The civil, political, professional and ecclesiastical history, and commercial and industrial record of the county of Kings and the city of Brooklyn, N. Y., from 1683 to 1884 Volume I, Part 77

Author: Stiles, Henry Reed, 1832-1909, ed. cn; Brockett, L. P. (Linus Pierpont), 1820-1893; Proctor, L. B. (Lucien Brock), 1830-1900. 1n
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: New York : W. W. Munsell & Co.
Number of Pages: 1114

USA > New York > Kings County > Brooklyn > The civil, political, professional and ecclesiastical history, and commercial and industrial record of the county of Kings and the city of Brooklyn, N. Y., from 1683 to 1884 Volume I > Part 77

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If this is true concerning the blended influence of merchants, their sagacity and wealth, with that of the learning, acumen and executive ability of the lawyers ; the allegation that a large portion of the laws enacted in the United States owe their origin, directly or indirectly, to the legal profession, aided by the influence of the merchants and monied interests, is by no means an exaggeration. Indeed, a close and fair examination of the origin of these laws fully sustains the statement.

The administration of law in our courts of justice- in many instances really equivalent in practice to the

law-making power itself-naturally devolves upon those who have made our system of jurisprudence a study. Those who understand the philosophy of law, who are acquainted with the laws in existence, familiar with their various (often conflicting) interpretations, are pre- sumed to be capable of deciding what new laws are necessary, or what modifications of existing laws the progress of society demands. Hence, the commercial class never fails to appeal to the large representation of the bar always found in the law-making department -the state or national legislature, for the enactment of statutes touching its interest.

The elevated character of these classes, their intelli- gence, their high sense of honor, their interest in the perpetuity of the nation, in all that tends to the advance- ment of morality, religion, and education, have resulted in the enactment and enforcement of salutory laws.

The proper enforcement of law is due, in a great measure, to a judiciary whose habits of patient, learned and impartial investigation, quick perception, power of analysis and combination, and liberal hearts, rendered them, indeed, high priests of the law, in whose censers unhallowed incense never burned.

The legal and commercial history of KINGS COUNTY demonstrates the truth of the foregoing remarks, inas- much as the two great classes referred to have left the most indubitable evidence of their influence in develop- ing its vast resources and in conducting it to its present high and commanding position. Its commercial history will be found in another part of this work ; while its legal history, or the history of its BENCH and BAR, will be found in the following pages.

Immediately after the formation of Kings County, in 1683, by an act of the Colonial Assembly, dividing the province into counties, and abolishing the ridings which previously existed, its bar was organized.

Upon its roll are the names of many master spirits ; those who possessed the enthusiasm of poetry and elo-

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quence, who were endowed with the knowledge of law, and capability of incisive, methodical, ingenius argu- ment ; those whose acquaintance with precedent, whose depth of investigation and power of penetration, and whose administrative faculties eminently qualified them for the career of the legislator and statesman ; this is the solemn judgment of history.

Before the Revolution, Colonial Judges of high at- tainments presided over the Courts of Kings County, while lawyers of every degree of talents and learning tried cases before them. Since the revolution, Judges, whose names are resplendent in legal history, have pre- sided over its Courts. JOHN MARSHALL, JOHN JAY, JOSEPH STORY, OLIVER ELLSWORTH, BUSHROD WASH- INGTON, SAMUEL NELSON, and many other great Judi- eial officers of the United States Supreme Court, have sat on its bench. BROCKHOLST LIVINGSTON, JOHN SLOSS HOBERT, JAMES KENT, AMBROSE SPENCER, WIL- LIAM L. MARCY, ESECK COWAN, JOHN W. EDMONDS, and many other historic Judges of the Supreme Court, all of whom are numbered with the dead, have presided over its Courts. We might name an equally distin- guished line of living Judges who have pronounced the law from its beneh.

At its bar HAMILTON and BURR often appeared. The first seemed born for every sphere of greatness. Equal- ly conversant with government in its principles and administrations in detail; he wrote and spoke with equal power and equal distinction. "A profound jurist; in some sense one of the founders of commercial law in this eountry ; who, at a time when that braneh of juris- prudenee was terra incognita to the profession of New York, had explored its foundations and had become familiar with its principles ; who had studied Valon and Emerigon, and was among the first to introduce those authors to his legal brethren." The latter, as Chan- cellor Kent said of him, was quick, acute, terse, polished, sententious ; often in forensic discussions, sarcastie and ironieal, and who seemed to disdain all illustration and expansion, confining himself with singular stringeney to the point in discussion.

Here, too, BROCKHOLST LIVINGSTON, afterwards an ac- complished Judge of the State and Federal Courts, as we have seen, and who as an advocate was " copious, fluent, abounding in skillful, sharp, analogies and beau- tiful reflections, with a mind familiar with the best classical productions in ancient and modern literature, and adorned by a highly cultivated taste, and whose forte lay in ingenious and powerful addresses to the jury, contended for his elients."

JOSIAH OGDEN HOFFMAN, DANIEL LORD, JAMES T. BRADY, OGDEN HOFFMAN, WM. CURTIS NOYES, and many others among the illustrious dead, and many among the distinguished living have, and still do, appear at this bar.

We shall now proceed to deseribe the Halls of Jus- tice, or Court-houses and other buildings which have

been used in the administration of justice; some of the proceedings of the Courts, the judiciary and the bar of Kings county. We shall begin with a description of its Court-houses.

The First Court-house in Kings County at Gravesend, 1668-1687 .- The first Court-house in Kings county was erected in 1668, at Gravesend. It stood on one of the squares of the original village-plat, near the present site of the Reformed Duteh Church. Here the Courts were held until 1686, when, in accord- ance with the provisions of an aet of the Colonial Assem- bly, passed Nov. 7, 1685, they were removed to Flat- bush. One reason assigned for this removal was the inconvenience to some people traveling so far from their residences to attend Court at Gravesend .*

First Court-house of Flatbush, 1686-1758 .- Flatbush, from its geographieal position, was central to all the county. Here, in 1686, the Court-house was erected, standing on ground long known as the "Court house Lot," now belonging to the estate of Hon. John A. Lott. Its site is now oeeupied by the fine residenee of Mr. Abraham A. Lott. It was a small, unpretending building, and was wholly devoted to the use of the Courts ; the Jail being separate from it. In the winter of 1757-8 one of these buildings was burned, and the other, the Court-house, was saved by the energetic ef- forts of the people, who extinguished the fire by throw- ing snow-balls upon it.

Second Court-house and Jail at Flatbush .- It was afterwards taken down and a new building erected ; a part of it was used for a Court-house, and a part for the Jail. It was two stories high, well lighted ; the lower floor being divided by a hall running east and west ; on the south side was the jailor's room, and on the north was the jail apartment.

It was a grim and gloomy room, something between a dungeon and a bloek-house, and was constructed of heavy oak plank, fastened to solid timbers of the same by heavy wrought-iron spikes driven a few inches apart. The floor was made of the same material, and in the same way. The doors were also made of heavy oaken timbers, about four or five inehes thick ; the planks running diagonally, and defended by heavy iron bars, running horizontally across the door. Towards the top of the door was a diamond-shaped opening, of about eight inches in area, strongly bound by iron. The hinges and lock were very heavy ; taken together, the door was a ponderous, unwieldy affair.

The room was lighted by two grated windows open- ing into the street, or common, near the jail. These grates were occasionally cut by the prisoners with in- struments seeretly conveyed to them by friends. It is related that on one oeeasion, the grates to one of these windows were eut, after a long period of secret labor ; the marks made by the instrument being filled with a material which resembled the iron, until all the pieces

* See excerpt from Court Record, given on page 168.

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HISTORY OF KINGS COUNTY.

were ready to be removed. Through the aperture thus made, three prisoners effected their escape in the night. Another attempted to escape, but being quite corpu- lent, he only succeeded in getting his body half way out, where he was held in limbo by the sharp pieces of the surrounding grate. The agony produced by this situation was terrible, but he endured it until he thought his fellow-captives were beyond recapture ; then he made the air ring with his agonizing cries for help. As his body had swollen by the irritation of the irons against it, it was impossible to extricate him, ex- cept by the tedious process of cutting away the bars which held him. When finally rescued, he was nearly dead.

In the second story of this building was the Court- room, large and commodious for the times, with a bench for the judges, desk for the clerk, bar for the lawyers, two rows of chairs for the jurors, an antique dock for prisoners, and a large number of comfortable seats for spectators.

During the Revolutionary war, while the British were in possession of Long Island, the gay and festive English officers caused this court-room to be converted into a ball-room, by the removal of its furniture and fixtures. Here, for several years, instead of the alter- cations and arguments of lawyers, opinions and charges of judges, music with its voluptuous swell was heard, to whose inspiring notes, elegant English officers, with their wives, daughters, and the wives and daughters of their tory friends, joined in the dance.

The original cost of this building was £448, which was raised by assessment laid upon the taxable inhabi- tants of the county. "In 1792, this building was found so small and inconvenient, so much out of repair, that a more commodious court-house was demanded. Accordingly, in that year, measures were adopted for the erection of a building more suitable to the in- creased wealth and population of the county. It was much larger that the one we have described, though built on much the same plan. The plan, says the his- torian, was drawn by Mr. James Robinson, and was described in the minutes of the Board of Supervisors, as 'The Wooden Plan,' probably from the fact that plans for erecting a building out of other material had been submitted to the Board."

The commissioners to superintend the erection of this Court-house and Jail were John Vanderbilt, Johannes E. Lott and Charles Doughty, Esq. But Mr. Vander- bilt having resigned, Rutgert Van Brunt was ap- pointed in his place.

The old Court-house was sold at auction to Michael Van Cleef, who sold the timbers to Rev. Martinns Schoonmaker. Hc converted them into a very respect- able dwelling-house, afterwards occupied for many years by his son, Stephen Schoonmaker.

The Third Court-house, at Flatbush, 1793- 1832 .- The new Court-house and Jail was completed

in 1793. Its architecture differed from that of the old Court-house in this : it had a double-pitch, or curved roof, and was surmounted by a small cupola. Like the former building, the court-room was on the second floor, and was used for school exhibitions, town meet- ings and other public gatherings. The exterior was painted red. Unfortunately for the cause of justice, the new Jail, constructed much on the plan of the old, was quite insecure ; and prisoners not infrequently es- caped from it, although it was frequently repaired. It was often facetiously remarked in those days, "that prisoners were in great danger of falling out of Flat- bush Jail."

On November 30th, 1832, the building took fire and was burned to the ground. During the conflagration all the prisoners confined in the jail, except one, labored with great alacrity to extinguish the flames ; and when all was over, voluntarily submitted to re-imprisonment, provided in another placc. From that time till the erection and occupation of the jail in Brooklyn, prison- ers arrested in Kings County were sent to the old Bridewell prison, in the city of New York ; much to the loss of the Sheriff of Kings County, and largely to the gain of the Sheriff of New York ; for the fees for conducting prisoners to Bridewell-which were quite heavy-werc, by statute, given to the New York Sheriff.

From the time of the destruction of the Court-house by fire, Flatbushı ceased to be the county town of Kings County ; its courts and all its judicial and other busi- ness was transferred to Brooklyn.

Temporary Court Accommodations, 1832- 1837 .- During the five years following the burning of the Court-house and Jail at Flatbush, the courts of the county were held in the Apprentice's Library, in Nash's Exchange building, on the corner of Fulton and Cran- berry streets, Brooklyn.

We shall now proceed to describe

The Early Courts of Kings County .- Courts of Justice, except the Admiralty Court, were organized in the colony of New York by the English under the authority of the code known as " The Duke's Laws," promulgated at an assembly convened at Hempstead, Long Island, by Governor Nichols, in 1665. These were a Court of Assizes, Court of Sessions, and Town Courts. Authority was given at the same time for Courts of Oyer and Terminer. The Dutch Courts of Burgomasters and Schepens, were changed to the Mayor's Court of New York.

The above composed what may be called the First Judicial System, which existed from 1665 to 1683. The Governor, however, was empowered by his commission to establish also a Court of Admiralty.

Under the Second Judicial System (1683 to 1691), the Town, or Justices' Courts, Courts of Session and Oyer and Terminer, were continued, and a Court of Chancery established.

EARLY TOWN AND JUSTICES' COURTS.

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The Third Judicial System was inaugurated in 1691, and continued during the Colonial Period. It preserved the Court previously established and added, for the first time, a Court of Common Pleas and Supreme Court, into which last, however, the Court of Oyer and Terminer was merged.

These Courts continued in existence down to the Revolution. After the formation of our Government the Court of Sessions, the Court of Chancery, the Su- preme Court, the Court of Common Pleas and Court of Oyer and Terminer were continued ; their procedure remaining as it was during the Colonial Period, with such modifieations as the new government required, down to 1821, when more changes were made in the proceedings of the Courts.

make necessary orders or by-laws " for the welfare and improvement of their towne provided they are not re- pugnant to ' The Duke's Laws,' nor impose a penalty of higher than 20s. for an offenee." In eivil suits it had jurisdietion as high as five pounds ; over that amount, an appeal lay to the Court of Sessions. In 1683 this Court was modified. It was held by three commis- sioners on the first Wednesday in each month, in each town in the county, and was empowered to determine eauses for debt and trespass, of forty shillings and un- der, without a jury, unless the plaintiff or defendant at the joining of issue made a demand in writing that the ease be tried by a jury.

Every Justice of the Peace, resident within any town in the county, assisted by one of the freeholders of the

THE THIRD COUNTY COURT-HOUSE, FLATBUSH.

By the Constitution of 1846, a radical change was made in our judicial system. The Court of Chancery was abolished ; the Supreme Court re-organized ; the Court of Common Pleas and the old Court of Sessions abolished ; a County Court and Court of Sessions in- stituted ; the Court of Oyer and Terminer was retained as a branch of the Supreme or Cireuit Courts. The Court for the Correction of Errors was abolished, and a Court of Appeals instituted in its place.

In the county of Kings, as well as in all other eoun- ties in the State, there existed, during the Colonial Pe- riod :

Town and Justices' Courts .- The High Consta- ble of the Town, with five, at least, of the Overseers of the Town, held a TOWN COURT. They had power to

town, was vested with power to try sueh small causes with a jury, provided one of the parties desired a trial by jury. Subsequently thrce justices (one of whom was to be of the quorum), were empowered to try with- out a jury any offender who did not find bail within twenty-four hours after being in custody, for any offense under the degree of grand lareeny, and to infliet any punishment, so that it did not extend to life or limb. Such three justiees, with five freeholders, had power, without previous indietment by a Grand Jury, summarily to try slaves charged with murder, or other capital felonies, and to punish them, even with death.

It will thus be seen that Justices of the Peace in that early day were elothed with judicial power equal to the power of our present Court of Sessions, and so

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far as the trial of slaves was concerned, were equal to our present Court of Oyer and Terminer. We cannot find, however, any records or any minutes kept by these courts of any trial of a criminal, or of any civil action, except trials for inferior crimes for the recovery of small amounts.

The First Court of Record ever held in the County of Kings, of which any reliable minutes can be found, convened at Gravesend, March 17, 1668.

There were several causes tried during the sittings of this Court ; one of them was a suit brought by Peter Faltus against Nicholas Jammer for "tortiously taking and converting to his own use one vehical known as ye cart with ye attendant impliments, of ye value of ten pounds." Several witnesses were sworn for the respective parties, and the cause was, apparently, ex- haustively tried. The plaintiff had a verdict for the full amount of his claim, with six cents costs of suit. This pittance contrasts strongly with the heavy bills of cost now allowed to the successful party in such cases.

The proceedings of the Courts in those days were, in many respects, similar to the procedure of the Courts of the present time. They were opened by the time-worn proclamation: "O, yes ! O, yes !! O, ye-es !!! " &c., &c., still used in very many of our State courts.

The following is a copy of an ancient precept, issued by one of the Justices of the Peace, of the County of Kings, exhibiting onc form of legal documents of the olden time :

KINGS COUNTY, SS. Thomas Sanders, Esq., Justice of the peace for said County Assigned.

[L. s.]

To all constables and other officers as well, within the said county as elsewhere within the Colony of New York, to whom the execution hereof doth or may concern, Greeting :

WHEREAS, I have Received Information and Charge against one James Jones Lately Come from Lebanon In ye County of Windham, in ye Collony of Connecticut and Liveing, It is Said in Kings County, at the house of one Alexander Griggs Calls himself a Weaver a Lusty Well-Sott Likely man full faced Browne Complextioned and wears a Black Wig Irish man ; by birth by the brogue on his Speach Who is Charged before me to be a Dangerous person and is suspected to have Stolen a Silver Spoon or the biggest part Silver Spoon ; as by a Warrant Produced and the complaint of William Dreddy in Lebanon County Connecticut aforesd some time in ye month of this present November.

Notwithstanding Sevvorall Indeavors for apprehension of him he hath not as yett been apprehended but hath with- drawn himself and fled-Lately from Lebanon in ye county of Windham in ye Colloney of Connecticut and is come of one County of Kings These are therefore in his majesty's nanie to Command You and Every of You to make diligent Search Within your Severall Prescincts and Districts for Said James Jones and to make hue and Cry after him from Towne to Towne from County to County and that as well by horseman as footman Acording to Law. and if you shall find the said James Jones That then you do Carry him before some one of his magisties Justices of the Peace Within the County or place Whare he shall be taken to be Dealth withall Acording to Law Hereof fails not at your perils- Given under my hand in Dutchess County this 17th day of

November, in the fourth year of our reaign, and In The Year of our Lord God Everlasting Ano 1730.

THOMAS SANDERS, Justice.

To Adrien Hageman, High Sheriff In Kings County.

Pursue After the Person In This Hue and Cry.

Long before the Revolution, magistrates or justices courts, with limited criminal and civil jurisdiction, were tribunals of considerable importance. Each town had a number of magistrates, appointed by the Governor- General of the colony.

Some idea may be gained of the nature of the courts held by them from an entry in the records of the town of Bushwick of a singular sentence pronounced by a magis- trate of that town upon Jan Van Leyden, as related in the History of Bushwick, page 277.

The trial of a clergyman before a magistrate for im- properly marrying a couple is also recorded. The trial resulted in his conviction, and he was sentenced to flogging and banishment. But on account of his ad- vanced age, his punishment was commuted to banish- ment.

At New Utrecht, in October, 1696, a man was tried and convicted of stealing a cow-bell. He was sentenced to stand, for the space of three hours, under a gallows, with a halter around his neck and an empty scabbard in his right hand.

In the record of Kings County Court of Sessions, for November 12th, 1695, an order was made that Mad Jane should be kept at the expense of the county, and that "the deacons of each towne within the same, do forthwith meet together and consider about their pro- percons for maintainence of said Jane."

Sce also pages 166 and 168 for other extracts from the diary of Gravesend Town Courts and Court of Sessions.

It is a singular fact, that this Court of Sessions had a sort of military jurisdiction, as appears from the fol- lowing:

At a Court of Sessions held at Gravesend on the 2d day of January, 1643, a soldier was brought to trial before that court for leaving his station while doing duty as a guard or sentinel, for the purpose of getting a drink of beer. He was found guilty. After a due consultation the court sentenced him to sit on a wooden horse during a parade, a pitcher in one hand and a drawn sword in the other, to show that he liked beer better than his duty, and that his courage was always in proportion to the quantity of beer he drank.

Supreme Court .- The Supreme Court of the State of New York was originally established by an act of the Legislature, May 6th, 1691; continued by divers acts, which, having expired by limitation in 1698, the court was continued by proclamation January 19th, 1699, and finally by an ordinance of the Governor and Council, dated May 15th, 1699.

It was empowered to try all cases, civil, criminal or mixed, as fully and amply as the English Courts of Kings Bench. Any action amounting to upwards of

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twenty pounds could be commenced in, or removed to it. It could correct the errors or revise the judgments of inferior courts. Appeals lay from it to Governor and Council for any judgment above £100 sterling, which sum was increased to £300 sterling. It had four terms in a year and always held its sittings in the City of New York. The judges were ex-officio judges of Nisi Prius, or trial courts. As from two to three terms of these courts were held in each county-called circuit courts, for the reason that judges made the cir- cuit through the counties to hold them-these judges, at the same time, held a court of Oyer and Terminer and general jail delivery, in which some of the common pleas judges of the county in which the court was held joined.

This court consisted, at first, of five judges, two of whom, together with the Chief Justice, constituted a quorum. From 1701 until 1758, it was composed of a chief justice and two associate, or prisine judges.

In 1691, the salary of the chief-justice was £130, and one associate £100 ; the other associate did not receive a salary. In 1702, the chief-justice received a salary of £300 and the fee of ten shillings on the first motion or opening of every cause. The second judge £150, and the associate £50.

In 1774, the chief-justice received from the Crown £500 sterling, and £300 New York currency from the province. The associate justices each received £200 provincial currency, and fees.

The manner in which attorneys in all the counties were admitted to practice in all the courts of the State werc as follows: Gentlemen who had served seven years under an attorney, were granted licenses to prac- tice by the Governor, under his seal, on the recommen- dation of the chief justice, and on subscribing the usual oaths, which, among other things, contained a clause that the persons taking the said oaths would never be concerned in a duel.

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The civil, political, professional and ecclesiastical history, and commercial and industrial record of the county of Kings and the city of Brooklyn, N. Y., from 1683 to 1884 Volume I, Part 77

Author: Stiles, Henry Reed, 1832-1909, ed. cn; Brockett, L. P. (Linus Pierpont), 1820-1893; Proctor, L. B. (Lucien Brock), 1830-1900. 1n Publication date: 1884 Publisher: New York : W. W. Munsell & Co. Number of Pages: 1114

Author: Stiles, Henry Reed, 1832-1909, ed. cn; Brockett, L. P. (Linus Pierpont), 1820-1893; Proctor, L. B. (Lucien Brock), 1830-1900. 1n
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: New York : W. W. Munsell & Co.
Number of Pages: 1114