Code Revision

To fulfill its statutory duty to “carry on continuous full time formal revision of statutory law,” the legal staff of the Office of Policy Analysis prepares drafts of proposed revised articles of the Annotated Code of Maryland, which are reviewed by article review committees composed of lawyers who are experts in the area of law being revised.  When the drafting and review of a revised article is completed, a bill to enact the article into law is introduced in the General Assembly.  The process is overseen by the Code Revision Committee, which is appointed by the Legislative Policy Committee and which plans the sequence of revised articles, appoints article review committees, and generally supervises the progress of each article.

The goals of code revision are clarity in expression and arrangement, accuracy in translating the source law without substantive change, and consistency internally and with the other revised articles of the code.  Each section of a revised article is followed by a revisor’s note that identifies the current law that the revised section will replace and explains any significant changes made in the revision process.

For additional information on the history, backgrounds, and what remains to be done in the code revision process, please access the links below.

·         History and Background of Code Revision

·         How Modern Code Revision Began in Maryland

·         Structural Changes to Managing the Code Revision Project

·         The Progress of the Modern Code Revision Effort

·         What Remains to Be Done

·         The Value of the Modern Code Revision Project