Maryland Court of Appeals

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Maryland Court of Appeals
Court information
Justices:	7
Founded:	1776
Location:	Annapolis, Maryland
Judicial selection
Method:	Comm. select., Gov. appt.
Term:	10 years
Active justices
Robert M. Bell  •  Lynne Battaglia  •  Clayton Greene  •  Glenn T. Harrell, Jr.  •  Sally Adkins  •  Mary Ellen Barbera  •  Robert N. McDonald  •
Former justices

The Maryland Court of Appeals is the supreme court in Maryland. The court meets in the Robert C. Murphy Courts of Appeal Building in the state capital, Annapolis. The term of the Court begins the second Monday of September.

Judges

The court is composed of one chief judge and six associate judges. Unlike most other states, the jurists on the Maryland Court of Appeals are called judges, not justices.

The Maryland Court of Appeals has 7 judges.

Judge	Term	Appointed by	Party
Chief Judge Robert M. Bell	1991-2013	William Donald Schaefer
Judge Lynne Battaglia	2001-2022	Parris Glendening
Judge Clayton Greene	2004-2016	Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr.
Judge Glenn T. Harrell, Jr.	1999-2020	Parris Glendening
Judge Sally Adkins	2008-2018	Gov. Martin O'Malley
Judge Mary Ellen Barbera	2009-2020
Judge Robert N. McDonald	2011-2022	Gov. Martin O'Malley

There is one judge from each of the state's seven Appellate Judicial Circuits and each judge is required to be a resident of his or her respective circuit. The circuits are currently as follows:

Maryland Court of Appeals Judicial Circuits
Circuit	Counties
1	Caroline, Cecil, Dorchester, Kent, Queen Anne's, Somerset, Talbot, Wicomico & Worcester Counties
2	Baltimore County & Harford County
3	Allegany, Carroll, Frederick, Garrett, Howard & Washington Counties
4	Prince George's County
5	Anne Arundel, Calvert, Charles & St. Mary's Counties
6	Baltimore City
7	Montgomery County

Chief Judge

Robert Mack Bell was appointed to the court in 1991 by William Donald Schaefer, a Democrat. His current term expires in 2012. The Chief Judge of the Maryland Court of Appeals is selected by the Governor. As Chief Judge, Bell is the administrative head of the state's judicial system, according to the Constitution of Maryland.

Jurisdiction

Throughout the year, the Court of Appeals holds hearings on "the adoption or amendment of rules of practice and procedure and supervises the Attorney Grievance Commission and State Board of Law Examiners in attorney disciplinary and admission matters." The Court of Appeals has exclusive jurisdiction over death penalty appeals, legislative redistricting, removal of some officers, and is responsible for answering broad legal questions.

Judicial selection

Judges are appointed to serve ten year terms by the Governor of the state, with the consent of the senate. At least one year after the appointment, the judge must run without opposition. If the judge is retained, he will serve a ten-year term, and all judges must retire by their 70th birthday.

Qualifications

"The Judges of the court are required to be citizens of and qualified voters in Maryland. Prior to their appointment, they must have resided in Maryland for at least five years, and for at least six months in the appellate judicial circuit from which they are appointed. They must be at least thirty years of age at the time of appointment, and must have been admitted to practice law in Maryland. Appointees should be "most distinguished for integrity, wisdom and sound legal knowledge."

Removal of justices

"Maryland judges may be removed in one of four ways: Judges may be removed by the governor upon the address of the general assembly with the concurrence of two thirds of the members of each house. Judges may be retired by the general assembly with a two-thirds vote of each house and the governor's concurrence. Judges may be impeached by a majority of the house of delegates and convicted by two thirds of the senate. Judges may be removed or retired by the court of appeals on the recommendation of the commission on judicial disabilities."

Caseloads

Fiscal Year	Filings	Dispositions
2012
2011	138	161
2010	143	140
2009	176	98
2008	165	135
2007	148	176

Salaries

The Chief Justice of the Maryland Court of Appeals makes $181,352 annually, while associate justices make $162,352, as of January 2010.

Notable decisions

Maryland legislature seeks to mitigate pit bull ruling January 18, 2013 Last year, the Maryland Court of Appeals handed down a ruling that declared all pit bulls were dangerous. The ruling made pit bull owners responsible for any harm done by their dogs and also made landlords responsible for the dogs of their tenants, meaning that in some instances of attack or other damage, two parties would be held fully responsible. The ruling spurred many pet surrenders and abandonments, as some landlords sought to remove pit bulls from their rental properties and other pet owners worried about liability. The ruling has increased the number of pit bulls in the shelter and rescue system, while simultaneously making pit bulls harder to adopt. The mitigation of the court ruling through legislation has become a popular cause among the public, with Democratic Representative Luiz R.S. Simmons noting that he has received more emails about this topic than any other during his time in office. An emergency bill, filed in the house by two lawmakers on January 17, 2013, promises to spread responsibility for harm caused by all dogs equitably. The sponsors of the bill note that it is intended to be fair to landlords, dog owners, and dog bite victims. The new bill would pertain to all dogs, unlike the Court of Appeals ruling which covers only pit bulls. Two similar bills were introduced in emergency sessions in the House and Senate last year, but both failed to pass.

History of the court

The Maryland Court of Appeals was created in 1776 with the ratification of the Maryland Constitution. Specifically, the court was created by Article 56 of the constitution. The Court was to be "composed of persons of integrity and sound judgment in the law, whose judgment shall be final and conclusive in all cases of appeal, from the general court, court of chancery, and court of admiralty . . ." Since it's conception, the Governor has appointed all judges in the state. In 1778, five judges held court, but in 1801, the number was reduced by two. In 1806, the court restructured with six judicial districts--a Chief Judge and two associate judges per district. The Constitution was amended in 1851 to divide the state by four judicial districts, and judges were to serve ten-year terms. The Constitution was amended several times, but by 1960, the number of justices increased to seven, the size of the current court.

See also

• News: Maryland Court of Appeals to hear ballot access case, January 31, 2012
• News: Maryland changes judicial rules to protect consumers from unjust debt collection, January 13, 2012
• News: Maryland court declares old law unconstitutional in lead paint case, October 28, 2011

External links

• Maryland Court of Appeals Official Site
• Information from the Maryland Archives
• Maryland Constitution, Article IV: Judiciary Department
• Judicial Records from The Archives of Maryland

References

Portions of this article have been taken from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Copyright Notice can be found here.

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2012

To organize the columns, click on the arrows in the column heading.

Judge	Incumbency	Retention vote	Retention Vote %
BattagliaLynne Battaglia   A	Yes	313,782	86.2%A
BellRobert M. Bell   A	Yes	179,718	86.9%A
McDonaldRobert N. McDonald   A	Yes	348,459	84.1%A