New York Constitution of 1846/Article 14

ARTICLE XIV.

Section 1. [First election of legislature under this Constitution.]—The first election of senators and members of assembly, pursuant to the provisions of this Constitution, shall be held on the Tuesday succeeding the first Monday of November, one thousand eight hundred and forty-seven. The senators and members of assembly who may be in office on the first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and forty-seven, shall hold their office until and including the thirty-first day of December following, and no longer.

§ 2. [First election of governor and lieutenant governor.]—The first election of governor and lieutenant governor, under this Constitution, shall be held on the Tuesday succeeding the first Monday of November, one thousand eight hundred and forty-eight; and the governor and lieutenant governor in office when this Constitution shall take effect, shall hold their respective offices until and including the thirty-first day of December of that year.

§ 3. [State officers continued until expiration of term.]—The secretary of state, comptroller, treasurer, attorney-general, district attorneys, surveyor-general, canal commissioners, and inspectors of state prisons in office when this Constitution shall take effect, shall hold their respective offices until and including the thirty-first day of December, one thousand eight hundred and forty-seven, and no longer.

§ 4. [First election of judges.]—The first election of judges and clerk of the court of appeals, justices of the supreme court, and county judges, shall take place at such time, between the first Tuesday of April and the second Tuesday of June, one thousand eight hundred and forty-seven, as may be prescribed by law. The said courts shall, respectively, enter upon their duties on the first Monday of July, next thereafter; but the term of office of said judges, clerk, and justices, as declared by this Constitution, shall be deemed to commence on the first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and forty-eight.

§ 5. ' [Transfer of business of, certain courts.]—On the first Monday of July, one thousand eight hundred and forty-seven, jurisdiction of all suits and proceedings then pending in the present supreme court and court of chancery, and all suits and proceedings originally commenced and then pending in any court of common pleas (except in the city and county of New York), shall become vested in the supreme court hereby established. Proceedings pending in courts of common pleas, and in suits originally commenced in justices' courts, shall be transferred to the county courts provided for in this Constitution, in such manner and form and under such regulations as shall be provided by law. The courts of oyer and terminer hereby established shall, in their respective counties, have jurisdiction ,on and after the day last mentioned of all indictments and proceedings then pending in the present courts of oyer and terminer, and also of all indictments and proceedings then pending in the present courts of general sessions of the peace, except in the city of New York, and except in cases of which the courts of sessions, hereby established, may lawfully take cognizance; and of such indictments and proceedings the courts of sessions, hereby established, shall have jurisdiction on and after the day last mentioned.

§ 6. [Chancellor and supreme court to complete certain business.]—The chancellor and the present supreme court shall, respectively, have power to hear and determine any of such suits and proceedings ready, on the first Monday of July, one thousand eight hundred and forty-seven, for hearing or decision, and shall, for their services therein, be entitled to their present rates of compensation until the first day of July, one thousand eight hundred and forty-eight, or until all such suits and proceedings shall be sooner heard and determined. Masters in chancery may continue to exercise the functions of their offices in the court of chancery, so long as the chancellor shall continue to exercise the functions of his office, under the provisions of this Constitution. And the supreme court hereby established shall also have power to hear and determine such of said suits and proceedings as may be prescribed by law.

§ 7. [Governor to fill vacancies.]—In case any vacancy shall occur in the office of chancellor or justice of the present supreme court previously to the first day of July, one thousand eight hundred and fortyeight, the governor may nominate, amid by and with the advice and consent of the senate appoint, a proper person to fill such vacancy. Any judge of the court of appeals or justice of the supreme court, elected under this Constitution, may receive and hold such appointment.

§ 8. [Certain judicial offices abolished.]—The offices of chancellor, justice of the existing supreme court, circuit judge, vice chancellor, assistant vice chancellor, judge of the existing county courts of each county, supreme court commissioner, master in chancery, examiner in chancery, and surrogate (except as herein otherwise provided), are abolished from and after the first Monday of July, one thousand eight hundred and forty-seven (1847).

§ 9. [Incumbents of abolished offices eligible to new office.]—The chancellor, the justices of the present supreme court, and the circuit judges, are hereby declared to be severally eligible to any office at the first election under this Constitution.

§ 10. [County officers to continue until expiration of term.]—Sheriffs, clerks of counties (including the register and clerk of the city and county of New York), and justices of the peace, and coroners, in office when this Constitution shall take effect, shall hold their respective offices until the expiration of the term for which they were respectively elected.

§ 11. [Judicial officers may continue to receive certain fees.]—Judicial officers in office when this Constitution shall take effect may continue to receive such fees and perquisites of office as are now authorized by law, until the first day of July, one thousand eight hundred and forty-seven, notwithstanding the provisions of the twentieth section of the sixth article of this Constitution.

§ 12. [Local courts continued.]—All local courts established in any city or village, including the superior court, common pleas, sessions, and surrogates' courts of the city and county of New York, shall remain until otherwise directed by the legislature, with their present powers and jurisdictions; and the judges of such courts and any clerks thereof, in office on the first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and forty-seven, shall continue in office until the expiration of their terms of office, or until the legislature shall otherwise direct.

§ 13. [When Constitution to take effect.]—This Constitution shall be in force from and including the first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and forty-seven, except as herein otherwise provided. DONE in convention, at the capitol in the city of Albany, the ninth day of October, in the year one thousand eight hundred and forty-six, and of the independence of the United States of America the seventy-first.