Suffolk County, NY Article XXVII Operation of District Court

§ C27-1 Proceedings not affected by unavailability of judge.

No process, action, judgment, execution or proceeding shall abate or be discontinued by reason of the death, removal from office or vacancy in office of any judge, but another judge shall proceed to hear, try, determine and give judgment in and upon the same and upon all matters and things pending and undecided or not acted upon.

§ C27-2 Presumption of regularity.

The presumption of regularity shall attach to the proceedings, judgments, orders and final orders of this court, and every fair intendment shall be made in favor of its jurisdiction.

§ C27-3 Creation of system to be submitted to voters; offices of Justices of the Peace to be abolished.

A. At the general election to be held in 1962 there shall be submitted to all the electors of the various towns of Suffolk County, including the electors within incorporated villages, the following two propositions, provided that not less than 120 days before such election the town boards of such towns adopt resolutions authorizing such submission and a copy thereof, duly certified by the clerk of such board, shall have been filed with the Board of Elections of the County and resolutions are filed by at least three contiguous towns and each town submitting such resolution is contiguous to another town submitting the same:

(1) "Shall the Town of . . . . . . become a part of the Suffolk County district court system?"

(2) "If the Town of . . . . . . becomes a part of the Suffolk County district court system, shall the office of the Justice of the Peace be abolished within such town?"

B. In any town which hereafter becomes a part of the Suffolk County district court system wherein the voters approve the proposition to abolish the office of Justice of the Peace, the office of each of the incumbent Justices of the Peace shall be deemed abolished at the time when the existing term of each such incumbent Justice of the Peace expires.

§ C27-4 Alternate methods of submitting question of creation of system to voters.

A. If the County district court system is not created at the general election in 1962, it may be submitted to the electors of the towns for adoption at any subsequent general election, provided that resolutions authorizing such submission are adopted by the town boards of the necessary contiguous towns as hereinabove provided and certified copies thereof are filed with the Board of Elections of the County at least 120 days before such general election.

B. If the County district court system has been created at any general election as hereinabove provided, a proposition may be submitted to the electors of any town contiguous thereto for inclusion in the system at any subsequent general election, provided that a resolution authorizing such submission is adopted by the town board as hereinabove provided and a certified copy thereof is filed with the Board of Elections of the County at least 120 days before such general election.

§ C27-5 Effect on pending actions and proceedings.

A. No action or proceeding, civil or criminal, pending at the time when this article shall take effect, shall be affected or abated by the passage of this article or by anything herein contained. All actions or proceedings, civil or criminal, pending in the Courts of Special Sessions of the Towns of Babylon, Huntington, Islip, Smithtown and Brookhaven or pending before Justices of the Peace in said towns on December 31, 1965, the date such courts are to be abolished, are hereby transferred to the District Court of Suffolk County.

B. For the purpose of the disposition of such actions and proceedings only, the jurisdiction of the District Court of Suffolk County shall be deemed:

(1) Expanded to that of the abolished court whenever necessary to sustain the jurisdiction of the District Court of Suffolk County over such action or proceeding if the abolished court has jurisdiction of the same; and

(2) Contracted to that of the abolished court so as to prevent the District Court of Suffolk County from giving relief of such nature or in such amount as could not be given by the abolished court.

C. Except as provided for in the foregoing, practice and procedure in such actions and proceedings shall be as if the same were instituted in the District Court of Suffolk County after December 31, 1965. But if the court shall find that a practice or procedure is necessary to the disposition of such action or proceeding, the court may permit recourse to or completion of the same.

D. All warrants theretofore issued by Magistrates of the Courts of Special Sessions of the Towns of Babylon, Huntington, Islip, Smithtown and Brookhaven shall, after December 31, 1965, be deemed valid warrants of the District Court of Suffolk County and be returnable therein.

§ C27-6 Interpretation.

The provisions of this article relating to the District Court and procedure therein shall be liberally construed in furtherance of justice.

§ C27-7 Severability.

If any clause, sentence, paragraph, section or part thereof of this article shall be adjudged by any court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, such judgment shall not affect, impair or invalidate the remainder thereof, but shall be confined in its operation to the clause, sentence, paragraph, section or part thereof directly involved in the controversy in which such judgment shall have been rendered.