"Duely & Constantly Kept" (Click Here to view entire document in PDF format) |
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Introduction
The Supreme Court of Judicature was established in 1691 and was continued little changed by the first state Constitution of 1777. The court was succeeded by the present Supreme Court in 1847. The Supreme Court of Judicature was vested with unlimited original jurisdiction over all civil and criminal cases. However, the court rarely heard criminal cases after the Revolution, and it normally decided only the more important civil cases. (Small suits were discouraged because the Supreme Court awarded full costs—statutory attorney and court fees—to a plain-
tiff only when the award exceeded twenty pounds; after 1801, $250.) The Supreme Court also possessed appellate jurisdiction over civil and criminal cases originating in the county, city, and town courts. Among the justices of the Supreme Court of Judicature were such eminent figures as John Jay, James Kent, and Daniel D. Tompkins. Attorneys practicing before the court included Alexander Hamilton, Aaron Burr,
Martin Van Buren, and William H. Seward. The Court heard some cases that became famous in American legal history: the trial of John Peter Zenger in 1735, the criminal contempt trial of Samuel S. Frear in 1803, the Livingston steamboat cases, and the libel suits brought by James Fenimore Cooper against Thurlow Weed and others. These cases were of course unusual; the great majority of the Supreme Court's business was ordinary litigation involving the citizens of New York.
The New York State Archives holds all the surviving books and papers kept or filed by the clerks of the Supreme Court of Judicature at Albany (1797-1847), Utica (1807-1847), and Geneva (1829-1847). In all there are 129 series of Supreme Court records in the Archives, occupying about 1800 cubic feet of shelf space. The New York County Clerk's office holds the records of the state Supreme Court that were filed by the clerk at New York City, as well as almost all the surviving records of the colonial Supreme Court. |
The New York State Archives holds all the surviving books and papers kept of filed by the clerks of the Supreme Court of Judicature at Albany, Utica and Geneva. |
| The administrative history and record series inventory serve two purposes. The first purpose is to explain the history, organization, jurisdiction, and procedure of the New York Supreme Court of Judicature and to describe its records. The section on procedure tells how cases proceeded through the Supreme Court, referring to documents now in the Archives. The inventory gives information on dates, quantity, content, arrangement, and indexing of each Supreme Court record series. Series relating to arrest or summons, bail, pleading, trial, judgment, execution, and satisfaction are described first. Subsequent entries describe motion papers, court rule and minute books, records of appealed cases, and files relating to special proceedings (such as insolvent assignments). Finally, the inventory describes the court's financial records and records relating to attorneys. | |
| The second purpose of this history and inventory is to assist researchers in understanding all pre-l847 common law court records in New York. Civil procedure in both the statewide Supreme Court and the county-level courts of common pleas closely followed English procedure as modified for local needs. The forms of documents were very similar in both courts. Therefore the information on Supreme Court practice and records is pertinent to lower courts of record as well The surviving records of the courts of common pleas (predecessor to the present county courts, established in 1847) are in custody of the county clerks. Appendix C briefly outlines the organization and jurisdiction of the lower civil an criminal courts. | This history and inventory will assist researchers in understanding all pre-1847 common law court records in New York.>/font> |
| The Supreme Court records are an important source of information for legal history. Basic information on the substance of a case is found in the judgment roll, which includes the plaintiff's initial plea (his "declaration") the defendant's reply, and any subsequent pleadings. Additional information on a case may be found in the filed pleadings and motions and in the common rule and minute books. Neither the trial minutes of the circuit courts nor the judgment rolls of the Supreme Court include summaries of testimony. Testimony is sometimes found in the records of lower court cases appealed to the Supreme Court by writ of error or writ of certiorari. In addition, there are small series of testimony taken in circuit court trials in the l82O's, and of depositions taken from out-of-state witnesses. | Basic information on the substance of a case is found in the judgment roll. |
| Writs of arrest and execution provide measures of the effectiveness of the civil justice system. How many defendants did the sheriffs actually find and arrest for appearance in court? How many judgments were actually satisfied? It appears that many of them never were paid, and this fact raises the interesting question of why plaintiffs sued at all, given the high cost of litigation. A lawsuit may have been an opportunity to harass one's enemy as well as the last recourse in trying to collect a debt. | Writs of arrest and execution provide measures of the effectiveness of the civil justice system. |
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The records of the New York Supreme Court are a rich source of information for economic history. The great majority of the court's cases involved debts, and the case documents throw tight on the financial careers of individuals and businesses during the early nineteenth century. Who was suing whom? How often did plaintiffs win their judgment awards? Did litigants usually reside in the same community or in different parts of the state? These questions can be answered by studying the Supreme Court judgment rolls and docket books. Bail documents furnish evidence of personal or commercial associations. When someone was sued for a debt, who were his friends, relatives, or business associates who would undertake to pay judgment levy if he did not do so?
Other research possibilities are numerous. For example, historians of crime should not overlook civil court records, since victims could bring civil actions seeking damages for assault and battery or theft. Title searchers will find numerous land partition and ejectment proceedings. Genealogists will be interested in naturalization papers and affidavits of Revolutionary War service. (However most such documents were filed with the county clerks, not with the clerks of the Supreme Court.) In sum, the records of the several hundred thousand cases filed in the upstate offices of the Supreme Court of Judicature between 1797 and 1847 are an invaluable resource for the history of early New York. In the past, the inaccessibility and complexity of the court's records meant they were seldom used by researchers. The transfer of the Supreme Court records to the State Archives makes them more accessible. The publication of this administrative history and record series inventory makes the records more intelligible. These are significant steps in the continuing effort to preserve and make available New York's archival records. |
Case documents throw light on the financial careers of individuals and businesses. |
 The Historical Society of the Courts of the State of New York | |
