| Finding cases and lawyers at work in the Maryland Courts: Case Search and Court Dockets
All court appearances and cases are initiated by the clerk of court on what was originally called the court docket, a system of logging and following court cases to their conclusion that followed the English system. Generally dockets were chronological by court term. In 1998, the Administrative Office of the Courts in Maryland began an effort to combine all dockets for all courts (except Orphans Courts) into one system which in recent years has been converted to the web based service Case Search. Case search is not clearly defined as to what it does and does not contain (for example Landlord Tenant cases in the district courts are not comprehensively included and the dates on which the various jurisdictions were brought into the system are not given). It does contain some cases going back to the late 1980s. The search is best for plaintiffs and defendants, sometimes effective for finding attorneys, and not useful for locating the nature of the cases assigned to a particular judge. For cases prior to 1998, index access in Case Search is more limited than after 1998. For example, for civil cases in Baltimore City prior to 1998, the text for the dockets is present, but not indexed by Case Search.
Included here as an example of what should be publicly accessible through a word search, but are not, are sample searchable dockets for Civil Cases in Baltimore City from 1989 through 1994. At some point it is hoped that the AOC will work with the State Archives to make all dockets for all courts fully searchable, as the dockets of the courts are permanent records and should be fully accessible for research and reference.
Baltimore City Circuit Court Dockets, Civil Cases, 1989
Baltimore City Circuit Court Dockets, Civil Cases, 1990
Baltimore City Circuit Court Dockets, Civil Cases, 1991
Baltimore City Circuit Court Dockets, Civil Cases, 1992
Baltimore City Circuit Court Dockets, Civil Cases, 1993
Baltimore City Circuit Court Dockets, Civil Cases, 1994
Students are cautioned to learn about the docketing system of the courts and administrative agencies over time. These are the heart of the workings of the judicial system over time and the key to understanding the business of being a lawyer before the courts, over time. Historical information about what dockets have survived and where they might be located, is found on the Maryland State Archives web site, Guide to Government Records.
For the purposes of this seminar, look for your subject in both Case Search and the Baltimore Civil Docket indexes from 1989-1994. |
