New York State Supreme Court of Judicature (Geneva) Special Bail Pieces

Chronological by year or court term.

The special bail piece is a memorandum filed with the court stating that the defendant has been delivered to bail.

It gives the names of the defendant and plaintiff; the name, occupation or rank, and residence of the bail (two persons are named, but generally one is fictitious--"John Doe" or "Richard Roe"); and the type of common law action. The bail piece is signed by the bail and acknowledged before a Supreme Court Justice or a Circuit Judge, a Supreme Court Commissioner, a judge of the Court of Common Pleas, or other court officer. The amount of the bail bond is not stated. On the dorso of the special bail piece are found the title of the cause, the name of the defendant's attorney, and the filing date. A few bail pieces have exceptions by the plaintiff objecting to the bail.

Series J0096, New York State Supreme Court of Judicature (Albany) Special Bail Pieces, and

Series J0098 New York State Supreme Court of Judicature (Utica) Special Bail Pieces contain the bulk of bail pieces for Albany and Utica

Series J3202, New York State Supreme Court of Judicature (Geneva) Special Bail Book, dockets the bail pieces in Series J0099 through 1843

The Court of Appeals placed these records on deposit at the Historic Documents Collection, Queens College, from 1973-1982.

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