| "Foreword" | ||
SOL WACHTLER [1] This issue celebrates the 300th anniversary of the Supreme Court of the State of New York — surely an extraordinary event in our nation s history, and an extraordinary institution. No less than society generally, the Supreme Court reflects enormous growth and change. In 1691, serving a population of about 14,000, the Supreme Court was to be composed of at least three justices appointed by the royal governor, and it was to have original and appellate jurisdiction over all pleas "as fully and amply to all intents and purposes whatsoever, as the Courts of King s Bench, Common Pleas and Exchequer." Today, five constitutions later, with a State population exceeding 18 million, several hundred distinguished trial and appellate judges discharge the Supreme Court s incredibly large and varied docket while maintaining its tradition of doing justice. This tradition gave us, in 1735, the decision in the case of John Peter Zenger, which focused the attention of all thirteen colonies on the importance of a free press. Although since that time, New York has remained at the forefront of the articulation and protection of personal rights, the mechanism for the protection of those rights can be traced to the legislative act of 1691 that created the Supreme Court and set the limits of its jurisdiction. With that one piece of legislation, New York s Assembly simplified the administration of justice in the province as a whole and established a foundation for the incorporation of the English common law into New York s jurisprudence. It is hard to believe that this creation sprang from legislation drafted in only one day. Although its source was an earlier law which had proposed a similar system for the Dominion of New England (of which New York had been a part), the act creating the Supreme Court was drafted, debated and passed in a little less than two weeks. New York's culture in 1691 was both rudimentary and rural, but it was able to take English institutions and English common law and adapt both to fit its diverse, multicultural and multilingual population. The establishment of the Supreme Court serves as an example of the pragmatism of those who settled the province and set into place its legal institutions. This pragmatism is the legacy of those who looked to English models and developed American solutions to pressing social and political problems. |
 The Supreme Court served as the foundation for the development of a uniquely New York-based common law, and this tradition carried over into the centuries that followed. The Court heard cases that later became famous in American legal history: the Zenger case, the criminal contempt trial of Samuel S. Frear in 1803, and libel suits brought by James Fenimore Cooper. In People v. Lemmon, the New York Supreme Court upheld the freedom of a fugitive slave in the wake of the United States Supreme Court s Dred Scott decision, and in People v. King, New York s Supreme Court let stand a New York law banning racial discrimination in public accommodations eight short years before the United States Supreme Court was to affirm the "separate but equal" doctrine in the case of Plessy v. Ferguson. But more than this, the founding of the Supreme Court in 1691 simplified the means for bringing justice to the people of New York. For every John Peter Zenger that came before the court, there were scores of artisans, traders and property owners, rich and poor, English and Dutch, who needed to be heard. The Supreme Court was the source of justice and authority in a rapidly changing New World. The world is a little older now, but bringing justice to all the citizens of New York remains the goal of those who serve the courts. As we celebrate this tricentennial — the uninterrupted continuance of this remarkable court — we are reminded of the admonition of the Assembly of the New York Colony, which provided that the court should be "duely and constantly kept." Because of their dedication to justice and due process, the citizens of New York State can be proud that the Supreme Court today is still "duely and constantly kept." The Justices of the Supreme Court, as well as our entire judiciary, are grateful to the New York State Bar Association for this commemorative publication. Footnote 1:Chief Judge of the State of New York.
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 The Historical Society of the Courts of the State of New York | ||
