102 N.Y.S. 374 | N.Y. App. Div. | 1907
A Trial Term of the Supreme Court was appointed by the Appellate Division of this department, to commence on the first Monday of Movember, 1906, and to that court Mr. Justice Greénbaum, a justice of the Supreme Court, was assigned. He presided in that court during the month of Movember, and at the end of that month, on the application 0f the district attorney, an order was entered which recited that,-“it appearing to the Court, from the statements of the District Attorney of the County of Mew York, and from the indictments filed by the Grand Jury of the County of Mew York, and triable in this court, That the public interests require that the Movember, 1906, Term of this Court be continued.” It was, therefore, ordered that “this Movember, 1906, Term be and the same is hereby continued to and until the third day of December, 1906, and thereafter until such business as may be and be brought before this Court is disposed of.” A Trial Term of the Supreme Court had ■ been appointed by the Appellate Division of this department, to commence on the first Monday of'
On the thirtieth of November, when the order was made continuing the November term, an unfinished case was on trial, which case was continued until the 11th of December, 1906, and on the 12th of December, 1906, this relator, who had been indicted by the grand jury for manslaughter in the first degree, was tried in the continued November term, which trial resulted in her 'conviction; after her conviction the defendant, for the first time, objected to the jurisdiction of the court, on the ground that the term had ended with the month of November or upon the conclusion of the-trial which had been commenced during that month, and the court was, therefore, without jurisdiction, to commence a new trial after the commencement of the December term of the Supreme Court, and then moved for arrest of judgment on this ground. That motion having been denied, the relator obtained; a- writ of habeas- corpus, claiming that the court had no jurisdiction to try the relator and asking that she be discharged. Upon the hearing at the ■ Special Term this writ of habeas corpus was dismissed and the relator appeals.
It is not disputed but that the term of the Supreme Cqurt was properly appointed by the Appellate Division in pursuance of the authority contained in the 6th article of the Constitution and section 1132 of the Code of Civil Procedure. It was presided over by a justice of the Supreme Court as provided by the Constitution assigned to preside over that term by the Appellate Division of this department. There can be no question, therefore, but that it was a legal court legally constituted and competent to try this relator for the ofiense charged, unless it ceased to be a term of the Supreme Court on the 1st Monday of December, 1906, when the December term of the court was a])pointed to be held, ormpon the completion of a trial that was unfinished at that time. There is no provision in the Constitution or in the Code of Civil Procedure which limits the duration of a term of the Supreme Court once duly appointed to be held, and the duration of the term was not limited by the appointment for this term made by the Appellate Division of this department, It is true that on the first Monday of December a new Trial
If legislative authority was necessary in the absence of a prohibition, we think that is furnished by section 232 of the Code of Civil Procedure, which provides that “ Two or more Trial Terms may be appointed to be held a/nd may be held at the same time in any county. A Trial Term in any county may be held in two or more parts, and a jury panel may be summoned to serve in each part, or jurors may be drawn from one panel.” Provision, is here expressly made for the holding at the same time of two or more Trial Terms in the same county, and thus, under the system .established in this State, there can be no objection to a continuance of one term of the Supreme Court after a new term has commenced. The right of a term of the Supreme Court to continue its term from day to day is expressly recognized in People v. Sullivan (115 N. Y. 185), for it was there held that there is an inherent power in the court to
The appellant relies upon authorities from other States which have held that a term of the court ended upon the commencement of a new term, but this is put upon the express ground that otherwise two terms of the'same'court would be held at the same time. But in this State the Legislature has expressly overcome this objection . by allowing two terms of the same court to be held at the same time. I think, therefore, the Objection is without merit and ■ that a term of the Supreme Court once established as provided by the Constitution and the Code of Civil Procedure, continues until it is adjourned without day, and the fact that in. the meanwhile, another term'of the court is appointed to be held has po effect'upon the continued term.
The relator also claims that the court lost jurisdiction to try the .relator because, during the trial,, the accommodations in, the Criminal Court Building being inadequate for the work to be done, continued the trial in one of the court rooms of the County Court House in-which it has been the custom-to hold the terms of the Supreme Court in which civil cases were tried. But both the Criminal Court Building and the County Court House constituted the court house in the county of Hew York. These Trial Terms "of the Supreme Court were appointed to be held at the court house in the county of Hew York. A person indicted for crime has no constitutional right to be. tried in one court room rather than in another in the same county, and there could be no possible disadvantage to the relator, and none is alleged, in the change of court rooms,, whether the rootiis were in One or more buildings! We think the objection entirely without merit. The time has passed' in this State when a person indicted for crime, having been tried by' a court organized as required by the- Constitution, presided over by a judicial officer duly elected to preside, and where all the rights of the accused have been carefully preserved and guarded, may have his conviction set aside upon a technical claim, such as that presented. The case of Northrup v. People (37 N. Y. 203) has
It follows that the order appealed from must be affirmed.
Patterson, P. 3., McLaughlin, Laughlin and Houghton, 33., concurred.
Order affirmed. Order filed.