Maryland State Law Library

The State Law Library was originally established as the State Library in 1827, an agency of the executive branch (Chapter 53, Acts of 1827). In 1978, the library was placed under the judiciary and renamed the State Law Library (Chapter 128, Acts of 1978). The library's activities are governed by a library committee of at least three members appointed by the Court of Appeals.

The library serves the legal and general reference needs of the legislative and judicial branches of state government and acts as a resource center for state circuit court libraries. Its resources include laws, general reference materials, state and federal government documents, and state and local histories and geneologies. The law library maintains Maryland state government information and county government codes. Reported court decisions and state legislative enactments from each of the states, as well as all federal statutes are also filed with the library. The library's local history and geneology collection complements the original source material available at the Maryland State Archives and Maryland Historical Society, including the Maryland census schedules from 1776 to 1910, county histories, family genealogies, rare books, early maps, and documents.