The first part of this section is the same as 2 R. S., 3d ed., 288, sec. 52, except that power is given to the court to sit until the fourth instead of the third Saturday, after its commencement. This is necessary, in consequence of the great amount of business in this court. The same reason has induced the Commissioners to recommend that power be given to hold concurrent terms. § 44. If the trial of a cause be commenced before the expiration of the term, the court may be continued beyond the term, till the completion of the trial, and the rendering of judgment on the verdict. Same as Laws of 1846, p. 4, ch. 2; to prevent a failure of justice, owing to the legal expiration of the term. This power has often been necessary in practice. 45. This court must be held at such place in the city of New-York, as now is or hereafter may be prescribed, by ordinance, by the common council of that city. This is in conformity with the existing statute; Laws of 1838, p. 297, ch. 297; except that it omits the provision that the "alteration of the place of holding such courts shall, before the same takes effect, be notified in one or more of the public newspapers printed in the said city, for the period of not less than four weeks." There appears to be no necessity for such a provision. 48. Indictments for offences punishable with death, to be sent to oyer and terminer. 49. Other indictments may be sent to oyer and terminer. 50. When indictments may be sent, by oyer and terminer, to a city court. 51. City courts, by whom held. 52. Removal of cause, when presiding judge disqualified. 63. Times and places of holding courts, continued as at present, to December 31, 1850. 54. Terms and times of holding courts, after that time. § 46. The courts known as the mayors' courts of the cities of Albany, Hudson and Troy, the recorders' courts of the cities of Buffalo, Utica and Oswego, and the city court of Brooklyn, are continued, with the criminal jurisdiction conferred upon them by the next four sections and no other: and shall be hereafter known as the city courts of those cities respectively. But nothing contained in this section affects their jurisdiction of actions or proceedings now pending therein. A leading feature of the plan of the Commissioners, in respect to the organization and jurisdiction of the courts, has from the first been to render them, where they were alike in their general principles, uniform in all their details. The courts which are enumerated in this section, as they now exist, are of this character. Their jurisdiction, in the main, is analogous, within their particular localities, to that formerly exercised by the courts of common pleas. And yet even a superficial examination of the statutes by which they were from time to time created, will show that in the details of 30 their jurisdiction, the greatest conceivable dissimilarity exists. Mayor's court of Albany, 2 R. S., 3d ed. 294, 295, sec. 5, 6. The name of city court is also substituted, as being uniform, while at the same time it conveys a general idea of the object and character of these courts. § 47. When organized as provided in section 51, for the purpose of exercising criminal jurisdiction, these courts have jurisdiction, 1. To inquire by the intervention of a grand jury, of all public offences committed in the city in which the court is established: 2. To try and determine an indictment found therein, or sent thereto by the court of oyer and terminer of the county, for a public offence not punishable with death, committed in that city. The jurisdiction conferred by this section, is the same in the city in which the court is established, as that of the court of sessions, in the county, as provided by the second and third subdivisions of section 32. It is extended to all cases less than capital, for the reasons mentioned in the note to that section, p. 20, 21. § 48. When an indictment is found at a city court, for an offence punishable with death, the court must send it to the next court of oyer and terminer of the county. Taken from 2 R S., 3d ed 274, sec. 6, as applicable to to the courts of sessions. 49. These courts may also send an indictment, found therein and remaining undetermined, for an offence not punishable with death, to the next court of oyer and terminer of the same county, to be determined according to law; but that court, if in its opinion the same is not proper to be tried therein, may remit it back to the court by which it was sent, which must proceed thereon, as if it had remained there. Taken from 2 R. S., 3d ed. 275, sec. 7. oyer § 50. When an indictment is found at a court of and terminer or of sessions, in a county embracing any of the cities in which a city court is established, for an offence not punishable with death, committed in that city, the court in which it was found may send it to the next city court in which it is triable; which must proceed to try and determine the indictment, as if it had been found therein. Same as the powers conferred, and duties imposed upon the mayors' and recorders' courts, by the statutes referred to in the note to sec. 46, p. 29, 30. §51. These courts must be held, for the exercise of their criminal jurisdiction, by the following judges: 1. The city courts of the cities of Albany, Buffalo, Hudson, Oswego, Troy and Utica, by the recorders of those cities, 2. The city court of the city of Brooklyn, by the city judge of that city, Together with two of the aldermen of the city, des. ignated as the common council may, by ordinance, prescribe. This section is substantially the same as the corresponding sections in the statutes referred to in the note to section 46, p. 30. § 52. If the judge authorised to hold or preside at a city court for the exercise of its criminal jurisdiction, be disqualified from holding the court, as provided in the code of civil procedure, he must, upon the request of either party, file with the county clerk a certificate, stating the fact constituting the disqualification, and directing that the action or proceeding be transferred to the court of oyer and terminer of the county; and it must be transferred accordingly. If he refuse to do so, the supreme court, at a special term in the district, or a judge thereof, may, upon motion, after due notice, order the transfer to be made. The provision requiring the transfer of the action in respect to which the disqualification exists, is the same in principle as sections 31 and 32 of the amended judiciary act, Laws of 1847, p. 643, 644, in respect to county and surrogates' courts. The power, however, is given to the supreme court to make the transfer, when the judge who is disqualified refuses to do so. This is necessary, in order to carry the rule creating the disqualification into complete effect. § 53. The times and places of holding the city courts are continued as at present prescribed, until the thirtyfirst day of December, 1850, inclusive, and no longer. §54. After that time, a term of each of these courts, for the trial of issues and for the hearing and determin |