A History and Inventory of the Records of the New York State Supreme Court

With financial help from the William Nelson Cromwell Foundation, the New York State Court of Appeals and the New York State Archives have published a second edition of "Duely & Constantly Kept:” A History of the New York Supreme Court and an Inventory of Its Records, 1691–1847:

In 1691 the Assembly of New York Colony passed an act establishing a Supreme Court of Judicature and provided that the court should be "Duely & Constantly Kept" at times to be provided. After over 350 years of political revolution and independence from Great Britain, four State constitutions, and four major reorganizations of the judiciary, the Supreme Court continues as the State’s court of “general, original jurisdiction." Extending the meaning of the phrase, a comprehensive collection of New York’s earliest court records, covering the period of 1690 to 1847, are now "duly and constantly kept" at the State Archives.

--Dan Ernst