New York State Supreme Court of Judicature (Albany) Special Bail Pieces
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Overview of the Records
New York State Archives
New York State Education Department
Cultural Education Center
Albany, NY 12230
16.3 cubic feet
38 boxes
Arrangement
1797-1807: Chronological by term.
1808-1826: Chronological by year or years, then rough alphabetical by name of attorney.
1827-1847: Chronological by year or years, then rough alphabetical by name of defendant.
Scope and Content Note
The special bail piece is a memorandum filed with the court stating that the defendant has been delivered to bail.
It gives the names of the defendant and plaintiff; the name, occupation or rank, and residence of the bail (two persons are named, but generally one is fictitious--"John Doe" or "Richard Roe"); and the type of common law action. The bail piece is signed by the bail and acknowledged before a Supreme Court Justice or a Circuit Judge, a Supreme Court Commissioner, a judge of the Court of Common Pleas, or other court officer. The amount of the bail bond is not stated. On the dorso of the special bail piece are found the title of the cause, the name of the defendant's attorney, and the filing date. A few bail pieces have exceptions by the plaintiff objecting to the bail. There are relatively few bail pieces for the period 1831-1847 because of the liberalization of bail requirements by the Revised Statutes of 1829 and because bail pieces were now customarily included in the judgment rolls.
Related Material
J0099 New York State Supreme Court of Judicature (Geneva) Special Bail Pieces, contains some Albany bail pieces
J1202 New York State Supreme Court of Judicature (Albany) Special Bail Books, dockets the bail pieces in Series J0096 through 1827
Other Finding Aids
Available at Repository
Container list is available at the repository.
Custodial History
The Court of Appeals placed these records on deposit at the Historic Documents Collection, Queens College, from 1973-1982.
Access Restrictions
There are no restrictions regarding access to or use of this material.