People v. Dooley

69 A.D. 512, 75 N.Y.S. 350
CourtAppellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York
DecidedJuly 1, 1902
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 69 A.D. 512 (People v. Dooley) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People v. Dooley, 69 A.D. 512, 75 N.Y.S. 350 (N.Y. Ct. App. 1902).

Opinions

Willard Bartlett, J.:

The determination of this appeal depends upon the constitutionality of the amendments to the Greater Yew York charter enacted by the Legislature of 1901, providing that the city magistrates in the second division of the city of Yew York should be elected instead of being appointed by the mayor.

Under the Greater Yew York charter as originally enacted (Laws of 1897, chap. 378) the city of Yew York was divided into two divisions for the purposes of the administration of criminal justice. The first division comprised the boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx; the second division comprised the boroughs of Brooklyn, Queens and Richmond. (§ 1390.)

At. the time of the enactment of the original Greater Yew York charter the office of city magistrate already existed in the former city of Yew York, having been established by chapter 601 of the Laws of 1895. The charter provided that the city magistrates in office when it took effect should continue to hold office until the expiration of their respective terms, and should be known as the city magistrates of the first division. It further provided that their successors should be appointed in the same manner as provided in the act of 1895. That act provided that they were to be appointed by the mayor, and should hold office for a term of ten years. The charter conferred upon the city magistrates thus continued in office and their successors the same.power and jurisdiction which they had by law upon December 31, 1897. (§ 1392.)

The charter then proceeded to provide for the office of city magistrate in the second division. The police justices in the former [516]*516city of Brooklyn, who should be in office, on January 31, 1898, were to continue in office for the residue of their respective terms, but were to be “ known as city magistrates of the second division of the city of New York, and have the powers and duties hereinafter prescribed for city magistrates and no other.” After providing for the appointment of additional city magistrates, who should be residents of the borough of Queens and residents of the borough of Richmond, the charter- prescribed as follows: The successors of said magistrates shall at all times thereafter be appointed by the mayor of said city, and shall be residents and electors of the borough from which said magistrates whom they shall be appointed to sue-need were appointed, and shall hold office for ten years.” . (§ 1394.)

The powers of the city magistrates whose continuance in office of appointment was thus provided for, were dealt with in section 1396 of the original Greater New York charter in these words: “The said magistrates appointed or continued in office pursuant to this title, shall have and exercise within the said second. division such powers as are conferred by law upon the city magistrates in the city of New York by chapter six hundred and one of the laws of eighteen hundred and ninety-five and the acts amending the same, except as herein otherwise provided.”

There was thus established a uniform system for the selection of city magistrates in both divisions of the Greater New York. After the expiration of the terms of those who were expressly continued in office, their successors were to be appointed by the mayor for terms of ten years each. Generally speaking, their powers were those formerly possessed by police justices in the old city of New York. As has already been seen, the charter referred to their powers as having been conferred upon them by the act of 1895. Referring to that act, we find that section 3 thereof provides as follows : “ On and after the first day of July, eighteen hundred and ninety-five, the city magistrates appointed pursuant to this act shall have and shall exercise all the powers and jurisdiction, not inconsistent with the provisions of this act, which, on the thirtieth day of June, eighteen hundred and ninety-five, shall be vested by law in the police justices, except proceedings respecting bastards.” (Laws of 1895, chap. 601, § 3.) On the date thus specified the general provisions of law in force relating to the police courts and police [517]*517justices and their powers in the city of New York were to be found in chapter 18, title 11, of the New York City Consolidation Act. (Laws of 1882, chap. 410, §§ 1541-1568.) Among these provisions was the following: “ In all cases of arrest for intoxication or disorderly conduct in the city of New York the police justices shall have power, in addition to holding the party to bail for good behavior, to impose a fine not exceeding ten dollars in each case., or to commit to the city prison not exceeding ten days, each day of imprisonment to be taken as a liquidation of one dollar of the fine.” (§ 1562.)

This section indicates that a city magistrate was authorized to exercise some functions over and above those of a mere committing magistrate. He could try and determine the guilt of persons charged with intoxication or disorderly conduct, and in case of conviction'impose a fine or sentence of imprisonment. To this extent he exercised the power of a court; and, in fact and law, held a court of inferior criminal jurisdiction within the meaning of the Constitution. It is to be noted that in the New York City Consolidation Act the tribunals over which the police justices presided were denominated “ police courts,” and that in the act of 1895, as well as in the Greater New York charter, the word “court,” as applicable to the tribunal over which a city magistrate presides, frequently occurs. (Laws of 1895, chap. 601, §§ 4, 5, 8; Laws of 1897, chap. 378, §§ 1398, 1400.) Furthermore, in the case of Koch v. Mayor (152 N. Y. 72, 86), in which the Court of Appeals sustained the constitutionality of the act of 1895, which abolished the office of police justice and created the. office of city magistrate in the former city of New York, the tribunal of the city magistrates is spoken of as “ the new court.”

In 1901, when the Legislature came to revise the Greater New York charter (by chapter 466 of the laws of that year), it provided, for the election of city magistrates within the borough of Brooklyn in lieu of their appointment. At the general election to be held in the borough of Brooklyn in the year nineteen hundred and one,” says section 1392 of the revised Greater New York charter, there shall be elected in each congressional district, as then constituted in said borough, one city magistrate, and in the territory constituting the borough of Brooklyn there shall be- elected two city magistrates at large, and the terms of office of all said city magistrates so elected [518]*518shall commence on the first day of January, nineteen hundred and • two, and continue for six years thereafter.” In the boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx, the method of appointment was retained.

Under this provision the election of city magistrates therein provided for took place in 1901; and the result of the canvass showed the election of one magistrate each in the six several congressional districts comprised within the borough of Brooklyn, and two magistrates voted for by the electors in the borough at large. The right of the persons thus chosen was questioned by the city magistrates holding office in the borough of Brooklyn at the time of the election by virtue of appointments from the mayor under the original Greater Hew York charter. The Attorney-General instituted the present action to settle the controversy which arose between the two sets of claimants. Four of the persons who had been appointed city magistrates by the mayor under the.

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Bluebook (online)
69 A.D. 512, 75 N.Y.S. 350, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-dooley-nyappdiv-1902.