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Administrative History

The Judicial Council of the State of New York was established by Chapter 128 of the Laws of 1934. Its purpose was to study the "organization, jurisdiction, procedure, practice, rules and methods of administration and operation of each an all the courts of the state . . . the volume and condition of business . . . the work accomplished and the results obtained."

Duties included collecting, analyzing, and publishing state judicial statistics in compliance with the state constitution; receiving and investigating criticisms and suggestions about the administration of justice; advising the legislature on decisions of the courts relating to procedure and practice and concerning pending legislation affecting the courts' organization, jurisdiction, operation, procedure and practice; and recommending changes to expedite or improve court administration and methods of conducting business.

Clerks of each court of the state, each judge or justice of a court not of record which had no clerk, each official referee, and the district attorney of each county reported to the council periodically at its request. Failure to observe a requirement of the council was deemed a neglect of duty constituting grounds for removal from office. The council was required to report to the legislature annually.