Civil Government for Common Schools Part 14

Q. What jurisdiction has the Court of Sessions?

A. Original; no person can be tried in it, who is charged with a crime until he is indicted by a Grand Jury.

Q. Who presides in the County Court?

A. The County Judge.

Q. Who presides in the Court of Sessions?

A. The County Judge and the two Justices of Sessions.

Q. Can both of the Courts be held during the same term?

A. They can; as soon as a cause has been tried in one court the Judge may change to the other, and should it be the Sessions, the Justices of Sessions must be on the bench with the Judge; should it be the County Court, he alone is the court.

Q. What jury decides causes tried either in the Sessions or County Court?

A. The Pet.i.t Jury, consisting of twelve men.

SUPREME COURT.

Q. What is the next higher court?

A. The Supreme Court.

Q. What are its divisions?

A. The Circuit, Oyer and Terminer, Special Term and General Term.

Q. For judicial convenience, the State has been divided into districts, and how many?

A. Into eight judicial districts, numbered from one to eight, inclusive.

Q. What are the officers called in this court?

A. Justices of the Supreme Court.

Q. How many are elected in each district?

A. Five each in the first and second districts, and four each in the other six.

Q. How many Supreme Court Justices in the State?

A. Thirty-four.

Q. For how long a term are these Justices elected?

A. For fourteen years. Salary, $6,000, and an annual allowance for expenses.

Q. What const.i.tutional provision in regard to eligibility?

A. They cannot hold the office longer than the last day of December next after they shall be seventy years of age.

Q. What are some of their duties?

A. To preside and try causes in the Circuit, Oyer and Terminer, and also hear appeals in the Special Term, and when appointed Judges of the General Term to hear and decide appeals there.

SPECIAL TERM.

Q. What is a Special Term?

A. A court held by one of the Supreme Court Judges in the district simply for hearing and deciding motions and appeals.

GENERAL TERM.

Q. What is a General Term Court; and how many are there in the State?

A. It is a court for hearing appeals, and consists of a single district, or a union of several districts; and there are four in the State, organized by an act of the Legislature.

Q. What is the territory embraced in the jurisdiction of a General Term called?

A. It is usually called a Department, and numbered First, Second, Third and Fourth.

The following table will give a view of Departments, Districts and Counties in the State:

I. Dep. consists of I. Dist.

City and Co. of N. York.

II. Dep. consists of II. Dist.

Richmond, Kings, Queens, Suffolk, Westchester, Putnam, Dutchess, Orange and Rockland Counties.

III. Dep. consists of III. Dist.

Columbia, Rensselaer, Sullivan, Ulster, Albany, Greene and Schoharie Counties.

IV. Dist.

Warren, Saratoga, St. Lawr'nce, Was.h.i.+ngton, Ess.e.x, Franklin, Clinton, Montgom'ry, Hamilton, Fulton and Schenectady Counties.

VI. Dist.

Otsego, Delaware, Madison, Chenango, Tompkins, Broome, Chemung, Schuyler, Tioga and Cortland Counties.

IV. Dep. consists of V. Dist.

Onondaga, Jefferson, Oneida, Oswego, Herkimer and Lewis Counties.

VII. Dist.

Livingston, Ontario, Wayne, Yates, Steuben, Seneca, Cayuga and Monroe Counties.

VIII. Dist.

Erie, Chautauqua, Cattaraugus, Orleans, Niagara, Genesee, Allegany and Wyoming Counties.