Civil papers organized by date then numerically by case number. Case numbers prior to 1985 are organized in standard, sequentially numerical order. In 1984 equity was combined with Civil. Some case numbers, in 1984 and 1985 and then all case files for subsequent years, have a pattern of xxYYxxxx where x is a variable number and Y is the one or two letter designation for the case type. The first two numbers represent the year, while the last four numbers are the case number. The letter(s) represent Civil (CG initially then later CV), Law (L), or Civil Special Proceeding (CSP). Civil Special Proceedings are a sub series that begins in 1985. Civil Special Proceedings for 1984 were filed with equity papers. (See series T696). Based on this pattern, the Circuit Court adopted a terminal ending filing system grouping together all case files with the same last two numbers of the case for that year, no longer filing records in straight numerical order. For example, case number 92CV2137 is located immediately following case number 92CV2237 not 92CV2138. Both 92CV2137 and 92CV2237 are found in box number 89 while case number 92CV2138 is found in box number 91. It is therefore important, when attempting to locate a case file, to first identify the year and then the two digit terminal ending for that file and then identify the location containing the terminal ending grouping for that year. Note however, that while this is the typical filing practice used by the court for this period, careful attention should be given to those boxes or items in the inventory showing itemized listings of case numbers. These may or may not adhere to the standard filing practice.

Please note that case numbers listed in CaseSearch are in a different format. For example, 03C91260740 is a combination of the following information: 03 refers to the county (Baltimore County), 91 refers the year of the case (1991), 26 refers to the type of civil case (CSP), and 0740 are the last four digits in the case. The following are the code numbers associated with each type of equity case: 26 (Civil Special Proceedings), 21 (Non-Support), 11 (Civil General), 31 (Equity), 41 (Law), 46 (Paternity), 51 (Reciprocal) and 56 (Trust).

For asbestos cases, 1979-1990, see T2961, T2962, and T2963.