McCulloch v. Maryland, 17 U.S. 316 (1819), was a landmark ruling by the supreme court of the united states. the state of Maryland had tried to impede the running of the branch of the second bank of the united states by inflicting a tax on all notes of banks not chartered in Maryland. though the law, by its language, was generally applicable to all banks not chartered in Maryland, the second bank of the united states was the exclusive out-of-state bank then being in Maryland, and the law was acknowledged in the court's opinion as having precisely targeted the U.S. bank.