Special Commission on the Future of the New York State Courts

Court upstate as well as the transfer of budgetary and personnel
control from individual courts to centralized administrators.
In March 1958, the Tweed <strong>Commission</strong> sent a further
modified version of its plan to the Legislature. 84 This final plan
passed the Senate by a wide margin but again failed to secure
support in the Assembly. 85 On March 31, 1958, the Tweed
<strong>Commission</strong> – having not been renewed by the Legislature – was
dissolved. 86
The Dominick <strong>Commission</strong> (1970-1973)
Our court system’s “fragmented
jurisdiction creates serious
problems for litigants
and the courts. It prevents a litigant
from obtaining complete
relief in one judicial forum and
requires unnecessary duplication
of court work.”
– Dominick <strong>Commission</strong>
(1973)
In May 1970, the New York State Legislature established
the Temporary State <strong>Commission</strong> to Study the Courts, and
appointed Orange County State Senator D. Clinton Dominick as
its chair. 87 The Dominick <strong>Commission</strong>, as it was known,
consisted of twelve members appointed by the Governor and
Legislative leadership, and included sitting legislators. 88
In its January 1973 final report, the Dominick
<strong>Commission</strong> issued 180 recommendations covering five broad
subject areas: (1) administering the court system, (2) financing
the court system, (3) structuring the court system, (4) selecting
and disciplining judges, and (5) releasing, detaining and indicting
criminal defendants. 89
With respect to the structure of the state courts, the
Dominick <strong>Commission</strong>’s most significant recommendation was
the proposed merger of the Supreme Court, the Court of Claims,
the County Court, the Surrogate’s Court, and the Family Court
into a single Superior Court with general and original jurisdiction
84
These modifications, which were designed to ease the bill’s passage,
provided that the Surrogate’s Court would not be subject to consolidation in any
county with a population exceeding 350,000 people and added four Supreme Court
justice seats to Queens County.
85
See Editorial, Court Reform Defeat, N.Y. TIMES, Mar. 27, 1958, at 32.
86
See Text of Statement by Harrison Tweed on Court Plan Foes, N.Y.
TIMES, Apr. 4, 1958, at 13.
87
See TEMP. COMM’N ON THE STATE COURT SYS., . . . AND JUSTICE FOR
ALL (PART 1) (1973) (listing commission members).
88
See id.
89
See id. at 5.
52
A Court System for the Future, February 2007