Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XII.djvu/376

 364: NEW YORK (STATE) $500,000,000 assets, while their risks exceed- ed $8,000,000,000. The assets of the fire and marine and of the marine companies doing busi- ness in the state were returned at $160,133,455, and of life and casualty companies at $327,- 281,896 ; the amount insured by the former was $6,313,967,008, and by the latter $1,997,236,- 230. There were 218 fire and marine and 50 life and casualty insurance companies doing business in the state; 119 of the former and 23 of the latter were New York companies. The constitution of New York gives the right of suffrage to every male citizen of the age of 21 years who shall have been a citizen 10 days and an inhabitant of the state one year next preceding the election, a resident of the county four months, and of the election dis- trict 30 days. The general state election is held annually on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November. The legislature consists of a senate of 32 members elected for two years, and an assembly of 128 members chosen for one year. An apportionment of as- sembly and senate districts is made decennially immediately after the state census, the latest be- ing in 1865. Under the constitutional amend- ments of 1874 each member of the legislature receives $1,500 a year (previously $3 a day for a session limited to 100 days) and 10 cents a mile for travel once to and from the capital. No one is eligible as a member who at the time of his election, or within 100 days next pre- ceding it, was a member of congress, a civil or military officer under the United States, or an officer under any city government. The legis- lature meets annually on the first Tuesday in January. Special legislation is restricted by the constitution. The governor (annual salary, $10,000 and residence) and lieutenant governor ($5,000) are to be elected from 1876 for three years (the term having been previously, since 1821, two years). The secretary of state, comp- troller, treasurer, attorney general, and state engineer and surveyor are chosen (in even years) for two years. The treasurer may be suspended from office by the governor during the recess of the legislature. Members of the legislature and all elected officers, executive and judicial, except specified inferior officers, are required before entering upon their official duties to make oath or affirmation that they have not been guilty of bribery at the election at which they were chosen. A majority of the assembly may impeach. The court of im- peachment is composed of the senate and the judges of the court of appeals. The highest judicial tribunal of the state is the court of appeals, which has only appellate jurisdiction in the case of judgments and certain orders from the general term of the supreme court, the superior courts of the cities of New York and Buffalo, the New York court of common pleas, and the city court of Brooklyn. It con- sists of a chief (salary $7,500 and $2,000 ex- penses) and six associate judges ($7,000 each and $2,000 expenses), and is in session in Al- bany the greater portion of the year. The com- mission of appeals, composed of five judges, was organized under a constitutional amendment of 1869 for the hearing of cases that had accumu- lated in the court of appeals ; the former is sub- sidiary to the latter, and temporary. There are 33 justices of the supreme court, four in each of the eight judicial districts, except the first, comprising the city and county of New York, in which the number is five. The supreme court has general original jurisdiction. Special terms and circuits are held by one justice, the former without and the latter with a jury. General terms are held in each of the four de- partments into which the state is divided for this purpose, by a presiding and two associate justices designated by the governor, the con- currence of two being necessary to a decision. Its jurisdiction is appellate, appeals being made from the special term and circuits, from judg- ments entered by the court on referees' reports, from judgments of county courts and mayors' and recorders' courts, and from certain orders. A county court is held in each county, except that of New York. In some counties the people elect a surrogate, who has jurisdiction of pro- bate matters ; where such special courts have not been provided, the county judge performs surrogate duties. Criminal jurisdiction is ex- ercised by courts of oyer and terminer, com- posed, except in the city of New York, of a justice of the supreme court, a county judge, and two justices of the peace ; courts of ses- sions, comprising a county judge and two jus- tices of the peace ; courts of special sessions ; and police courts held by a single justice. Besides the above there are mayors' and re- corders' courts of cities and justices' courts, a city court in Brooklyn, and a superior court in Buffalo. The several courts peculiar to the city and county of New York are described in the article on that city. The judges of the various courts are elected by the people, those of the court of appeals and supreme court for fourteen, of county courts for six, and jus- tices of the peace for four years. Sheriffs, county clerks, coroners, and district attorneys are chosen by the people. There are three districts, northern, eastern, and southern, for holding United States courts ; sessions are held in New York city for the southern, in Brook- lyn for the eastern, and in Albany, Utica, Canandaigua, Rochester, and Buffalo for the northern district. The organized state mili- tia, called the national guard, comprises 23,360 men, classified into 8 divisions and 20 brigades, viz. : 1 regiment, 1 battalion, and 9 troops of cavalry, 12 batteries of artillery, and 31 regi- ments, 12 battalions, and 3 detached companies of infantry. The state exercises a strict super- vision over corporations, especially those which are fiduciary or involve extensive financial in- terests. Corporations, except municipal, must be formed under general laws. Railroad, bank- ing, and insurance corporations are subject to the inspection of special departments, to which