The District Court of Maryland is a state

lower Lower may refer to: *Lower (surname) *Lower Township, New Jersey *Lower Receiver (firearms) *Lower Wick Lower Wick is a small hamlet located in the county of Gloucestershire, England. It is situated about five miles south west of Dursley, eight ...

trial court A trial court or court of first instance is a court having original jurisdiction, in which trials take place. Appeals from the decisions of trial courts are usually made by higher courts with the power of appellate review (appellate courts). Mos ...

(court of original jurisdiction) in the state of

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 ...

.Gibbs Smith, Maryland Government (2010), pp. 125, 128, 129, 166

/ref> It enjoys

limited jurisdiction Limited jurisdiction, or special jurisdiction, is the court's jurisdiction only on certain types of cases such as bankruptcy, and family matters. Courts of limited jurisdiction, as opposed to general jurisdiction, derive power from an issuing autho ...

over "minor issues," including over all landlord-tenant law cases,

replevin Replevin () or claim and delivery (sometimes called revendication) is a legal remedy, which enables a person to recover personal property taken wrongfully or unlawfully, and to obtain compensation for resulting losses. Etymology The word "replevi ...

actions (the recovery or return of wrongfully taken goods), motor vehicle violations,

misdemeanors A misdemeanor (American English, spelled misdemeanour elsewhere) is any "lesser" criminal act in some common law legal systems. Misdemeanors are generally punished less severely than more serious felonies, but theoretically more so than admin ...

such as disturbing the peace, and certain

felonies A felony is traditionally considered a crime of high seriousness, whereas a misdemeanor is regarded as less serious. The term "felony" originated from English common law (from the French medieval word "félonie") to describe an offense that resu ...

.State of Maryland, District Court of Maryland
/ref> The District Court does not conduct jury trials. It is a single state court with multiple locations, even though it is typically referred to by the county in which it sits, such as the "Allegany County District Court." The court sits in at least one location in each county, with multiple places of sitting in Baltimore City and some large suburban counties.Locations, District Court of Maryland
/ref> While counties must typically pay many of the expenses for the local Maryland Circuit Court, the state always pays for the operations of the District Court. There is at least one district judge in each county and in the city of

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

. The court exercises

exclusive jurisdiction Exclusive jurisdiction exists in civil procedure if one court has the power to adjudicate a case to the exclusion of all other courts. The opposite situation is concurrent jurisdiction (or non-exclusive jurisdiction) in which more than one cour ...

over civil cases with claims of less than $5,000. It exercises

jurisdiction concurrent Concurrent jurisdiction exists where two or more courts from different systems simultaneously have jurisdiction over a specific case. This situation leads to forum shopping, as parties will try to have their civil or criminal case heard in the c ...

with the Maryland Circuit Court in civil cases with an amount in controversy between $5,001 and $30,000. The District Court was created by a

state constitutional amendment A constitutional amendment is a modification of the constitution of a polity, organization or other type of entity. Amendments are often interwoven into the relevant sections of an existing constitution, directly altering the text. Conversely, t ...

and came into existence in July 1971 to replace a "hodgepodge" system of local

justices of the peace A justice of the peace (JP) is a judicial officer of a lower or ''puisne'' court, elected or appointed by means of a commission ( letters patent) to keep the peace. In past centuries the term commissioner of the peace was often used with the sa ...

magistrates The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a '' magistratus'' was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judici ...

, and People's Courts. Most appeals from District Court are heard by the Circuit Court, although some are heard by the

Appellate Court of Maryland The Appellate Court of Maryland is the intermediate appellate court for the U.S. state of Maryland. The Appellate Court of Maryland was created in 1966 in response to the rapidly growing caseload in the Supreme Court of Maryland. Like the state ...

and the

Supreme Court of Maryland 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 ...

References

Maryland state courts County courthouses in Maryland Courts and tribunals with year of establishment missing {{Maryland-stub