Research

The distinction between courts of law and courts of equity was unknown in New Netherland where Dutch-Roman law prevailed. After the English conquest the first court to exercise equity jurisdiction in New York was the Court of Assizes. This court was established in 1664 under the authority of the Duke of York, proprietor of the colony. Equity jurisdiction was conferred upon the court by a 1665 amendment to the Duke's Laws which established the government of the colony.

Chapter 723 of the Laws of 1905 empowered the governor to appoint five citizens, subject to senate approval, who would constitute a commission to be known as the State Water Supply Commission.

The New York State Legislature established the Joint Legislative Committee on Housing to investigate all possible causes of the post-World War I housing shortage. Appointed in May 1919, the Committee (known as the Lockwood Committee) was chaired by Senator Charles C. Lockwood, a three-term Republican from Brooklyn. The committee was assigned to examine the causes for lack of construction of new housing; the increases in rents; possible combinations in building supply and labor; shortcomings of housing financiers; and any other issues related to providing housing.

In 1901 (Chapter 372), the legislature passed the State's first probation law, which provided for the appointment of probation officers by justices of various courts. In 1907, a State Probation Commission was established (Chapter 430) to supervise the work of all probation officers. During the reorganization of State government in 1925-26, this commission was continued as head of the Division of Probation within the Department of Correction.

Official law reporting in New York State dates from 1804, when the Supreme Court was authorized by Chapter 68, Laws of 1804, to appoint a reporter of its decisions. With various changes, reflecting alterations in the State's judicial system, official reporting has had a continuous existence since that time, and is now carried on by the State Law Reporting Bureau which, in its present form, was created by legislative act, Chapter 494, Laws of 1938, enacting Article 14 of the Judiciary Law. The bureau is under the direction of a State Reporter, appointed by the Court of Appeals.

The New York State Constitution of 1894 (Article 14, Section 2) required the submission in 1916 to voters of the question of whether to hold a constitutional convention to revise and amend the Constitution. The Legislature subsequently voted (Laws of 1913, Chapter 819) to move up this election to April 7, 1914. In this election, the state's voters agreed to hold a constitutional convention in 1915. In preparation for this Convention, the Legislature established a Constitutional Convention Commission (Laws of 1914, Chapter 261).

The Factory Investigating Commission was established by an act of the legislature in 1911 (Ch. 561) as a reaction to the March 25 fire at a Manhattan shirt factory. 146 employees of the Triangle Waist Company, mostly women and girls, were killed as a result of the fire. An investigation followed immediately and revealed unsafe and unhealthy conditions in numerous factories, including lack of fire prevention and escapes and inadequate sanitary conditions.

In 1967, Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller established a Women's Unit within the Office of the Secretary to the Governor to serve as an information clearinghouse for State departments dealing with issues of specific interest to women. The unit resulted in part from recommendations of a 1966 Governor's Conference on Women. The status of the unit and the resources available for its work were upgraded by Governor Hugh L.

The office was established by Governor Mario M. Cuomo's Executive Order No. 79 in 1986, with jurisdiction over several executive agencies which handled large sums of money in contracts with local governments, community organizations, and private corporations. The jurisdiction of the office was expanded by Executive Order No. 86 of 1986 to include all agencies, departments, or divisions headed by appointees or nominees of the governor. Executive Order No.

The office of the state Fire Marshal was established in 1911 (Ch. 451). The State Fire Marshal was appointed by the Governor for a five-year term, and his duties were to enforce laws relating to prevention of fires, use of combustibles and explosives, and availability of fire alarms and fire extinguishers; inspect steam boilers; regulate fire escapes; and investigate causes of fires. The office was abolished in 1915.