Maryland Public Library Toolkit

The Maryland toolkit is designed for public library reference staff as a reference guide to Maryland primary and secondary legal resources, with emphasis on resources available online. For legal information needs beyond the resources in this toolkit, contact a Maryland law librarian for further assistance (see 2. Public Law Libraries, below). To supplement and expand upon the resources here, see the Library's Law on the Frontlines: Legal Reference for Public Libraries.

Contents

  1. Getting Started: Legal Information vs. Legal Advice
  2. Public Law Libraries
  3. Self-Help
  4. Attorneys
  5. State Government Structure
  6. Citing Maryland Law
  7. Primary Sources of Law
  8. State Constitution
  9. State Legislative Law
  10. Local Law
  11. State Judicial Law (Courts), including forms information
  12. State Regulatory Law (Executive Branch and Agencies)
  13. Secondary Sources
  14. AALL Regional Chapters
  15. Federal Depository Libraries in Maryland
  16. Guides and Pathfinders

1. Getting Started: Legal Information vs. Legal Advice

Read a general overview, Distinguishing Between Information and Advice. For additional insight:

2. Public Law Libraries

Maryland has the Thurgood Marshall State Law Library as well as multiple Circuit Court law libraries, open to the public and staffed with helpful law librarians. Contacting a law librarian is often the quickest way to get to your goal. Many of the resources below can be found at a public law library. Most Maryland public law libraries also have free access to fee-based databases like Westlaw and Lexis.

Maryland Public Law Libraries Directory

3. Self-Help Legal Information

A. General Information
The Maryland People's Law Library, a legal information site managed by the Thurgood Marshall State Law Library, provides Marylanders with information and summaries about the law, links to primary and secondary legal sources, and referrals to legal services.

For extensive information on the procedural aspects of a case, see the Maryland People’s Law Library page “How Do I…”

The Maryland District Court has a number of Self Help Information Brochures on topics including landlord/tenant, garnishing wages, collecting a judgment, expungement and more. Brochures are available in several languages.

The Appellate Court of Maryland's (Formerly the Court of Special Appeals) publication, A Guide for Self-Representation, is helpful for those pursuing an appeal.

The Maryland State Bar Association has a number of Legal Information Brochures.

B. Legal Clinics and Help Centers

4. Attorneys

A. Bar Associations

Maryland State Bar Association

Local and Specialty Bar Associations

B. Locating an attorney
Lawyer Referral Services (LRS), offered through the local county bar association, can point people to local attorneys practicing in particular topic areas. Contact information for county LRS programs is available on the State Bar Association’s website.

Maryland People’s Law Library's “Get Help” has extensive information on locating legal assistance, from self-help programs, to free legal help, reduced-fee services, and regular fee-based services.

If the attorney's name is known but contact information is needed, the Client Protection Fund of the Bar of Maryland maintains a contact list of all attorneys currently admitted to practice in the state.

C. Attorney Rules of Conduct
The Maryland Lawyers’ Rules of Professional Conduct guide the conduct of Maryland attorneys. The text of the MLRPC is contained in Maryland Rules Title 19. Attorneys.

D. Problems with an attorney
The conduct of practitioners of law in Maryland is overseen by the Maryland Attorney Grievance Commission (AGC). Complaints against an attorney are filed with the Commission.

5. State Government Structure

6. Citing Maryland Law

The first step in locating legal information is often understanding what the citation in front of you means. To help decipher Maryland legal citations, look at the handy guide:
Recognizing and Reading [Maryland] Legal Citations, 2.2/3 Perspectives: Teaching Legal Research and Writing 70 (Winter/Spring 1994)

Cornell's Legal Information Institute also offers helpful material to decipher legal citations in Introduction to Basic Legal Citation, by Peter W. Martin (Online Ed. 2020). The BLC offers information on both standard legal citation guides, the Bluebook and ALWD. 

7. Primary Sources of Law

For the best collection of reliable online Maryland primary law sources (Code, cases, and regulations), see the Library's Gateway to Maryland Law. Resources are also separately enumerated below.

Watch the Maryland Courts' video, What is the Law? for a good visual of the different kinds of law.

8. State Constitution

Print
The current Maryland state constitution is available in print in the Constitutions volume of the Maryland Code.

Online
The text of the Maryland state constitution is available from the Maryland State Archives; with the full text of the current Maryland Code and Rules on the Gateway to Maryland Law; and as a downloadable PDF, on the General Assembly's Legislative Services website. Use the link to the current Code and Rules to locate the Constitutions volume.

9. State Legislative Law

The Maryland General Assembly passes bills during annual sessions which run from January to April each year. When passed, bills are called “session laws” or “chapter laws”. Once passed, the legislative language is added to (or amends) the Maryland Code, which is the text of all Maryland laws currently in effect organized (“codified”) by topic. The Maryland Department of Legislative Services publishes helpful legislative research resources, including:

A. State Code
When conducting research related to the Maryland Code, it can be helpful to have a good grounding in how the Code was developed. Many useful links on this topic are grouped on the Library’s web page, Maryland Code Research Sources. The Code itself is widely available:

Print
There are two print publications of the Maryland Code. One is published by Lexis (Michie's), the other by West. Both are designated as official by the Maryland General Assembly.

Online
The Maryland Code is online available on the Library's Gateway to Maryland Law.

B. State Session Laws
Bills passed into law by the General Assembly are called “session laws” or “chapter laws.” These are printed in the order of passage annually in the Laws of Maryland.

Print
Laws of Maryland are available at most large public law libraries. See the Directory (above at 2. Public Law Libraries)

Online
Digital versions are available on the Maryland General Assembly's website.

C. State Bills
The text of state legislation is available back to 1996 through the Maryland General Assembly's website.
Earlier bills are available in print at some larger law libraries, and through subscription databases such has HeinOnline and LLMC Digital.

D. Other Legislative Material
The Maryland General Assembly and its division, the Department of Legislative Services, have extensive materials on their websites to aid in legislative research.

E. Legislative History
Legislative history can be complex, and anyone approaching a legislative history should strongly consider contacting a Maryland law librarian for guidance and assistance. To help a researcher get started, see the Library's Guide and Checklist for Maryland Legislative History Research.

10. Local Law

Maryland is divided into 24 county or county-equivalents (Baltimore City is an independent city, and functions in most respects as the counties do). Within the 23 counties, there are a number of municipalities with their own governing structure (Annapolis, Kensington, St Michael’s, and many others). Each county and most municipalities pass ordinances or bills, which are organized into county and municipal codes much as the State’s bills are organized into the State Code. Many counties and municipalities have ceased publishing their codes in print, and instead provide links from their websites. The Library has compiled these links:

General Local Law Research
County and municipal governments in Maryland are not all structured in the same way. The University of Maryland Law Library has an excellent research guide, Researching Maryland Local Law, to help explain these differences.

11. State Judicial Law

Court Structure
Maryland has a four-tiered court system, with two trial level courts (District and Circuit), a mid-level appellate court (Appellate Court of Maryland, formerly the Court of Special Appeals), and highest court (Supreme Court of Maryland, formerly the Court of Appeals). In addition to these, there are also an Orphans' Court, which handles probate matters, and a Tax Court, which is actually an independent agency and not part of the Judiciary. For a better understanding of the court system, take a look at the Maryland Court System.

A. Cases
When someone asks for "a case", they are generally looking for the written opinion - the explanation of the court's decision. Such opinions are issued, generally, only in appellate level cases. State trial court cases, those from District and Circuit Court in Maryland, most often do not have written opinions (there are rare exceptions).

Sometimes, someone will ask for "a case" if they want to see the docket listing for a case in one of the trial courts. The docket list provides basic case information - parties, dates, issues (crimes charged or civil matter), the attorneys representing the parties, actions that have taken place, and final resolution, if there is one. This information is available through the Maryland Judiciary's Case Search system (dates and types of cases vary from court to court).

While just about all Maryland state appellate cases have opinions, not all opinions are reported, meaning not all can be used as precedent in making other decisions. Unreported opinions are not binding on parties other than those in the case; they are not law in this sense, the way reported cases are. The Maryland courts began making unreported opinions available on their website in 2015.

Print
The official version of Maryland cases (court opinions) are published in the Maryland Reports (Supreme Court of Maryland) and Maryland Appellate Reports (Appellate Court of Maryland). The print volumes can be found in all law libraries. Maryland decisions are also published in West’s Atlantic Reporter. The Maryland Digest acts as a print index to Maryland case law, and is available in major law libraries.

Online
Court opinions can be found (free) online at:

B. Court Rules

Print
Annotated Maryland Court Rules are published by both Thomson Reuters (West) and LexisNexis as a paperbound supplement to the Maryland Code, and can generally be found shelved with the Code in most libraries.

Online
A free online version is available located with the Maryland Code.

Maryland Rules history, like legislative history, can be complicated, and generally it is best to speak with a Maryland law librarian when approaching research. However, there are materials that can help a researcher get started:

  • Researching the Legislative History of Maryland Rules, John Cannan, 40-Dec Maryland Bar Journal 48 (2007)
  • No Local Rules in Maryland...Sort Of, John Cannan, 52.1 Law Library Lights 15 (2008)

C. Jury Instructions
The Library has a research guide on jury instructions for more complicated research questions. The quick & dirty on jury instructions is:

Print

The Maryland State Law Library has a guide on researching Jury Instructions. There are two sets of jury instructions for Maryland (links are to State Law Library Catalog):  

Online
Maryland jury instructions are not available for free online. They may be available via a Lexis or Westlaw subscription.

D. Forms - Official
Maryland has a small number of official court forms, mainly for District Court matters and Circuit Court family law and guardianship matters. The courts post official forms, when available, on the Judiciary website forms page.

The Maryland People's Law Library groups these links, and links to other, non-court but legal, forms, on the PLL Find Court and Legal Forms page.

For a better understanding of legal forms and the process of locating a form, review the discussion on forms on our Legal Reference for Public Libraries page.

E. Forms - Model/Sample
There are extensive sources for model or sample forms to use when constructing a filing in a Maryland legal matter. These are mainly available in print and CD-Rom format, and are located at local public law libraries. The best starting places include:

  • Maryland Civil Procedure Forms (LexisNexis)
  • Maryland Practice Forms (MSBA)
  • Maryland Litigation Forms & Analysis (Thomson Reuters)

A number of public libraries subscribe to the Maryland Legal Forms database from Gale/Cengage, which contains a wide variety of Maryland-specific sample legal forms and filings. Check your library's database collection for access to the collection.

Sample forms for Maryland appellate actions are available in the Guide for Self-Representation (see 3.A. Self-Help, General Information above).

For a better understanding of legal forms and the process of locating a form, review the discussion on forms on our Legal Reference for Public Libraries page.

12. State Regulatory (Executive Branch) Law

A. Administrative Code and Register

Print
The Maryland Division of State Documents (DSD) prints the Maryland Register, a bi-weekly journal publication in which new regulations are first printed, and COMAR, the Code of Maryland Regulations, which contains the full text of all regulations currently in effect. COMAR in print is a multi-volume looseleaf set, and can be found in larger law libraries such as the Thurgood Marshall State Law Library. The Maryland Register similarly can be found in larger law libraries in print.

Online
COMAR and the Maryland Register can be found using the Library’s Gateway to Maryland Law page, or directly at the DSD site: COMAR and Maryland Register.

Regulatory History
Researching the history of a regulation, like legislative history, can be complex, and anyone approaching a regulatory history should strongly consider contacting a Maryland law librarian for guidance and assistance. The Division of State Documents has a reliable in-depth guide, digitally available on the Library's website, for anyone wishing to try it solo.

B. Executive Orders
Executive Orders from the Governor are published in the Maryland Register. Orders currently in force are in found in COMAR, Title 01, Subtitle 01.

Orders during the current administration are available on the website of the Office of the Governor.

C. Attorney General Opinions

Print
Maryland AG Opinions are printed annually in single volumes, and are available in print at most law libraries.

Online
The full text of AG Opinions from 1993+ are available on the Maryland Attorney General's website. Opinions from pre-1993 are available through subscription databases such as HeinOnline and LLMC Digital.

13. Secondary Sources

A. Maryland People's Law Library
The Maryland People’s Law Library is a legal information and self-help website maintained by the Library, a court-related agency of the Maryland Judiciary, and supported by Maryland’s non-profit legal services providers, pro bono attorneys and the legal academic community. PLL content is primarily in the area of civil, state (Maryland) matters, though there is some material on criminal and federal matters as well.

B. Legal Encyclopedias
The Maryland Law Encyclopedia (MLE) contains narrative descriptions of legal topics with citations to primary law sources such as cases and statutes. The text of the MLE is not available for free on the internet; however, most law libraries will have a set, and some county public libraries keep a print set in their reference collections (check with your local branch). The full text may also be available electronically on Westlaw, depending on the subscription.

The legal materials publisher Nolo includes a brief but helpful "encyclopedia" on its website, under Legal Articles. Many entries are general, rather than state-specific, but the summaries can be helpful in explaining a legal topic to a non-lawyer.

C. Titles by Topic
The Conference of Maryland Court Law Library Directors maintains an online list of Core Collection Recommended Titles for Circuit Court law libraries. The list provides a quick reference tool for those seeking a title in an area of law appropriate to ongoing research.

The Maryland State Bar Association (MSBA) publishes a number of titles on Maryland law. Their texts, referred to generally as CLE (Continuing Legal Education) Publications, are listed on the MSBA website; many are found in public law libraries.

D. Legal Glossaries and Vocabulary
There are a number of good resources for understanding legal terminology. In print, Black's Law Dictionary and other legal dictionaries are helpful. Online, for general term use, the Cornell Legal Information Institute's Wex and Nolo's Free Dictionary of Law Terms are both handy. For more specific jurisdictional usage, there are legal glossaries available from the Maryland Judiciary and the U.S. Courts.

14. American Association of Law Libraries (AALL) Local Chapters

15. Federal Depository Libraries in Maryland

There are 22 federal depository libraries in Maryland. Three of these are also public law libraries:

Thurgood Marshall State Law Library
361 Rowe Boulevard
Annapolis, MD 21401
410-260-1430

University of Maryland Law Library
500 West Baltimore Street (street entrance)
Baltimore, MD 21201
410-706-6502

University of Baltimore Law Library
1401 N. Charles Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
410-837-4559

A full list of federal depository libraries in Maryland is available on the U.S. Government Publishing Office website.

16. Guides and Pathfinders

Maryland People’s Law Library
The site itself is one huge online guide to legal information. Information is arranged topically under umbrella headings such as Consumer, Employment, Family Law, Senior Citizens, etc.

MSBA Legal Info Brochures
The State Bar Association has helpful online brochures on a number of topics, including Alternatives to Nursing Home Placement, Being a Witness, Buying a Home, and more.

Anne Arundel County Public Law Library FAQs

Thurgood Marshall State Law Library
The Library's website contains research guides to help more specialized legal research, particularly in the area of legislative history.

AALL Public Library Toolkit
The Toolkit includes general guides such as:

University of Maryland Law Library
TMLL Guide to Legal Research
The TMLL Guide includes online chapters for areas of law (Statutory Law Research, Legislative Law Research, etc.), as well as levels of law (Maryland Law, Federal Law, Foreign and International Law). There is also a very useful chapter on Electronic Research Techniques.

Last revised 01/28/2022