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Inferior Courts of Law [cont.]
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or any three of them, comprised the bench of the court. An 1821 law renamed the mayor's court the court of common pleas and provided for appointment of its own judges. An 1828 law established a New York City superior court, which had three justices. The superior court had original jurisdiction over all civil actions, but its primary business was complex commercial cases and hearing appeals from the court of common pleas and lower civil courts. Minor civil cases were decided by justices of the peace (starting 1797) and assistant justices (starting 1807). The justices' court was renamed the marine court in 1819. Its jurisdiction included small suits and contract and tort actions involving seamen and ship owners or captains. The court of general sessions for New York City and county had jurisdiction over all felonies (except those punishable by death). The court of special sessions tried misdemeanors. The recorder presided over the courts of general and special sessions, assisted by two common pleas judges. Starting in 1789 police justices handled arraignments and bail.
Other City Courts
City courts were established by city charters and other legislative acts. Certain cities had mayor's or recorder's courts whose jurisdiction was equivalent to that of a county court of common pleas. The Albany mayor's court dated back to 1686. Mayor's and recorder's courts were established in other cities as follows: Hudson, 1813; Troy, 1816; Rochester, 1834; Buffalo, 1839; Utica, 1844. Typically the mayor and the recorder presided alternately over these courts, and the alderman served as assistant justices. The Albany, Utica, Rochester, and Buffalo city courts had superior criminal jurisdiction, including the power to try indictments (except in capital cases).
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Other cities had justices' courts and police courts to handle minor civil and criminal cases.[1]
Circuit Courts; Courts of Oyer and Terminier
Before 1823, Supreme Court justices presided over circuit courts. Starting that year the Governor appointed (with Senate approval) separate circuit judges in each of the eight senatorial districts of the state. Circuit courts were held in each county at least twice a year to try civil cases initiated in the Supreme Court. The circuit judge also received a commission from the governor to preside over a court of oyer and terminer, which can be considered the criminal branch of the circuit court. Assisting him on the bench of the court of oyer and terminer were two of the county judges. (In New York City and certain upstate counties the associate judges of the court of oyer and terminer could be either county judges or the mayor, recorder, or aldermen of the city located in that particular county.) Courts of oyer and terminer had the power to inquire by a grand jury into all crimes and misdemeanors in the county, to try indictments found by the grand juries of that court and the court of general sessions, and to "deliver the jail" of the prisoners who had been taken into custody on warrants.[2] (Because of this authority to "deliver the jail," the court was sometimes called the court of oyer and terminer and general gaol delivery.) The court of oyer and terminer had exclusive jurisdiction over all trials of defendants charged with crimes punishable with death or life imprisonment.
Note: Between 1823 and 1829 circuit judges presided over courts of equity, which were branches of the Court of Chancery Between 1830 and 1847 the or cult judges served as vice-chancellors in their circuits (unless a separate vice chancellor was appointed).[3]
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Note 1: Charles P. Daly, "History of the Court of Common Pleas for the City and County of New York...," in Smith's Common Pleas Reports, vol. 1 (1855); also contains general information on the state's court system. On the history of inferior courts in New York City see Anna M. Kross and Harold M. Grossman, "Magistrates' Courts of the City of New York: History and Organization," Brooklyn Law Review, 7 (1937), 133-79. For the New York City Court of Common Pleas pertinent statutes are Laws of 1821, Chap. 72, and Laws of 1828, Chap. 137.
Note 2: The following statutes outline the organization and jurisdiction of upstate city courts having superior civil and criminal jurisdiction: Laws of 1789, Chap. 17, Laws of 1814, Chap. 200, Laws of 1830, Chap. 328, Laws of 1833, Chap. 17 (Albany); Revised Laws (1813), vol. 2, pp. 501-506 (New York, Hudson, Albany); Laws of 1816, Chap. 131 (Troy); Laws of 1832, Chap. 179, Laws of 1839, Chap. 210 (Buffalo); Laws of 1834, Chap. 199, Laws of 1844, Chap. 145 (Rochester); Laws of 1844, Chap. 319 (Utica).
Note 3: Revised Statutes (1829), Part III, Chap. 1, Title 4.
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The Historical Society of the Courts of the State of New York
140 Grand Street, Suite 701
White Plains, N.Y. 10601
phone: (914) 824-5717
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