Charles Markell (December 16, 1882 – February 24, 1955) was an American jurist who served as Chief Judge of the

Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

of the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sover ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

, the

Court of Appeals A court of appeals, also called a court of appeal, appellate court, appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal. In much of t ...

. Markell was born in

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to John and Elizabeth Charlton Harris Markell. He received his early education in the public schools of Hagerstown and Baltimore, and graduated in 1902 with an

A.B. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

degree from

Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hem ...

. He received his

LL.B. Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Chi ...

degree in 1904 from the

University of Maryland School of Law The University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law (formerly University of Maryland School of Law) is the law school of the University of Maryland, Baltimore and is located in Baltimore City, Maryland, U.S. Its location places Maryland ...

in Baltimore. From 1904 to 1944, Markell worked in the law office of Gans and Haman, which later became the law office of Cook and Markell. From 1941 to 1942, he served as President of the Maryland

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Association. He served as associate judge of the

Maryland Court of Appeals The Supreme Court of Maryland is the state supreme court, highest court of the U.S. state of Maryland. Its name was changed on December 14, 2022, from the Maryland Court of Appeals, after a voter-approved change to the state constitution. The cou ...

from 1944 to 1952, and briefly as Chief Judge of the Court from August to December 16, 1952. He returned to his law practice, where he remained until his death. Markell married to Jeanette Jones (died 1923) in 1909, which whom he had three children.

References

Biography
from the Maryland Archives Chief Judges of the Maryland Court of Appeals Johns Hopkins University alumni University of Maryland, Baltimore alumni Lawyers from Baltimore Maryland lawyers 1882 births 1955 deaths 20th-century American judges 20th-century American lawyers {{Maryland-state-judge-stub