to the judges who were elected or appointed as county judges of the counties of Kings, Bronx, Queens and Richmond, respectively, shall be elected by the electors within each of such respective counties. The Legislature may in its discretion authorize the election of one or more additional judges of said court in any county within the city of New York. The judges who were elected or appointed as judges of the Court of General Sessions in and for the city and county of New York, and the judges elected or appointed as county judges of the counties of Kings, Bronx, Queens and Richmond, until the expiration of the term for which they were elected or appointed, shall respectively be paid the compensation now fixed by law for the judges of said Court of General Sessions of the City of New York. The successors to all said judges of the Court of General Sessions of the City of New York shall be elected as herein provided for terms of fourteen years.

There shall be two divisions of said court to be known respectively as the first and second divisions thereof. The first division shall have and exercise exclusive jurisdiction throughout the counties of New York and Bronx, and the second division shall have and exercise exclusive jurisdiction throughout the counties. of Kings, Queens and Richmond. Each division shall consist of the judges elected or appointed within their respective jurisdictions and their successors, and each division may elect from among their number a presiding judge with such administrative powers as the judges of such division may from time to time provide. A judge of one division may hold court in another division if so requested by such division.

The judges of each division shall have power to appoint and remove all clerks, wardens to grand jury, stenographers, attendants and other officers now or hereafter provided for by law for each of the counties embraced within their respective divisions.

All criminal prosecutions and proceedings pending in said county courts on said first day of January in the second year following the adoption of this article shall thereupon be transferred to the Court of General Sessions of the City of New York for hearing and determination at terms of the division comprising the county in which the same may be pending. Until the Legislature shall otherwise provide, the clerk of of the Court of General Sessions in and for the city and county of New York and the chief clerk of the County Court in each of the counties of Kings, Bronx, Queens and Richmond, shall act within his county as clerk of the Court of General Sessions of the City of New York, and the respective divisions shall make such rules and regulations respecting such clerks' offices, the assignment of attendants and the distribution of the business of the court in the said several counties as may from time to time be deemed expedient. Any justice of the

Supreme Court may hold a term of the Court of General Sessions of the City of New York if and when assigned thereto by the Appellate Division of the department in which the division has jurisdiction.

15. The City Court of the city of New York is continued, and, from and after the first day of January in the second year following the adoption of this article, it shall have the same jurisdiction and power throughout the city of New York, under the name of the City Court of the city of New York, as it now possesses within the county of New York and the county of Bronx, and original jurisdiction concurrent with the Supreme Court in actions for the recovery of money only in which the complaint demands judgment for a sum not exceeding three thousand dollars. It shall consist of the justices then in office, who shall continue to be justices of the court for the remainder of the terms for which they severally were elected or appointed, and the additional justices to be elected as provided in this section. The justices who were elected or appointed as justices of the City Court of the city of New York shall be paid the compensation now fixed by law for such justices until the expiration of the terms for which they were respectively elected or appointed. Nine of their successors shall be elected by the electors of the county of New York and one of the electors of the county of Bronx, and hold office for ten years. There shall also be six additional justices, two of whom shall reside in and be chosen by the electors in each of the counties of Kings and Bronx, and one of whom shall reside in and be chosen by the electors in each of the counties of Queens and Richmond, and all of whom shall be elected at the first general election following the adoption of this article, and they and their successors, who shall be chosen in like manner, shall hold office for ten years. But, if the Legislature shall provide for the election of a separate officer to serve as surrogate in Richmond county, it may empower such surrogate to perform in said county the duties of a justice of the City Court of the city of New York and also the duties of a justice of the Supreme Court at chambers or out of court. Until the Legislature shall otherwise provide, the justice of said City Court chosen in the county of Richmond shall also serve as and be surrogate of that county. The Legislature may in its discretion authorize the election of one or more additional justices of said court in any county within the city of New York. The justices hereafter elected shall receive from the city of New York such compensation as may be fixed by law.

The justices of the City Court of the city of New York shall choose one of their number to be the presiding justice thereof,

who shall act as such during his term of office, and who shall be charged with the general administration of the court and the assignment of the justices to hold the terms thereof, subject to such regulations as the presiding justices of the Appellate Divisions of the Supreme Court in the first and second departments shall from time to time prescribe. The justices of said city court shall have power to appoint and remove a chief clerk of the court, and one or more deputy clerks in each county, who shall keep their respective office or offices at a place or places to be designated by the court, and whose duties shall be regulated and supervised by the presiding justice of the court.

All civil actions or proceedings pending on said first day of January in the County Courts of the counties of Kings, Bronx, Queens and Richmond, respectively, are hereby transferred to the City Court of the city of New York for hearing and determination at terms held within the counties in which the same shall be pending, and, for the purpose only of such hearing and determination and the enforcement of the judgments rendered thereon, said City Court shall have and exercise the equity jurisdiction previously vested in the respective County Courts from which such cases are so transferred, but not otherwise. Until the Legislature shall otherwise provide, the clerk of the City Court of the city of New York and the chief clerk of the County Court in each of the counties of Kings, Bronx, Queens and Richmond, shall severally act within his county as a deputy clerk of the City Court of the city of New York, and the presiding justice of the court shall make such rules and regulations respecting the clerks' offices, the assignment of secretaries to the justices, court clerks, stenographers, interpreters and other attendants and the distribution of the business of the court in the said several counties as from time to time may be expedient, subject to such general regulations as the presiding justices of the Appellate Divisions of the first and second departments shall from time to time prescribe.

§ 16. Vacancies occurring in the office of county judge, special county judge, surrogate, special surrogate, judge of the Court of General Sessions of the City of New York, or justice of the City Court of the city of New York, shall be filled in the same manner as vacancies occurring in the Supreme Court.

17. The electors of the several towns shall, at their annual town meetings, or at such other time and in such manner as the Legislature may direct, elect justices of the peace, whose term of office shall be four years. In case of an election to fill a vacancy occurring before the expiration of a full term, they shall hold for the remainder of the unexpired term. Their num ber, classification and duties shall be regulated by law.

Justices

of the peace and district or municipal court justices may be elected in the several cities of this State in such manner and with such powers and for such terms, respectively, as are or may be prescribed by law. Justices of the peace, justices of the Municipal Court of the city of New York, and judges or justices of inferior courts not of record, and their clerks, may be removed for cause, after due notice and an opportunity of being heard, by such courts as are or may be prescribed by law. All other judicial officers in cities, whose election or appointment is not otherwise provided for in this article, including all judicial officers holding courts of special sessions, magistrates' courts, or other inferior local courts of criminal jurisdiction in the city of New York, shall be chosen by the electors of such cities, or appointed by some local authorities thereof as may be prescribed by law. The boards of supervisors, or other officials exercising power now vested in such boards, may fix the compensation to be paid or allowed to justices of the peace for their services in criminal

matters.

§ 18. Inferior local courts of civil and criminal jurisdiction may be established by the Legislature, but no such inferior local court which has been created since the first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and ninety-five, or is hereafter created shall be a court of record. All inferior local courts now or hereafter established may be regulated or discontinued by the Legislature. Except as herein provided, the Legislature shall not hereafter confer upon any inferior or local court of its creation any equity jurisdiction or any greater jurisdiction in other re spects than is conferred upon the county courts by or under this article; but it may provide that the territorial jurisdiction in civil cases of any inferior or local court now existing or hereafter established in any city or of justices of the peace in cities shall extend throughout the county or counties in which such city may be located. Courts of special sessions and inferior local courts of similar character shall have such jurisdiction of offenses of the grade of misdemeanors as may be prescribed by law, and the Legislature may authorize them to try such offenses without a jury.

The Legislature may establish children's courts, and courts of domestic relations, as separate courts, or as parts of existing courts or courts hereafter to be created, and may confer upon them such jurisdiction as may be necessary for the correction, protection, guardianship and disposition of delinquent, neglected or dependent minors, and for the punishment and correction of adults responsible for or contributing to such delinquency, neglect or dependency, and to compel the support of a wife, child or

poor relative by persons legally chargeable therewith who abandon or neglect to support any of them. In conferring such jurisdiction the Legislature shall provide that whenever a child is committed to an institution or is placed in the custody of any person by parole, placing out, adoption or guardianship, it shall be so committed or placed, when practicable, to an institution governed by persons, or in the custody of a person, of the same religious persuasion as the child. In the exercise of such jurisdiction such courts may hear and determine such causes with or without a jury, except those involving a felony.

19. All judges, justices and surrogates shall receive for their services such compensation as is now or may hereafter be established by law, provided only that such compensation shall not be diminished during their respective terms of office. Except as in this article provided, all judicial officers shall be elected or appointed at such times and in such manner as the Legislature may direct. No one shall be eligible to the office of judge of the Court of Appeals, justice of the Supreme Court, surrogate, or judge of any other court of record who is not an attorney and counselor of this State except in the county of Hamilton as to the office of county judge or surrogate. No judge or justice shall sit in any appellate court in review of a decision made by him or by any court of which he was at the time a sitting member. No person shall hold the office of judge or justice of any court or the office of surrogate longer than until and including the last day of December next after he shall be seventy years of age. The judges of the Court of Appeals and the justices of the Supreme Court shall not hold any other public office or trust, except that they shall be eligible to serve as members of a constitutional convention. All votes for any such judges or justices for any other than a judicial office or as a member of a constitutional convention, given by the Legislature or the people, shall be void. No judicial officer, except justices of the peace, shall receive to his own use any fees or perquisites of office. A judge of the Court of Appeals, a justice of the Supreme Court, a judge of the Court of General Sessions of the City of New York, a justice of the City Court of the city of New York, and a county judge or surrogate elected in a county having a population exceeding one hundred and twenty thousand, shall not practice as an attorney or counselor in any court of record in this State nor act as referee in any action or proceeding. The Legislature may impose a similar prohibition upon county judges or surrogates in other counties. No district attorney or assistant to or deputy of a district attor ney shall appear or act as attorney or counsel for the defendant in any criminal case or proceeding in any court of the State, nor