Present jurisdiction.

actions. 12. To remit fines and forfeited recognizances. 13, To grant new trials, or affirm, modify, or reverse judgments in actions tried therein, upon exceptions or case made, subject to an appeal to the supreme court. Code, § 30.

They also had jurisdiction of naturalization proceedings. The People v. Pease, 30 Barb. 588.

But it will be seen that the court, under the constitution of 1846, was not, as was the old court of common pleas, a court of general jurisdiction, but it was a new court, with a limited statutory jurisdiction, and the court of appeals held that the record should show all the facts necessary to confer jurisdiction. Frees v. Ford,6 N. Y. (2 Seld.) 176.

The county court had, prior to the amendment of 1858, jurisdiction to try an action defeated in the justice's court upon the interposition of a plea of title. Cook v. Nellis, 18 N. Y. (4 Smith) 126.

Section 4. Present jurisdiction.

a. In general. The 6th article of the constitution, as adopted in 1869, extends the jurisdiction of the county courts far beyond the limits which prescribed its powers under the constitution of 1846. By the provisions of the new constitution they now have, in addition to the powers and jurisdiction they previously possessed, original jurisdiction in all cases where the defendants reside in the county, and in which the damages claimed shall not exceed $1,000. Also, such appellate jurisdiction as shall be provided by law, and such other original jurisdiction as shall, from time to time, be conferred upon them by the legislature. Const., art. 6, § 15.

b. Original jurisdiction The jurisdiction of county courts extends to the following cases:

I. Civil actions in which the relief demanded is the recovery of a sum of money not exceeding $1,000, or the recovery of personal property not exceeding in value $1,000, and in which all the defendants are residents of the county in which the action is brought at the time of its commencement; subject to the right of the supreme court, upon special motion, for good cause shown, to remove any such action into the supreme court before trial. Laws of 1870, ch. 467, § 1.

II. The foreclosure or satisfaction of a mortgage, and the sale of mortgaged premises situated within the county, and the collection of any deficiency on the mortgage remaining unpaid,

Original jurisdiction.

after the sale of the mortgaged premises. Arnold v. Rees 18 N. Y. (4 Smith) 57; S. 7 Abb. 328.

Code, § 30. See
C., 17 How. 35;

III. The partition of real property situated within the county. Code, § 30. See Doubleday v. Heath, 16 N. Y. (2 Smith) 80. IV. The admeasurement of dower in land situated within the county.

V. The sale, mortgage or other disposition of the real property situated within the county, of an infant or person of unsound mind.

VI. To compel the specific performance by an infant heir, or other person, of a contract made by a party who shall have died before the performance thereof. Code, § 30. See Williston v. Williston, 41 Barb. 635.

VII. The care and custody of the person, and estate of a lunatic or person of unsound mind, or an habitual drunkard, residing within the county. Code, § 30.

The jurisdiction conferred over habitual drunkards is general, and not limited to those having estates of less than $250. Davis v. Spencer, 24 N. Y. (10 Smith) 386; overruling Matter of Smith, 16 How. 567.

VIII. The mortgage or sale of the real property situated within the county, of a religious corporation, and the disposition of the proceeds thereof.

IX. To exercise the power and authority heretofore vested in the courts of common pleas, over judgments rendered by justices of the peace, transcripts of which have been filed in the offices of the county clerks in such counties. Code, § 30. See People v. Judges of Washington County, 1 Wend. 79.

`X. To exercise all the powers and jurisdiction conferred by statute upon the late courts of common pleas of the county, or the judges or any judge thereof, respecting ferries, fisheries, turnpike roads, wrecks, physicians, habitual drunkards, imprisoned, insolvent, absent, concealed or non-resident debtors, jail liberties, the removal of occupants of State lands, the laying out of railroads through Indian lands, and upon appeal from the determination of commissioners of highways, and all other powers and jurisdiction conferred by statute, which has not been repealed, in the late court of common pleas of the county, or in the county court, since the late courts of common pleas were abolished, except in the trial and determination of civil

Appellate jurisdiction.

actions; and to prescribe the manner of exercising such jurisdiction, when the provisions of any statute are inconsistent with the organization of the county court. See §2 of this article, ante, 384, 385.

XI. To remit fines and forfeited recognizances in the same cases, and in like manner, as such power was given by law to courts of common pleas.

XII. To grant new trials, or affirm, modify or reverse judgments in actions tried in such court, upon exceptions, or case made, subject to an appeal to the supreme court. Code, § 30.

XIII. The county court has also jurisdiction of proceedings for the naturalization of aliens. The People v. Pease, 30 Barb. 588.

c. Appellate jurisdiction. The county courts also possess the exclusive power to review, in the first instance, a judgment rendered in a civil action by a justice's court in the county, or by a justice's court in cities, and to affirm, reverse or modify such judgment. Code, §§ 30, 352.

A new trial may be had in the county court when the claim or claims of either party in the court below, for which judgment was demanded, exceeded $50, or in an action to recover possession of personal property where the value of the property as assessed and the damages recovered exceed $50, exclusive of costs in the following cases:

When the judgment was rendered upon an issue of law joined between the parties.

When it was rendered upon an issue of fact joined between the parties, whether the defendant was present at the trial or not. Code, § 352.

But the appellant may, in the cases in which a new trial may be had, state in his notice of appeal that such appeal is taken upon questions of law only, in which case a new trial shall not be had, but the appeal shall be heard and determined upon argument, as in cases where a new trial cannot be had. Code, § 352

County courts may review the determinations of commissioners of highways (1 R. S. 477 [518], § 84; Laws of 1845, ch. 180), and of justices of the peace, in summary proceedings, to recover the possession of land. Laws of 1849, ch. 193.

Section 1. Early court. It will be remembered that, as it was at first organized, the court of common pleas was a court of general law jurisdiction, and as such possessed all the powers incidental to such a court. Laws, Bradford's ed. of 1694, 264. And from that period down to the establishment of the State government, they continued to exercise substantially the same powers. Graham on Jurisdiction, 73.

Section 2. Powers before 1846.

a. Powers of court. By the Revised Statutes these courts were re-organized, and possessed the powers, etc., which belonged to courts of common pleas of the several counties of the colony of New York, with the additions, limitations and exceptions created and imposed by the constitution and laws of the State. 2 R. S. 217 (208), § 1.

Beside the jurisdictional powers which have been enumerated in section 2 of the preceding article, this court possessed the general powers of a court of record, which were: 1. To issue process of subpoena, requiring the attendance of any witnesses residing or being in any part of this State, to testify in any matter or cause pending in the court. 2. To administer oaths to witnesses in any such matter or cause, and in all other cases, where it may be necessary, in the exercise of the powers and duties of the court. 3. To devise and make such new writs and forms of proceedings as may be necessary to carry into effect the powers and jurisdiction possessed by them. 2 R. S. (276) 287, § 1.

The appointment and removal of district attorneys also belonged to the common pleas. 1 R. S. 98 (108), § 15.

The court had no power to grant a writ of error coram nobis (People v. Oneida Com. Pleas, 20 Johns. 22), nor could it refer a cause appealed from a justice. People v. Washington Com. Pleas, 20 Johns. 363. See Cowen v. Bush, 3 Cow. 343; Flower v. Allen, 5 id. 654; Hyland v. Loomis, 48 Barb. 126.

It had power to grant a compulsory nonsuit (Pratt v. Hull, 13 Johns. 334), and to set aside, as against evidence, a verdict or a referee's report. Ex parte Bassett, 2 Cow. 458.

Powers under constitution of 1846.

b. Powers of judges. The judges were empowered to take the acknowledgment of bail, and of satisfaction of judgment, in their own court, as well as in the supreme court (2 R. S. 293 [282], § 40), and the first judge of any county, and any other judge of the county court of the degree of counselor in the supreme court, could make any order in vacation, touching any suit or proceeding in the common pleas, in the same manner as a supreme court justice at chambers. 2 R S. 292 (282), § 38. But no judge of the county court, other than those specified, could exercise these powers, except in case of the absence, death, or inability of those mentioned. Id., § 39. The judges of the

court had power to remove justices of the peace. 1 R. S. 101 (111), § 35. But it was in their power to take cognizance of charges or not. Ex parte Johnson, 3 Cow. 371.

Any judge of the court might grant an order staying proceedings on a justice's judgment until the court had an opportunity to inquire into its validity. 2 R. S. 263 (246), § 116.

Section 3. Powers under constitution of 1846.

a. In general. The county courts possessed the same powers that it had exercised previous to the constitution of 1846, except so far as they related to the jurisdiction of that court, over actions at law. Const. of 1846, art. 6, § 14; Laws of 1847, ch. 280, §§ 29, 30. See Kundolf v. Thalheimer, 12 N. Y. (2 Kern.) 593.

And all laws relating to the former court of common pleas, its powers and jurisdiction, and the powers and duties of its officers, were made applicable to the county court as then organized. Laws of 1847, ch. 280, § 36.

b. New trials. The court had power to grant new trials, or affirm, reverse, or modify judgments in actions tried in such court, upon exceptions or case made, subject to an appeal to the supreme court. Laws of 1847, ch. 280, § 30. Code, & 30.

This court had jurisdiction, upon the written consent of the parties, to order a reference in a case brought before it by appeal from a justice's court, where an issue of fact had been joined in the action. Hyland v. Loomis, 48 Barb. 126.

Section 4. Present powers.

a. Powers of court. Under the constitution, as amended in 1869, the county courts are continued with such powers and jurisdiction as they now possess, until altered by the legislature. Const., art. 6, § 15. And under the Code they exercise all