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to give the counties, all the counties in New York the jurisdiction which the county courts outside of the county of New York, outside of the borough of Manhattan now possess. It is a jurisdiction which has long been exercised by the county court; it is a jurisdiction that tends to the convenience of the residents of the county, and it is a jurisdiction which has been admirably exercised by the judges who have had charge of it; and by taking away this jurisdiction, and by stripping the counties of Queens, Richmond, Kings and possibly, the Bronx, of a court which has equity jurisdiction, then you deprive the residents of those counties of an opportunity of conveniently coming before a judge and securing the orders necessary in the conduct of the actions and of going before the magistrate, and to go before justices who have shown ample capacity in dealing with this jurisdiction which we have had.

In the county of Queens, for which I can more specifically speak, which is a county that is certainly well known to many members of the Convention, but not all, it is the county whose dimensions are about, it is about twelve miles long, or more, by an equal length in width, and it is an immense convenience to the residents of the county that they should have some judge resident in that locality to whom they can go for the relief which has so long been accorded to them in these county courts.

If you cut off this jurisdiction from the city courts which is already added under the directions of the Committee of the Whole and which is now vested in the judges of the city court, if you cut that off, the residents of those different sections of New York city, have got to go over to Brooklyn or to Manhattan for the purpose of securing the necessary orders.

In the county of Queens we have had but three special terms a year and in consequence of this infrequency of the terms there is a large amount of this equitable jurisdiction which falls into the county courts. Now, there is every reason of convenience; there is every reason in the proper administration of justice in the past, and there is every reason in the matter of the convenience of these residents of these outlying localities, that this equitable jurisdiction should be retained.

I appreciate the fact, Mr. President, that it possibly will tend to interfere or concern the distribution of patronage. But I don't think that is a consideration that this body should take notice of.

Mr. President, I notice that your gavel is raised, and I will cease and leave the discussion to some other man.

Mr. Bayes - Mr. President.

The President - Mr. Bayes.

Mr. Bayes - Mr. President, I trust this motion of Mr. Wickersham's will not pass. When this matter was up in the Committee of the Whole a few days ago, after full discussion these words were inserted: "Such further jurisdiction in civil actions as is now exercised by county courts".

Now, gentlemen, Mr. Weed is quite correct. There are in the city of New York certain outlying counties which have been referred to, and it has been customary heretofore for litigants to go into these county courts and foreclose mortgages and obtain therein equity adjudication.

I regard this as an effort to Manhattanize the rest of the city of New York. To the men who do not live in the city of New York, I will state that equity jurisdiction which is useful to these outlying counties does not attach to the City Court of the city of New York in the borough of Manhattan. A few days ago I spoke to General Wickersham about this, and I understood he was agreeable to have the section amended so as to preserve this equity jurisdiction for the counties of Kings, Queens and Richmond. I understand now he is not at liberty to consent to that amendment, and in consequence those who live in Kings, the delegates here from Queens and I believe from Richmond request this Convention to vote against the proposal of General Wickersham.

It is right. We need this equity jurisdiction. It should be preserved. If General Wickersham wishes to limit it so that it shall be applicable only to Queens, Kings and Richmond, we will agree to that, but otherwise we will stand upon the amendment passed by the Committee of the Whole.

Mr. Dykman - Mr. President.

The President - Mr. Dykman.

Dr. Dykman - As I understand this bill the chief judge, the presiding judge of the City Court may send to the borough of Brooklyn or the county of Kings, from the Bronx or from Queens or from Manhattan a City Court Judge to hold an equity term, and to that I am very much opposed.

This City Court ought to be a Commercial Court, a Commerce Court, a court to try only questions of law and actions where the plaintiff demands a sum of money only. I should like to see the jurisdiction cut down to three thousand dollars and left where it was, for I think that the tendency of these minor courts as you extend their jurisdiction is to pay chief attention to the large cases and forget the small cases, but that is not the object of this amendment.

Speaking only to this amendment, I very earnestly hope that this amendment will be adopted, and these words which authorize a judge elected to the City Court in the borough of Manhattan or in the borough of Queens or in the borough of Bronx to be sent by the chief judge on a peripatetic tour through the city of New York - I hope the amendment will not prevail and that the amendment will be adopted. I very earnestly ask my brothers to save us from this court coming to the borough where I principally practice. Mr. D. Nicoll - Mr. President.

The President - Mr. Nicoll.

Mr. D. Nicoll - The City Court referred to in the report of the Judiciary Committee is constituted as the court in the city of New York, between the Magistrate's Court below and the Supreme Court above. That court in the city of New York, now known as the City Court has jurisdiction on actions of contract and tort of $2,000. We have extended the jurisdiction of that court in actions for the recovery of a sum of money only to $5,000. Our object was to draw cases into the City Court, the smaller cases, and away from the Supreme Court, so as to relieve the pressure on the Supreme Court. All that seems to have been reasonable and sensible.

We are composed, as you know, of five counties. In the counties of Richmond, Kings, Queens and Bronx, there is now a County Judge exercising the usual powers under the statute of County Judges. We have taken those judges and put them in the Court of General Sessions of the Peace, that is the Criminal Court, and we propose to elect in their places in the several counties new men to be known as the City Judges.

The question is, should we give to those judges and to the whole court the power, the equity powers, now existing in the County Courts; that is, should we confer upon this City Court generally in the city of New York equity powers.

Now, there are no such equity powers existing in the City Court so far as Manhattan is concerned, and we see no reason why such equity powers should exist in the City Court anyway. But, the sole question is a question of convenience. In Manhattan now when we have an action to foreclose a mortgage, a partition suit, a dower suit, or any of the usual equity actions, we go into the Supreme Court. Why should not Kings county do the same? The county courthouse and the supreme courthouse are the same place. You walk from the room of the County Court into the room of the Supreme Court, and why should not the same method, the same practice, and the same procedure in these matters obtain in one county as in another?

The only possible inconvenience that could result would be to the person living in Queens, Bronx, or Richmond, but that, as I have pointed out in the Committee of the Whole, is a very trifling inconvenience. If a lawyer in Richmond wants to bring an equity action he can bring it in the Supreme Court. Instead of bringing it in the Supreme Court of Richmond, he would go for his orders to the courthouse in Brooklyn, a very short distance, a matter of less than an hour. The same would be true of the Bronx, where they would come down to our courthouse.

Mr. Marshall - They have a courthouse there.

Mr. D. Nicoll - They have a court house up there, Mr. Marshall says; and of course, we all know that you can go from any part of the borough of Queens to the county courthouse in the Bronx in less than an hour. So it all comes down to that, as to whether or not we should not make a homogeneous court for the whole city with the jurisdiction of five thousand dollars in cases where only a money judgment is sought to be recovered. Mr. F. Martin - Mr. President.

The President - Mr. Martin.

Mr. F. Martin - When this matter was up before the Committee of the Whole it amended this section in order to give equity jurisdiction to these courts. I want to call the attention of the members from outside of New York that in the counties of the Bronx, Kings, Queens and Richmond we are only asking for what we now have and we are only asking for the same jurisdiction as you gentlemen have in every County Court in the entire State.

The argument by Mr. Nicoll that they are trying to make one court for the whole city does not seem to bear out the actions of the Judiciary Committee. I saw an amendment this morning where the equity jurisdiction was to be restored to Kings county and to Queens county, and yet in New York, in New York county and the Bronx, the court was to be left without equity jurisdiction. We have a County Court to-day, and we are well satisfied with it, and that is true of most of the counties in Greater New York. If we are to have the new court, let us have the court with the same jurisdiction, or let our court in the Bronx stand as it is to-day. It is useless if we have no equity jurisdiction. How can we put in an equitable defense in an action in that court, if equity jurisdiction is to be taken away, and you cannot get affirmative relief in case you are entitled to it? How are we to foreclose these little mortgages, and the mechanic liens, and these partition suits in our county, unless we have some equity jurisdiction? We don't care whether the jurisdiction with reference to law suits, in actions at law are reduced or not. Reduce it to $2,000, if the Committee sees fit. We have no objection to it, but we do want the equity jurisdiction which we have now, and I would like to know what is behind this amendment to take away the equity jurisdiction from our courts. Our courts will be absolutely useless to us unless we have some equity jurisdiction. I have heard a lot of talk about the judges who compose the City Court in New York county, but they are not the judges who are in our county. We are satisfied with our judges. Provide that the judge will have to sit in the county he is elected from and then he will be satisfactory to us. And so give us a court which will be a court, and which will be of some use to the people of our county. And I appeal to you gentlemen from the country districts who have a County Court, you who know how valuable the County Court is, to restore this equity jurisdiction, and give us a court which will be worth something to the people of our county.

Mr. Steinbrink - Mr. President.

The President - Mr. Steinbrink.

Mr. Steinbrink - Let me say to the gentlemen who do not live in the city of New York that the only reason that the Legislature from time to time has by code provisions, added to the jurisdiction of the County Court is because in the country districts there is no resident Supreme Court justice who can sign the ex parte orders, who can attend to the foreclosure cases, the partition suits, commitments of insane persons, and matters of that kind.

Now, in the city of New York, within thirty minutes, at any hour of the day or night you can reach a Supreme Court judge. It does not make any difference

Mr. F. Martin - Mr. President, will the gentleman give way for a minute.

Mr. Steinbrink

Martin.

When I get through, because my time is limited, Mr.

Mr. Steinbrink - When you want a judge, whether it is in Kings county or Queens county, you can get one, and while it is true that in Richmond county there is not a term every month, the new courthouse, which will be at St. George, is thirty minutes, less than thirty minutes away from New York county.

Now, I agree entirely, after listening to the argument before the Judiciary Committee, that this jurisdiction should not be conferred upon this court. It was intended as a commercial court and not as a miniature Supreme Court. If you do this, you make your system top-heavy again, and you will have a congestion of business in the City Court and a lack of business in the Supreme Court.

Now, one other thing and that is as to just how this is worded. When this amendment was adopted there was some little upset on the floor. The gentleman from Queens drafted this amendment and the gentleman from Kings withdrew his, and the amendment offered by Mr. Frank was hurriedly adopted, and it is this, that it confers upon the City Court of the City of New York throughout the city such other jurisdiction in civil action as is now exercised by County Courts.

Well, if it does that and if within one county a County Court has jurisdiction to foreclose a mortgage and if you are going to give that jurisdiction to the court throughout the city of New York, then you will have a foreclosure on Kings county property in an action up in the county of the Bronx, or a foreclosure on Richmond county property in Queens.

Don't tell me that the code says differently, because you are writing into your Constitution the sections of the code, and that is where you fall into the serious error, and it should not be done, and I hope that the amendment offered by Mr. Wickersham will prevail.

Mr. Latson - Mr. President.

The President - Mr. Latson.

Mr. Latson - Mr. President, this situation, I think, was brought about originally by an amendment which I proposed in the Committee of the Whole. I was prompted to offer a suggestion with reference to the jurisdiction of the City Court, because I discerned the primary object of the Judiciary Committee, namely to relieve the congestion in the Supreme Court. That was their primary object, and the means that were adopted in my opinion fell short of that purpose. We, I think, as practicing lawyers have come to forget, or we have tried to forget the line of demarkation between law and equity. We like, when we go into the courtroom, to be able to try out our issues, and there, so far as possible, see that they are completely disposed of in order that substantial justice may be done between the parties litigating there. That was the thought that I had in my mind and I thought if those powers and that jurisdiction were to go to the City Court, and that it would bring to the bench that dignity which is so consistent with it, that we would secure a court which would serve its purpose and at the same time relieve the Supreme Court. So the amendment which I originally offered was that equitable jurisdiction be conferred upon the City Court. That was met with objection and the thought was presented that that would create a court of concurrent jurisdiction with the Supreme Court, and that objection found a response in my mind. I saw that my suggestion, perhaps, went too far, but if in addition to appropriate financial limitation, there was given the full equity jurisdiction, I thought that it would be a very decided help in the direction which the Committee on the Judiciary seemed to be progressing.

Now, in the middle of the discussion there came this thought with reference to conferring upon the City Court the present jurisdiction of the County Courts, and it was finally adopted in the Committee of the Whole as something in the nature of a compromise between the extreme views that had been expressed upon the floor of the Committee of the Whole.

At that time I took occasion to remind those practitioners from the upper part of the State of the nature of our judiciary system in the city of New York, with its Municipal Court of $1,000 jurisdiction, then the Supreme Court, the County Courts lying in these other counties, and the City Court of Manhattan, in New York, and then what would happen?

When you take away the County Court and then extend the City Court, you are depriving all these counties except Manhattan and Bronx, you are de

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