5 N.Y.S. 642 | Yonkers City Court | 1889
This is an action upon a promissory note given by the defendant, dated at Mt. Vernon, N. Y., and payable at the Bank of Mt. Vernon in that place. Mt. Vernon is in the town of East Chester, a town in the county of Westchester, adjoining the city of Yonkers. The plaintiff resides in the city of Yonkers. The defendant resides in the town.of East Chester, and was served with the summons and complaint in this action in said town. It is proved, and not denied, that the note, with interest and costs of protest, is due and unpaid. The defendant answered, alleging simply that by reason of such service of the summons this court has not jurisdiction of the person of defendant, and that is the only question at issue in this case. The city court of Yonkers was established by the act of the legislature incorporating the city of Yonkers. Laws 1872, c. 866. That act provides, in title 2, §§ 1, 2, 5, for the election, among other city officers, of a city judge, whose term of office shall be four years. In addition to certain jurisdiction in criminal matters, it is provided (title 4, § 1) that “he shall possess all the powers and jurisdiction, and be subject to all the liabilities, of justices of the peace within said city. He shall also have the same jurisdiction and power within the city of Yonkers as is by law conferred upon the marine court in the city of New York, except in cases of appeal. * * * In all civil actions and proceedings before said city judge,'his court shall be called the ‘ City Court of Yonkers,’ * * * and said city judge shall further have and exercise within said city” certain powers of a county judge. By Laws 1873, c. 61, entitled “An act in relation to the city court of Yonkers,” it is provided, (section 1:) “ The city court of Yonkers, as heretofore constituted by law, and as continued by this act, shall be a court of record to and for all intents and purposes
It is admitted that by the statutes above referred to it was the clear intention of the legislature to confer jurisdiction upon this court in exactly such cases as the present, but it is maintained by the defendant that the attempt to give to the city court of Yonkers any territorial jurisdiction outside of the limits of the city of Yonkers is in violation of the constitution of this state, and that the statutes which purport to give such jurisdiction are pro tanto unconstitutional and void. It becomes necessary, therefore, to examine the source and extent of the legislative power in this particular. “ The state, as to subjects of a domestic nature, is a sovereign political power, and the legislature can provide such agencies for the administration of tlje law and the maintenance of public order as it shall judge suitable where no prohibition expressly made or necessarily implied is found in the constitution. ” Sill v. Village of Corning, 15 N. Y. 297. The constitution provides a complete judicial system for the state. It establishes, or continues, the court for the trial of impeachments, the court of appeals, the supreme court, the county courts, surrogates’ coru'ts, certain city courts; also the courts of justices of the peace. It provides for the election or appointment of justices of the peace, district court justices, and other judicial officers in the different cities of the state. And finally, to meet cases not adequately covered by any of these provisions, it declares, (article 6, § 19,) “Inferior local courts of civil and criminal jurisdiction may be established by the legislature.” These constitutional provisions, constituting an entire and harmonious judicial system for the state, were doubtless intended to cover the whole ground. The powers and jurisdiction of each court are defined. The extent to which the legislature may modify or add to them, and the cases in which new courts may be established, are carefully and explicitly laid down. It follows by necessary implication that no new courts can be organized except in accordance with these provisions. Sill v. Village of Corning, 15 N. Y. 297; People v. Porter, 90 N. Y. 68. The city court of Yonkers is not one of the courts expressly recognized by the constitution. It is wholly a creature of the legislature, and the only constitutional authority for its creation is to be found in article 6, § 19, above quoted, the authority to establish “inferior local courts of civil and criminal jurisdiction.”
The city court of Brooklyn was established under the authority of the constitution of 1846, and was continued by the amended judiciary article of 1869, “with such further civil and criminal jurisdiction as may be conferred by law.” It was held in Landers v. Railroad Co., 53 N. Y. 450, that the legislature had no power to enlarge its territorial jurisdiction. This decision was followed in Hoag v. Lamont, 60 N. Y. 96. See, also, Hutkoff v. Demorest, 103 N. Y. 377, 8 N. E. Rep. 899. In Waters v. Langdon, 40 Barb. 408, the act under consideration created a police justice for the village of "VVhitestown, with the powers and jurisdiction of a justice of the peace of the town of Whitestown. It was held unconstitutional, as providing for the election of another justice of the town by a part of the town, and in a manner not authorized by the constitution; citing Sill v. Village of Corning, and Brandon v. Avery. This case is quoted with approval in Geraty v. Reid, 78 N. Y. 64. In the latter case, which was decided in 1879, the question involved was whether the justice’s court of Brooklyn could send its process outside of the city. The act (Laws 1849, c. 125, § 35) provided for the election of justices of the peace for the term of four years, “ who shall have the same jurisdiction in said city that justices of towns have by law in respect to the towns for which they have been elected * * * and they shall be deemed Justices of the Peace of the County of Kings.” The act was amended, (Laws 1850, c. 102,) and it was provided that the said justices “shall have the like jurisdiction in all civil cases as is now exercised by the justices of the peace of the towns in this state, in addition to the powers and jurisdiction given them under the said act hereby amended.” Under this it was claimed that
There are cases which hold that it is within the constitutional authority of the legislature to establish new "civil divisions of the state, embracing in the districts so created several towns, cities, or counties, or such portions thereof as may be deemed appropriate for the general purposes of civil administration, provided that no “arrangement of the machinery of the government which the constitution has provided will be impeded or disturbed.” See People v. Draper, 15 N. Y. 532, (the case of the Metropolitan Police District;) People v. Shepard, 36 N. Y. 285, (the case of the Capital Police District;) People v. Albertson, 55 N. Y. 50. These cases, excepting, perhaps, the latter, do not involve the question of local courts, and in- the latter case the act under review was held unconstitutional. The court of common pleas for the city and county of Hew York, the superior court of the city of Hew York, the superior court of Buffalo, and the city court of Brooklyn, which are called in the Code of Civil Procedure, § 3343, “Superior City Courts,” although local courts, appear to have in certain cases authority to send their process beyond their localities, and to any part of the state. Code, § 278. This appears to be due to the fact that these courts were in existence prior to 1869, and were then in the exercise of certain jurisdiction which had been conferred .upon them by previous legislation which was expressly continued and confirmed by the constitutional amendment of that year. See Throop’s Hotes to section 263 of Code of Civil Procedure. See, also, Gemp v. Pratt, 7 Daly, 197; Whitehead v. Kennedy, 6 Daly, 546; Hutkoff v. Demorest, 103 N. Y. 377, 8 N. E. Rep. 899. The marine court of the city of Hew York, after which the city court of Yonkers was in part modeled, could not send its summons beyond the city of Hew York. Code, § 338. The provisions of law relating to the district courts of the city of Hew York shed' no light upon the question under discussion, as those courts are regulated by a separate section (section 18) of the judiciary article of the constitution, which provides that “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 bylaw.” There can be no doubt, however, under the authorities cited above, that the jurisdiction of such courts must be limited to the cities in which they are established. It appears from a careful review of all the authorities which I have been able to find, that no local court can be authorized by the legislature to send its summons beyond the “locality” in which it exists. The locality of the city court of Yonkers is the city of Yonkers. It was established by the charter of the city of Yonkers as a part of the system of local government. The statutes extending its jurisdiction beyond the city, if carried out, subject citizens of other parts of the county of Westchester to a tribunal which they have had no voice in choosing, and the people of Yonkers to the burden of maintaining a court for deciding controversies in which they have no interest, and between parties who contribute nothing to its support. Local self-government is the theory of the constitution. People v. Albertson, 55 N. Y. 50. As was said by Judge Allen in the latter case, if the public interest requires that the governmental machinery of a city be extended over adjoining towns or parts of towns, the city limits may be extended. There is no apparent necessity for the extension of the jurisdiction of the city court of Yonkers over adjoining towns. They have or may have their own local tribunals, and the county court is open to them and to the people of Yonkers alike. If the extended