Article VI.

Section 5. City courts abolished; judges become justices of supreme court; salaries; jurisdiction vested in supreme court

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City courts abolished; judges become justices of supreme court; salaries; jurisdiction vested in supreme court

City courts abolished; judges become justices of supreme court; salaries; jurisdiction vested in supreme court

The Superior Court of the City of New York, the Court of Common Pleas for the City and County of New York the Superior Court of Buffalo, and the City Court of Brooklyn, are abolished from and after the first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and ninety-six, and thereupon the seals, records, papers and documents of or belonging to such courts, shall be deposited in the offices of the Clerks of the several counties in which said courts now exist; and all actions and proceedings then pending in such courts shall be transferred to the Supreme Court for hearing and determination. The Judges of said courts in office on the first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and ninety-six, shall, for the remainder of the terms for which they were elected or appointed, be Justices of the Supreme Court; but they shall sit only in the counties in which they were elected or appointed. Their salaries shall be paid by the said counties respectively, and shall be the same as the salaries of the other justices of the Supreme Court residing in the same counties. Their successors shall be elected as Justices of the Supreme Court by the electors of the judicial districts in which they respectively reside. The jurisdiction now exercised by the several courts hereby abolished, shall be vested in the Supreme, Court. Appeals from inferior and local courts now heard in the Court of Common Pleas for the City and County of New York and the Superior Court of Buffalo, shall be heard in the Supreme Court in such manner and by such Justice or Justices as the Appellate Divisions in the respective departments which include New York and Buffalo shall direct, unless otherwise provided by the Legislature.

Judges, how chosen; term of office

Justices of the supreme court shall be chosen by the electors of their respective judicial districts. Judges of all the courts mentioned in the last preceding section shall be chosen by the electors of the cities respectively in which the said courts are instituted. The official terms of the said justices and judges who shall be elected after the adoption of this article shall be fourteen years from and including the first day of January next after their election. But no person shall hold the office of justice or judge of any court longer than until and including the last day of December next after he shall be seventy years of age. The compensation of every judge of the court of appeals and of every justice of the supreme court, whose term of office shall be abridged pursuant to this provision, and who shall have served as such judge or justice ten years or more, shall be continued during the remainder of the term for which he was elected.

Judges, how chosen; term of office

Justices of the supreme court shall be chosen by the electors of their respective judicial districts. Judges of all the courts mentioned in the last preceding section shall be chosen by the electors of the cities respectively in which the said courts are instituted. The official terms of the said justices and judges who shall be elected after the adoption of this article, shall be fourteen years from and including the first day of January next after their election. But no person shall hold the office of justice or judge of any court longer than until and including the last day of December next after he shall be seventy years of age.

Election of judges

The judges of the court of appeals shall be elected by the electors of the state, and the justices of the supreme court by the electors of the several judicial districts, at such times as may be prescribed by law.

Redlined Comparison between 1870 and 1926 Amendment (includes interim changes)

Removed from 1870 Added to 1926

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