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of serious legal questions. That sense of the law is
attributable, in part, to the portraits that line our
courtroom walls, a silent progression from the age of
steamships to the age of satellites.
As for the people - the Judges - connections abound there too. To give just one example, Judge Bellacosa and I recently visited with Judge Francis Bergan, now a youthful 95 and the Court's only historian (thus far). Judge Bergan took pleasure in recounting that the year I was born in Monticello, New York, he was a trial judge hearing cases there. As it happens, former Chief Judge Lawrence Cooke was in Monticello then too, on visits home from his studies at Albany Law School. How marvelous that former Chief Judge William B. Wright, a member of the 1847 Court, also practiced law in Monticello! But the members of the Court are bound by more than just coincidental crossings. Years of discussing, debating and deciding cases together forge strong collegial bonds that span the generations. And on the subject of people, this anniversary has also afforded us an opportunity to compile a new document - the full list of every Judge appointed or elected to serve this great institution. CONTINUITY AND CHANGE
We celebrate that much of our past is continued and carried forward, but we also cheer changes that show the Court is very much a part of today's world. One obvious example is the welcome arrival of diver- sity on our bench. While the faces on the courtroom portraits reflect a world of tradition, the faces on the bench now also reflect the wider world of opportunity. Into this category of welcome change I place as well the Court's modern-day record of complete |
currency in its work, a tribute to the genius of former
Chief Judge Charles Breitel and the diligence of every
Judge since. Indeed, litigants can expect to receive a
decision within six weeks of oral argument, a record
that is unrivaled by any busy high court in the country.
Reading our history, as recounted in Judge Bergan's
wonderful book as well as the pages of this publication, one is struck by how much backlogs have
troubled the Court during much of its existence. The
current "hot bench" and random case assignment sys-
tem assure that the cases before us are resolved with
efficiency as well as "a single eye to justice and right."
THE PRESENT AND THE FUTURE
This celebration actually began last November, with a memorandum from Stuart Cohen, Clerk of the Court, noting the anniversary. It has been nurtured throughout the year by all of the terrific people who work in Court of Appeals Hall. They are truly the heart and soul of the Court. While everyone has our gratitude for ferreting out the treasures of our past, one person deserves special recognition - our extraordinary Librarian, Frances Murray. Her tenacity, enthusiasm and skill in gathering up the remnants of the Court's history have informed and infected us all. This banner year we celebrate our process, places and people to be sure, but above all else we celebrate the principles that the Court of Appeals has so jealously protected for the last 150 years. Justice, fairness and equal treatment under the law - these are the principles that have defined our work in the past. These are the principles that we daily strive to pass on as our legacy for the future. SEPTEMBER 8, 1997 |
 The Historical Society of the Courts of the State of New York | |
