maryland (Md. St. Archives)

Print

The Annotated Code of the Public General Laws of Maryland. Constitutions.

• Law Library Call Number: State 1st Floor KFM1230.5 M6 C45

Maryland Manual

• Law Library Call Number: Reference JK3830 .M3. Law Library holdings: 1979-1980, 1983-1984, 1987-1988, 1991-1992, 2001, 2006 (ceased in print in 2006).

Historic Constitutions

Databases

• State Constitutions Illustrated: Maryland (1578 - ) on HeinOline
• Historical Maryland Constitutional Materials on LLMC Digital

Websites

• Constitution of Maryland - November 11, 1776 (Yale L. School Libr.). A transcribed (HTML) version offered The Avalon Project: Documents in Law, History and Diplomacy.
• Maryland Constitutions (Md. St. Archives). Teaching American History in Maryland class lessons. Provides PDF scans of Declaration of Rights and the Constitution of 1776, The Constitution of 1850, Constitution of 1864, The Constitution of 1867 and Comparison of all Constitutions.
• Amendments to Maryland Constitutions (Md. St. Archives). From the Archives of Maryland series.
• The Federal and State Constitutions, Colonial Charters, and Other Organic Laws of the State, Territories, and Colonies Now or Hertofore Forming the United States of America (1909) (HathiTrust). A multi-volume publication edited by Francis Newton Thorpe. Maryland documents are found in volume 3, pp. 1669-1826.

Print

Sources and Documents of United States Constitutions (1973-1979)

• Law Library Call Number: Stacks KF4530 .S94: Maryland documents, including the Draft Constitution of 1968 (which was never ratified) are in Volume 4.

Database

• Digitized Collection of Maryland Constitutional Documents on LLMC Digital. Includes: 1632 Charter granted by King Charles I; 1776, 1851, 1864, & 1867 Constitutions of Maryland; Constitutional Debates and Proceedings (1864, 1867), Constitutions with Amendments to 1902, 1913, 1922, 1927; 1967 Maryland Constitutional Commission Report, 1967-1968 Maryland Constitutional Convention Journal, 1968 Maryland Constitutional Convention Documents.

Websites

• Constitutional Records (Md. St. Archives). The State Archives offer transcribed (HTML) and scan PDF versions of the Charter of Maryland, Conventions of 1774-1776, Constitutional Convention of 1850, Constitutional Convention of 1864, Constitutional Convention of 1867, Constitutional Convention of 1967-1968, Constitutional Amendments, Charters of St. Mary's City (1668 and 1671) and Charters of Annapolis.
• Debates and Proceedings of the Maryland Reform Convention to Revise the State Constitution. To Which are Prefixed the Bill of Rights and Constitution as Adopted. (1851) (HathiTrust Digit. Libr.). Published by order of the convention (print version is in 2 vols.).
• The Debates of the Constitutional Convention of the State of Maryland: Assembled at the City of Annapolis, Wednesday, April 27, 1864 (HathiTrust Digit. Libr.). Official Wm. Blair Lord, reporter; Henry M. Parkhurst, assistant. In print, published in 3 vols.
• Proceedings of the State Convention of Maryland: To Frame a New Constitution, Commenced at Annapolis, May 8, 1867 (HathiTrust Digit. Libr.).

Print

The Decisive Blow is Struck: A Facsimile Edition of the Proceedings of the Constitutional Convention of 1776 and the First Maryland Constitution

• Law Library Call Number: Spec. Coll. KFM1601 1776 .A223 1977 Oversize: With an introduction by Edward C. Papenfuse & Gregory A. Stiverson. Contact Georgetown Law Special Collections.