The Court of Special Appeals is Maryland’s intermediate appellate court. The Court of Special Appeals was created in 1966 in response to the rapidly-growing caseload in the Court of Appeals. The Court of Special Appeals originally could hear only criminal cases. However, its jurisdiction has expanded so that it now considers any reviewable judgment, decree, order, or other action of the circuit and orphans’ courts, unless otherwise provided by law. Judges sitting on the Court of Special Appeals generally hear and decide cases in panels of three. In some instances, however, all 13 judges may listen to a case, known as an ‘en banc’ hearing.
