Since the passage of the above act, a Court of Sessions cannot be held except in pursuance of a previous order of a county judge, made under the authority of that act, and in conformity therewith, designating the times for the purpose, and published as therein directed; and when an indictment was found at a term not legally appointed, and a plea in abatement setting up such illegality, was interposed and overruled by the Court of Sessions on demurrer, the case having been removed into the Superior Court by certiorari, the conviction was reversed, and the proceedings of the Sessions were quashed.1

But the omission of a county judge to designate in an order for terms of the Court of Sessions, any terms to be held without a jury, does not render the court null, or deprive it of power to empanel a grand jury.2

The Judiciary Act3 declares that the Courts of Sessions of the respective counties organized by said act, shall possess the same powers and exercise the same jurisdiction in their respective counties as were then possessed and exercised by the Courts of General Sessions of the Peace, so far as the same were consistent with the constitution and the provisions of said act, and all laws relating to the said Courts of General Sessions of the Peace, the jurisdiction, powers and duties of said courts, the proceedings therein and the officers thereof, and their powers and duties were made applicable to the Courts of Sessions organized by said act, their powers and duties, the proceedings therein, the officers thereof, and their powers and duties, so far the same could be so applied, and are consistent with the constitution and provisions of said act.

Every Court of Sessions has power:

1. To inquire, by the oaths of good and lawful men of the county, of all crimes and misdemeanors committed or triable in such county.

2. To hear, determine and punish, according to law, all crimes and misdemeanors not punishable with death, or by imprisonment in the State prison for life.

2

3. To hear and determine all appeals from any order of jus

1 Peo. v. Moneghan, 1 Park., 570.

Cyphers v. Peo., 31 N. Y., 373; 5 Park., 666.

3 Laws 1847, ch. 280, p. 332.

tices of the peace, under the laws respecting the support of bastards.

4. To examine into the circumstances of persons committed to prison as parents of bastards, and to discharge them in the cases provided by law.

5. To hear and determine the complaints which shall be made to such court, under the laws respecting masters' apprentices and servants.

6. To review the convictions of disorderly persons actually imprisoned, and to execute the powers conferred, and duties imposed, by law in relation to such persons.

7. To continue or discharge the recognizances and bonds of persons bound to keep the peace, or to be of good behavior, or both; and to inquire into and determine the complaints on which the same were founded.

8. To compel the relatives of poor persons, and committees of the estates of lunatics, to support such persons and lunatics in the cases and in the manner prescribed by law.

9. To exercise the powers conferred by law in relation to the estates of persons absconding and leaving their families chargable to the public.

10. To let to bail persons indicted in the said court for any crime or misdemeanor triable therein, as provided by law.

11. To discharge persons who shall have remained in prison without being indicted, or without being tried, in the cases prescribed by law.

12. To execute such other powers and duties as may be conferred and imposed by the laws of this State.1

They have no power to arraign a defendant and receive a plea to an indictment for murder.2

Neither has a Court of Sessions power to direct a nolle prosequi to be entered on an indictment pending therein for an offence not triable in that court.3

During the term for which any Court of Sessions may be held by law, any judge of the County Courts may open and hold such

sessions for the purpose of taking recognizances from parties and witnesses.1

The Courts of Sessions of the several counties in this State have also power to grant new trials, upon the merits or for irregularity, or on the ground of newly discovered evidence, in all cases tried before them.2 The above provisions should be strictly followed. The application for a new trial must be made before judgment, as is the case in courts of civil jurisdiction. The statute does not give power to set aside a judgment regularly entered.3

There have been conflicting decisions as to whether the above provision extends to the court of General Sessions in the city of New York. But the Court of Appeals have held the General Sessions of the Peace, in New York city, to be but a Court of Sessions for that county.5

The several Courts of Sessions are also to send all indictments for offences not triable therein, to the next Court of Oyer and Terminer and jail delivery, to be held in their respective counties, there to be determined according to law. The said courts may also, by an order to be entered in their minutes, send all indictments for offences triable before them against prisoners in jail, and others which shall not have been heard or determined, to the next Court of Oyer and Terminer and jail delivery, to be held in their respective counties, to be there determined according to law; and if any such indictment shall be remitted back without trial by the Court of Oyer and Terminer and jail delivery, to the court from which it came, such court may proceed thereon. They may also return or remit, an indictment to the Oyer and Terminer held in the same county, which was originally found in and remitted from the Oyer and Terminer.

Under the provisions of the Revised Statutes, if a sufficient number of persons authorized to hold any of the said Courts of Sessions, shall not attend before five o'clock in the afternoon of

4

2 R. S., 748, § 49.

2 Laws 1859, ch. 339, § 4; 1857, ch. 769, § 3, sub. 2

People v. Donnelly, 21 How., 406.

People v. Powell, 14 Abb., 91, contra; 15 id., 59.

Lowenbery v. People, 27 N. Y., 336.

the day on which such court is to be held, it was the duty of any judge of the County Courts who should attend, or if there be none present, of the sheriff or clerk of the county, to adjourn the same court to the next day; and if a sufficient number to hold such court should not attend before five o'clock in the afternoon of the said adjourned day, it became the duty of such judge of the County Courts, or if there be none present, of such sheriff or clerk to adjourn the said court without day; and when any Court of Sessions appointed to be held in any county should fail, no writ, process, recognizance or other proceeding, returnable at, or to be heard or tried in said court, was to be abated, discontinued or rendered void thereby ;3 but under the subsequent acts authorizing the county judge to appoint other justices of the peace of the county to fill the places of those members of the court who might be absent, it is to be presumed that the sections of the statute above cited need not apply, except in the case of the absence of the county judge himself. In any cause or proceeding that shall be pending in any Court of Sessions of the State, except in the city and county of New York, in which the county judge shall, for any cause, be incapable of acting, the Court of Sessions shall, by rule, transfer the same to the Court of Oyer and Terminer, which shall have the same jurisdiction that Courts of Sessions have in such cases.4

The county judge, at the time of drawing the jurors for the Courts of Sessions, may designate any day during the term that he may deem expedient, in which the petit jurors shall be required to attend for the trial of issues of fact, and it is the duty of the sheriff to summon the petit jurors to attend the court on such day.5

It is by statute declared lawful for the Court of Sessions of any county in the State, to continue its sittings at any term thereof, so long as it may be necessary, in the opinion of such court, for the dispatch of any business or the determination of any cases that may be pending before such court; and they may, in their

12 R. S., 210, § 8.

' Id. § 9.

⚫ Id. 210, § 24.

Laws 1861, ch. 96, § 1, p. 172.

* Laws 1861, ch. 8, p. 14.

C. P.—4.

discretion, exercise all the powers in regard to adjournments thereof, from time to time, which are by law conferred upon, or exercised by the court of Oyer and Terminer, in relation to adjournments of said last mentioned court.1

This act also applies to the Court of General Sessions in the city New York. 2

SECTION XVII.

THE CITY COURT OF BROOKLYN.

The City Judge of Brooklyn, with the Mayor and an Alderman, or with any two Aldermen of said city, or in case of the absence of said city judge, or of his inability to attend, or vacancy in said office, the Mayor and any two Aldermen of said city may, and shall, hold a court of criminal jurisdiction, which shall be called the City Court of Brooklyn, which shall have criminal jurisdiction to the same extent, and in the same manner, and with the same powers as the Court of Sessions of the several counties of the State, in the indictment and trial of all offences committed in the said city. When an indictment shall be found in the Court of Oyer and Terminer, or in the Court of Sessions of the county of Kings, for any offence above specified, triable by a Court of Sessions, either of said courts in which such indictment shall be, may order the same to be transmitted to the said City Court, and shall bind, by recognizance, in the manner now prescribed by law, the witnesses and the party or parties to said indictment, to appear in the said City Court, at the next term thereof; and when any recognizance thus taken shall have become forfeited, the same may be prosecuted in the said City Court. The said City Court has also power, in their discretion, to remove such indictment, and to remit any indictment found in the said City Court, to the said Court of Oyer and Terminer or Sessions.1 And whenever any bill of indictment for any offence shall have been transmitted to said City Court, pursuant to the above provisions, the proceedings thereon shall be in all respects the same

2

1 Laws 1859, ch. 208, p. 465.

Lowenberg v. Peo., 5 Park., 414. Vide Laws 1862, ch. 10.

* 2 R. S., 219, § 11.

2 R. S., 219, § 12.