The “Remembered Way of Doing Things,” Minutes of the Court of General Sessions, 1683-1962

The Municipal Archives collection of records pertaining to the administration of criminal justice have been described as the most comprehensive in the English-speaking world. They date back to the 17th century and include a variety of materials such as minute books, docket books, indictment papers and case files created by the criminal courts and district attorneys. 

A series of blogs are planned to describe these records and provide guidance on how to conduct research. This first installment focuses on one of the oldest series in the Municipal Archives, the Minutes of the Court of General Sessions. Future blogs will examine the court and criminal prosecution records of the Dutch colonial period, records of the lower criminal courts, and records created by the district attorneys.  

Minutes of the Court of General Sessions, volume 1, 1683-1687. Original volume from the collection of the New York County Clerk’s Division of Old Records.

Until its consolidation with the Supreme Court of New York County in 1962, the Court of General Sessions was the oldest continuing court of criminal jurisdiction in the United States. The court organization had been brought over by English settlers to the New York colony as part of the “. . . remembered way of doing things.” (Martin L. Budd, “Law in Colonial New York:  The Legal System of 1691,” Harvard Law Review 1967, Vol. 80, page 1764.)  Its origin dates back to fourteenth-century England when the traditional justices of the peace were required to hear more serious offenses in meetings held four specific times a year which came to be called general or quarter sessions. 

When the English rule of New York City was re‑established after the Dutch occupation for a year in 1674‑5, Sir Edmund Andros, the English governor, reconstituted the city government, giving to the mayor and any four of the aldermen power to hold a court of sessions. In 1685, a permanent law officer, called a recorder, was authorized, who thereafter sat as part of the court. Formally established by the Judicial Act of 1691, the Court of General Sessions had jurisdiction to try felony indictments.

Criminal jurisdiction continued with little change after the Revolutionary War. In 1787, a statute directed that in New York City the mayor, recorder and aldermen, or any three of these, of whom the mayor or recorder had to be one, composed the Court of General Sessions in and for the City and County of New York. Meetings were held on the first Tuesday in February, May, August, and November of each year, and might last eight days. 

The Court of General Sessions existed in New York County (Manhattan) only. The court tried felony indictments before a petit jury. The definition of a felony changed over time, but generally included crimes such as burglary, homicide, grand larceny, felonious assault, robbery and perjury. General Sessions also heard appeals from lower courts (Police Court, Magistrates’ Court and Court of Special Sessions). A case was brought before the Court when a grand jury agreed that the district attorney had presented sufficient evidence that a crime had been committed and signed a bill of indictment. 

The adoption of this basically English institution established such rights as trial by jury and the use of the grand jury as part of New York’s legal system beginning from the late 1600s. In its basic forms and procedures, the court remained relatively unchanged over the next three centuries. In 1962, the court system in New York City was reorganized and the Court of General Sessions became known as Supreme Court—Criminal Branch.         

The Minutes of the New York County Court of General Sessions provide a summary record of the court’s proceedings. For each day the court was in session the minutes record the names of the presiding justice, prosecutor, defendant, defendant’s counsel, and jurors. The record also states the charge, defendant’s plea and outcome of the proceedings.   

Beginning in 1840, as the number of cases increased, the Court divided itself into “Parts,” as follows:

• Feb. 1683 ‑ Dec. 1839, 60 vols.             

• Part I, Sep. 1840 ‑ Nov. 1919, 211 vols.   

• Part II, Feb. 1873 ‑ May 1919, 59 vols.     

• Part III, Mar. 1887 ‑ Apr. 1920, 35 vols.  

• Part IV, Jan. 1896 ‑ Jan. 1920, 28 vols.   

• Part V, June 1907 ‑ Apr. 1914, 6 vols.      

• Part VI, Oct. 1914 ‑ Feb. 1921, 5 vols.     

Minutes of the Court of General Sessions, February - December 1836, Index page “E” and “F” names. NYC Municipal Archives.

Researchers should note that this series is not a transcript of trial proceedings.  Trial transcripts were generally made only if the case was appealed or if the defendant paid for one. Trial transcripts from the Court of General Sessions from 1883-1927 are available from the Sealy Library at John Jay College of Criminal Justice (CUNY).      

The Minutes from 1683‑1922 have been microfilmed and are available for research in the Municipal Archives. The minutes after 1922 are hard-copy only and available for research at the Archives’ Industry City, Brooklyn, location.  

How to Use the Minutes of the Court of General Sessions. 

Each volume of the Minutes contains an alphabetical index by name of defendant.

This makes the intellectual content of the series relatively simple to access.  

The search for documentation of the case against Henry Faulkner, and others, accused of conspiracy, will serve as an example. With advance knowledge of the 1836 time period (from newspaper accounts), it was quick work to find the relevant entries.  

The People vs. Henry Faulkner, and others on indictment for “Conspiracy,” plead “Not Guilty,” Minutes of the Court of General Sessions, March 18, 1836. NYC Municipal Archives.

The People, etc. vs. Emma Goldman on indictment for unlawful assembly, Minutes of the Court of General Sessions, September 11, 1893. NYC Municipal Archives.

The People, etc. vs. Emma Goldman on indictment for unlawful assembly, Minutes of the Court of General Sessions, September 11, 1893. NYC Municipal Archives.

As noted above, the Minutes provide, in summary format, the essential facts of the prosecution for a felony offense; e.g. date of indictment, date(s) of court appearances, and the jurors’ verdict. But perhaps the greatest value of the Minutes is that the date of indictment information can be used to conduct research in the several felony indictment papers series created by the courts and/or District Attorneys. These series are almost always arranged by date of indictment. They document, sometimes in fantastic detail, all aspects of a prosecution from the first appearance in the lower criminal courts, through the final verdict. They often include witness testimony, correspondence and other relevant documentation. 

The Minutes of the Court of General Sessions are an essential resource. Together with related series pertaining to the administration of criminal justice, they provide significant documentation relevant to the history of New York City. Look for future blogs that describe related series, their significance, and access information.  

The Colonial Old Town Ledgers Digitization Project

The New York City Municipal Archives recently applied for funding to digitize colonial-era ledgers selected from the “Old Town” records collection. These unique administrative and legal records, dating from 1645 through the early 1800s, document the Dutch and English colonial settlements in New York City, western Long Island, and the lower Hudson Valley. The project is part of a larger Archives plan to describe and provide online access to all records in the Municipal Archives from the Dutch and English colonial era through early statehood.

The Archives has already successfully completed digitization and provided on-line access to the Dutch records of New Amsterdam and the proposed project will expand this effort to include the earliest records of communities throughout the metropolitan New York City region.

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“The Court Book and nothing else to be found therein, 1751.” Newtown, Book 1, Old Town Records, NYC Municipal Archives.

The ledgers chosen for digitization are the earliest records in the Old Town records collection. These records were created by European colonists in communities throughout the New York City region. Commissioned by the Dutch East India Company, Henry Hudson led the expedition to what is now New York City in 1609. In 1614, the area between the Delaware and Connecticut Rivers was designated the colony of New Netherlands. Ten years later the States General of the Netherlands created the Dutch West India Company awarding them a monopoly on trade over a vast domain from West Africa to Newfoundland.

The first colonists in New Netherlands arrived in 1624 at Fort Orange (near Albany). In 1626 other settlers came to Manhattan Island and named their community New Amsterdam. As more colonists arrived they established new settlements resulting in an archipelago of Dutch communities throughout what is now Brooklyn, Queens, Richmond (Staten Island), and Westchester.

Dutch conflict with England over boundaries and trade led Charles II of England to grant the colony to his brother James, Duke of York, in March 1664. New Amsterdam surrendered to the English on September 8, 1664, and was renamed New York. Though in 1673, the Dutch briefly reclaimed the colony, the Treaty of Westminster returned it to English control in 1674.

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Bushwick Deeds from 1660 and 1661 issued by Petrus Stuyvesant. Old Town Records, NYC Municipal Archives.

The provenance of the Old Town records collection dates from consolidation of the modern City of New York on January 1, 1898. Previously, the towns, villages and cities within the counties of Kings, Queens (parts of which are now in Nassau County), Richmond and Westchester (parts of which are now in Bronx County) maintained their own local governments that each created records—legislative, judicial, property, voter, health, school, etc. These local governments were dissolved during the latter part of the nineteenth century, at first by annexation to the old City of New York (Manhattan), or the City of Brooklyn, and finally through the unified City consisting of the five Boroughs in 1898.

The Comptroller of the newly consolidated city recognized the importance of the records of the formerly independent villages and towns and ordered transfer of the Queens, Richmond and Bronx/Westchester ledgers to the central office in Manhattan. In August 1942, fearing that New York City would be a prime target for enemy invasion, the Comptroller packed the ledger collection into crates and shipped them to New Hampton, N.Y. for the duration of the war. The Archives received the records from the Comptroller in several accessions from the 1960s to the 1990s.

The bulk of the Kings County town and village records were acquired by the Kings County Clerk via annexation during the latter part of the 19th century. Beginning in the 1940s, James A. Kelly, then Deputy County Clerk of Kings County arranged that the “historical” records of the county be turned over to St. Francis College in Brooklyn Heights, “on permanent loan.” They were housed in the James A. Kelly Institute for Historical Studies at the College. While in the custody of the Institute the ledgers were microfilmed. In 1988, due to financial considerations, the College closed the Institute and the records were transferred to the Municipal Archives.

Of particular note are the records of the Gravesend settlement in Kings County. Granted to Lady Deborah Moody in 1645, it became the only English town in the Dutch-dominated western area of Long Island. Based on the frequency in which her name appears in the Gravesend Town records, it is clear that Lady Moody, a religious dissenter who fled England and later Massachusetts, took an active and intense interest all aspects of her community.

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Patent for the town of Gravesend, given to Lady Deborah Moody and her followers, 1645. Old Town Records, NYC Municipal Archives.

The Old Town records consist of hand-written manuscripts bound in a variety of styles (single-section pamphlets, spring-back account-book, and case-bound ledgers, among others). They include town and village governing board and legislative body proceedings and minutes, criminal and civil court docket books, deeds and property conveyances, records of estate administration, and coroners' records.

The earliest records are written in mid-17the century Dutch which differs from modern Dutch. The records from the English colonial period are written in a combination of old Dutch and English. The materials also include non-contemporary (19th Century) manuscript translations and/or transliterations of the Dutch records.

Several unique characteristics of the New Netherlands/New York colony make its records important for understanding the origins of the American democratic system. From its earliest years, the colony was notable for its diversity. Unlike New England and Pennsylvania where religion played the dominant role, the New Netherland colony was founded as a commercial enterprise. The official religious denomination of the colony was the Calvinism of the Reformed Church, but the Dutch West India Company urged tolerance toward non-Calvinists to encourage trade and immigration. Among the religious groups in New Netherlands (and more or less tolerated) were Lutherans, Quakers, Anabaptists, Catholics and Jews. The colony actively recruited immigrants from Germany, England, Scandinavia, and France, and was the home of the largest number of enslaved Africans north of Maryland.

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“Register of the children born of slaves after the 2nd day of July 1799, within the town of Flatlands in Kings County in the State of New York…” Old Town Records, NYC Municipal Archives.

One recent example of the type of research that will be facilitated by the digitization work is the New York Slavery Records Index project underway at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice (City University of New York). Impetus from the project came from the realization that the college’s namesake, John Jay, and his family, were prominent slave-holders. The index project will result in a searchable compilation of records that identify individual enslaved persons and the slaveholders, beginning as early as 1619, and ending during the Civil War. The John Jay researchers have started examining the Municipal Archives collection of manumissions and legal records.

The Municipal Archives has already described and digitized the New Amsterdam records, including the original manuscripts and their English translations documenting proceedings, resolutions, minutes, accounts, petitions, and correspondence of the colonial government. When the Old Town records phase is completed, historians will be able to explore how colonial New York legal institutions and practices served as a foundation for the judicial system and guaranteed freedoms of the new Republic and answer important questions about a formative time period in the nation’s history.

Future blog posts will describe project progress and highlight unique “finds” in this rare collection.