Maryland. Court of Appeals

The Court of Appeals was established in 1694 by a commission sent with royal governor Francis Nicholson. Prior to 1681, the Governor and members of the Council, who constituted the upper house of the Assembly, exercised appellate jurisdiction much as the House of Lords in England. Appeals were not uncommon, despite the fact that the Governor and Council also sat as the judges of the Provincial Court where the appealed cases originated. This redundancy and questions about the legal right of the upper house of Assembly to hear appeals became such an issue that no appeals were heard between 1681 and 1694. Governor Nicholson's commission reestablished the upper house of the Assembly, now sitting as the Court of Appeals as the colony's highest appellate court.

To blunt critism of their dual judicial roles, the practice developed where a Council member would not sit on the Court of Appeals when it heard a case in which he had sat as trial judge.

The last colonial Court of Appeals sat in May 1776. The Constitutional Convention later that year provided for a Court of Appeals to hear cases from the General, Chancery, and Admiralty courts. The first Assembly to meet after the adoption of this state constitution decreed that the tribunal would have five appointed judges who could hold no other office. The Court of Appeals was reorganized after the abolition of the General Court in 1805. The judges were elected by the voters from six judicial districts. The Court assumed the appellate jurisdiction of the former General Court, and like it, held session on both the Eastern and Western shores.

The Constitutional Convention of 1851 reorganized the court again. Thereafter, it was to sit only in Annapolis, and the judges were to be specially elected, one from each of four new judicial districts. New provisions required the court issue and publish opinions on every case it decided. The second Constitutional Convention of the nineteenth century, in 1864, left the Court unchanged except for an increase in the number of justices to five. The 1867 Constitutional Convention made more radical changes in the court. The number of justices was in reased to eight with a judge from each of the seven county circuits and one from Baltimore City for appellate work only. The Court was not reorganized again until 1943, when the number of judges was reduced to five, one elected from each of three appellate districts and two from Baltimore City. In 1960, the Court was expanded to seven judges, who are appointed by the Governor and hold office until the next general election when the voters decide whether or not to retain them. The Chief Judge is selected by the Governor. Since 1975, cases heard before the Court have been limited almost exclusively to those received by way or certiorari (i.e., on review).

The Court of Appeals also receives and reviews recommendations of the State Board of Law Examiners and conducts disciplinary proceedings involving members of the bench and bar.

From the description of Agency history record, 1694-. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 122564710