Original civil, equity, and law proceedings. Often referred to as civil papers for short. Starting with the formation of the new Circuit Court system in 1983 until about 1998 or 1999, BC Circuit Court civil cases included two case numbers. To ensure accessibility, Guide entries for these records should include both numbers. The second case number included the legacy case number format, a practice started in the previous Circuit Court #1 and #2 system. These have both a letter and number designation. The legacy case number included a letter designation, for the case type, and the case number. The first case number included the jurisdiction, case type (C for civil), the year, and the case number. Guide entries for these records will include the letters to ensure accessibility (ex. 24D97028045/CE222792). [Court staff boxed case files for transfer sometimes using the "new" case numbers, and sometimes using the "legacy" case numbers. Researchers need to be aware of this when searching for specific files.]

The letters used in the first set of case numbers are
C = Civil (including Tax Sale Foreclosures- unpiad property or water taxes, Ejectment)
D = Domestic (including Divorce)
O = Mortgage Foreclosure (unpaid house/comercial loans)

The letters in the legacy case numbers have the following meaning:
CD = Civil Domestic (including Divorce)
CE = Civil Equity
CL = Civil Law
DV = Domestic Violence

All equity, law, domestic, or other civil are given this designation until about 1998 or 1999. For URESA cases with a "U" designation, see series [T3354].

Since about 1998 or 1999, the court changed their procedures so that they only use one case number, which includes the letters that identify the type of case. Guide entries for these records will include the letters to ensure accessibility.

The letters in the case numbers have the following meaning:
C = Civil (including Tax Sale Foreclosures- unpiad property or water taxes, Ejectment)
D = Civil Domestic/Family Court
CE = Civil Equity
CL = Civil Lien
CT = Civil Trust, filed with Civil Domestic after 1997
H= Civil Habeas Corpus
L= Micellaneous Liens
T= Trust
Y= Abestos (severed)
O = Foreclosure

Case numbers from 1998 and prior are 6-digits. The first 2 represent the year of the file.

Case numbers from 1999 and onward will have the following structure:
ex. 24-D-99-000001
The first 2-digits represent the jurisdiction (24 is Baltimore City).
The following letter represents the type of record. See above for all types found in this series.
The next 2-digits represent the year of the case.
The last 6-digits is the unique case number identifier.

When requesting records from post 1999 please include the complete case number as outlined above.

Trust cases prior to 1998 Trust cases are located in T4634. Foreclosure cases prior to 1982 are located in T472.