Making History Together
The New York State Court of Appeals
in
Albany's Tricentennial Year
The New York State Court of Appeals
in
Albany's Tricentennial Year
|
CHIEF JUDGE SOL WACHTLER: I am delighted, as Chief Judge of this Court, and on behalf of the judges of this Court, Judge Meyer, Judge Simons, Judge Kaye, Judge Alexander, Judge Titone, Judge Hancock, and our Clerk, Don Sheraw, to welcome you here this morning. I particularly wish to thank the members of the Committee for their arrangements in connection with this event: Our Chairman, Carroll J. Mealey, from whom we will hear later, Judge Bergan, who will also favor us with remarks, Larry Hackman, our State Archivist, Sister Ellen Lawlor, Walter Mordaunt, Professor Mary Helen Moses, Norman Rice, Sally Webb, Dolores Wharton. I skipped Jack Gary only because I wanted to make special mention of him. Jack died very recently. Jack was as much a part of this Court as anyone could be, having given and devoted thirty years of his life as our Motion Clerk. He was very much a part of all of us and of the fabric of this institution. So I speak his name with sadness, with love, affection, and eternal gratitude. Three hundred years ago when the colonies of New England, the intellectual seed bed of the New World, were regressing to the savagery of witch hunts, and when Cotton Mather was warning those colonists of "the possessed" and of soul selling to the devil, we here in New York State, a much more civilized lot, were applying to Thomas Dongan for land patents. During this past year, we who have been privileged to be in and a part of Albany, have been enjoying with the residents and citizens of the City, and we all feel very much a part of that citizenry, the Tricentennial the 300th anniversary of this city. The study of the history of this city and of this state is very important because, as Judge Kaye of our Court once said, "Many of the troubles of this generation come from not having read the minutes of the last meeting". And so we are gathered here in a sense to look at the past, to "read the minutes of the last meeting", and at the same time we hope to share not only of the beauty of this great chamber, but some of the history of this Court as well. Although we are privileged to have many distinguished guests here this morning, one of our most distinguished citizens is absent. I speak of the Mayor of the City, Tom Whalen, who is not here for very good reason. That reason will be explained to you and a letter will be read to you from the Mayor by our Chief Administrative Judge, Joseph W. Bellacosa. I would just like to mention in introducing Judge Bellacosa to you that he works with me in administering the court system of the State of New York, which is probably the largest court system in the country. We resolve 3 million cases a year in this State, which is ten times more than all of the courts in all of the federal system combined. My right hand, and left hand, in doing that work is Joe Bellacosa, who will now read a communication from our Mayor, Tom Whalen. |
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 The Historical Society of the Courts of the State of New York | ||
