The Text

The city court of the city of New York is continued, and from and after the first day of January, one thousand nine hundred and seventeen, it shall have the same jurisdiction and power throughout the city of New York, under the name of the city court of New York, as it now possesses within the county of New York and the county of Bronx and original jurisdiction in actions for the recovery of money only in which the complaint demands judgment for a sum not exceeding three thousand dollars. Such court shall have likewise the equity jurisdiction now possessed by county courts but such jurisdiction shall be exercised only within the respective counties of such city by the judges elected within such counties. It shall consist of the judges then in office who shall continue to be judges of the court for the remainder of the terms for which they respectively were elected or appointed, and the additional judges to be elected as provided in this section. The judges who were elected or appointed as judges of the city court of the city of New York, until the expiration of the terms for which they were respectively elected or appointed, shall be paid the salaries now fixed by law for such judges. Their successors shall be elected by the electors of the county of New York and shall hold office for ten years. There shall also be five additional judges, two of whom shall reside in and be chosen by the electors of the county of Kings, and one of whom shall reside in and be chosen by the electors in each of the counties of Bronx, Richmond and Queens, all of whom shall be elected at the general election in November, one thousand nine hundred and sixteen, and they and their successors, who shall be chosen in like manner, shall hold office for ten years. Until the legislature shall otherwise provide the judge of the city court chosen in the county of Richmond shall be surrogate of that county. The legislature may provide for a surrogate for the county of Richmond. The legislature may in its discretion authorize the election of two additional judges, one to reside in and be chosen by the electors of the respective counties of Bronx and Kings. The judges elected as in this section provided shall receive from the city a compensation to be fixed by the legislature. The judges of the city court of New York shall choose one of their own number to be the presiding judge thereof who shall be charged with the general administration of the court and assign the judges to hold the terms thereof, subject to such regulations as the presiding justices of the appellate divisions of the supreme court in the first and second departments shall from time to time prescribe. The judges shall have power to appoint and remove a clerk, who shall keep his office at a place to be designated by the court. All civil actions or proceedings on the first day of January, one thousand nine hundred and seventeen, pending in the county courts of the counties of Kings, Queens, Richmond and Bronx, respectively, shall thereupon be transferred to the city court of New York for hearing and determination, which court for the purpose only of such hearing and determination and the enforcement of the judgments rendered thereon shall have and exercise the jurisdiction previously vested in the respective county courts from which such cases are so transferred, at terms held within the counties in which the same are pending. Until the legislature shall otherwise provide, the clerk of the city court of the city of New York and the chief clerk of the county court in each of the counties of Kings, Queens, Richmond and Bronx, shall act within his county as clerk of the city court of New York, and the presiding judge of the court shall make such rules and regulations respecting the clerks’ offices and the distribution of the business of the court in the said several counties as from time to time may be expedient, subject to regulations of the presiding justices of the first and second departments as aforesaid.