be established by law, payable out of the county treasury, and shall not be diminished during his term of office. The justices of the peace shall be paid, for services in courts of sessions, a per diem allowance out of the county treasury. The county judge shall also be surrogate of his county; but in counties having a population exceeding forty thousand, the legislature may provide for the election of a separate officer to be surrogate, whose term of office shall be the same as that of the county judge. The county judge of any county may preside at courts of sessions, or hold county courts, in any other county, except New York and Kings, when requested by the judge of such other county.

SEC. 16.-Local officers, election of.

The legislature may, on application of the board of supervisors, provide for the election of local officers, not to exceed two in any county, to discharge the duties of county judge and of surrogate, in cases of their inability, or of a vacancy, and to exercise such other powers in special cases as may be provided by law.

SEC. 17.-Election or appointment of judges.

The legislature shall provide for submitting to the electors of the State at the general election in the year eighteen hundred and seventy-three, two questions, to be voted upon on separate ballots, as follows: First, "Shall the offices of chief judge and associate judge of the court of appeals, and of justice of the supreme court be hereafter filled by appointment?" If a majority of the votes upon the question shall be in the affirmative, the said officers shall not thereafter be elective, but, as vacancies occur, they shall be filled by appointment by the governor, by and with the advice and consent of the senate; or, if the senate be not in session, by the governor; but, in such case, he shall nominate to the senate when next convened, and such appointment by the governor alone shall expire at the end of that session. Second, "Shall the offices of the judges mentioned in sections twelve and fifteen of article six of the constitution be hereafter filled by appointment?" If a majority of the votes upon the question shall be in the affirmative, the said officers shall not thereafter be elective, but as vacancies occur they shall be filled in the manner in this section above provided.

SEC. 18.-Justices of the peace and other judicial officers, how elected.

The electors of the several towns shall, at their annual town meeting, 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 residue of the unexpired term. Their number and classification may be regulated by law. Justices of the peace, and judges or justices of inferior courts not of record, and their clerks, may be removed, after due notice and an opportunity of being heard by such courts as may be prescribed by law, for causes to be assigned in the order of removal. Justices of the peace and district court justices shall be elected in the different cities of this State, in such manner, and with such powers, and for such terms, respectively, as shall be prescribed by law; all other judicial officers in cities, whose election or appointment is not otherwise provided for in this article, shall be chosen by the electors of cities, or appointed by some local authorities thereof.

SEC. 19.-Inferior local courts.

Inferior local courts of civil and criminal jurisdiction may be established by the legislature; and, except as herein otherwise provided, all judicial officers shall be elected or appointed at such times, and in such manner, as the legislature may direct.

SEC. 20.—Clerks.

Clerks of the several counties shall be clerks of the supreme court, with such powers and duties as shall be prescribed by law. The clerk of the court of appeals shall keep his office at the seat of government. His compensation shall be fixed by law, and paid out of the public treasury.

SEC. 21.-Fees; attorney, referee.

No judicial officer, except justices of the peace, shall receive to his own use any fees or perquisites of office; nor shall any judge of the court of appeals, justice of the supreme court, or judge of a court of record, in the cities of New York, Brooklyn, or Buffalo, practice as an attorney or counselor in any court of record in this State, or act as referee.

SEC. 22.-Review of judgments.

The legislature may authorize the judgments, decrees and decisions of any court of record of original civil jurisdiction, established in a city, to be removed for review, directly into the court of appeals.

SEC. 23.-Publication of statutes and decisions.

The legislature shall provide for the speedy publication of all statutes, and also for the appointment by the justices of the supreme court designated to hold general terms, of a reporter of the decisions of that court. All laws and judicial decisions shall be free for publication by any person.

SEC. 24.-First election of judges.

The first election of the judges of the court of appeals, and of the three additional judges of the court of common pleas for the city and county of New York, shall take place on such day, between the first Tuesday in April and the second Tuesday in June, next after the adoption of this article, as may be provided by law. The court of appeals, the commissioners of appeals, and the additional judges of the said court of common pleas, shall respectively enter upon their duties on the first Monday of July thereafter.

SEC. 25.-Surrogates, justices of the peace, and local judicial officers.

Surrogates, justices of the peace, and local judicial officers provided for in section sixteen, in office when this article shall take effect, shall hold their respective offices until the expiration of their terms.

SEC. 26.-Special sessions.

Courts of special sessions shall have such jurisdiction of offenses of the grade of misdemeanors as may be prescribed by

law.

SEC. 27.-Surrogates' courts.

For the relief of surrogates' courts, the legislature may confer upon courts of record, in any county having a population exceeding four hundred thousand, the powers and jurisdiction of surrogates, with authority to try issues of fact by jury in probate

causes.

LAWS OF NEW YORK.-CHAP. 203.

AN ACT relating to the Court of Appeals and the Commission of Appeals.

PASSED April 14, 1870; three-fifths being present. The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:

SECTION 1. The court of appeals, instituted by the sixth article of the constitution, shall possess all the powers and jurisdiction heretofore possessed by the existing court of appeals, and all laws authorizing and, regulating appeals to the last-mentioned court, and other laws relating thereto, the judges thereof, their powers and duties, and not inconsistent with the constitution or with this act, shall be deemed in force and applicable to the court in this section first mentioned, and to the judges thereof; provided, however, that no existing law which relates to the rehearing of causes in such court shall be in force, and provided, further, that the court may prescribe the times and places of holding its terms, except as provided in the next section.

§ 2. The said court of appeals shall hold a term for the hearing of causes and matters before it in the senate chamber of the capitol, in the city of Albany, commencing on the first Tuesday in July next. The clerk of the existing court of appeals shall act as clerk of such newly-instituted court until a clerk thereof shall be appointed pursuant to the constitution, and he shall prepare and make up a calendar for the term so to be held, to be composed of the causes and matters, which shall be upon the then existing calendar of the court of appeals, which were not pending in said court on the first day of January, eighteen hundred and sixty-nine. Such causes and matters on the existing calendar shall be deemed regularly noticed and ready for hearing at such term, according to the usual course and practice. Causes not upon the said existing calendar, and brought into the court of appeals since the first day of January, eighteen hundred and sixty-nine, may be noticed for hearing at the said term, and placed upon the calendar so to be prepared. The rules and practice of the existing court of appeals shall continue to be the rules and practice of the court of appeals ⚫ until the same shall be altered by order of the court.

§3. The commission of appeals provided for in the said sixth article of the constitution shall commence on the first Monday of July next, at which time the commissioners shall meet at the capitol, in the city of Albany, and shall take the oath of office, and organize by appointing a chief commissioner. The clerk of the

present court of appeals shall be the clerk of the said commission until the expiration of his term of office, when the commissioners shall appoint a successor for the residue of the period of the commission, and his compensation shall be the same as that of the clerk of the court of appeals.

§4. The said commission shall hold a term or sitting for the hearing of the causes committed to it at the capitol, in the city of Albany, commencing on the first Tuesday of July next, and shall proceed to hear and determine causes which were pending in the present court of appeals on the first day of January, eighteen hundred and sixty-nine. For that purpose the calendar of such causes, prepared for the year eighteen hundred and seventy, shall be deemed the calendar of the term so to be held, and of subsequent terms, or sittings, without further notice of hearing, and any such cause not on the calendar may be noticed and placed thereon at any term or sitting. The commissioners shall have power to hear and determine motions to dismiss appeals, and other motions arising in the causes committed to them. All existing laws relating to officers and attendants of the existing court of appeals, and all rules of procedure therein, shall be deemed in force in respect to said commission, so far as applicable to its jurisdiction and pow

ers.

5. The clerk of the commissioners shall keep minutes of their proceedings, orders and decisions, and whenever they shall make a final decision of any cause, or an order dismissing an appeal, the same shall be certified by the clerk to the court of appeals, and, on being recorded in the minutes thereof, shall be of the same force and effect as if the decision or order had been duly made by said court. A motion for a rehearing of any cause decided by the said commissioners shall be made before them.

$6. All remittiturs in causes determined by the said commissioners shall, after the decisions have been certified as required in the last preceding section, be sent down from the court of appeals. All minutes kept by the clerk of the commissioners of their proceedings, decisions and orders shall be deposited, and remain of record, in the office of the clerk of the court of appeals.

7. Prior to the first Monday of July next, the present court of appeals shall finally dispose of all causes and matters which shall have been argued before it or submitted for decision, either by determining such causes and matters, or by directing a re-argument of the same.

8. From and after the first Monday of July next the salary of the chief judge of the court of appeals shall be seven thousand five hundred dollars, and the salary of the associate judges of said court and of the commissioners of appeals shall be seven thousand dollars, and in addition to such salaries the said chief judge and associate judges shall be paid their reasonable expenses when absent from their homes in the performance of official duty.