New York State Supreme Court of Judicature (Albany) Criminal Case Documents

This series consists of documents filed in criminal cases heard and decided by the justices of the Supreme Court of Judicature in their capacity as judges of the Court of Oyer and Terminer in Albany County.

Documents include writs of venire facias juratores, commanding the sheriff to empanel a jury (two of these writs have lists of jurors attached); bills of indictment by the grand jury; recognizances of bail for the appearance of defendants and witnesses; records of conviction, which include the entire proceedings of a case from indictment to sentence; and a few other documents of uncertain origin. The first volume of General and Special Term Minute Books (Albany) contains occasional records of indictments, trials, and convictions, and at least some of the documents in this series relate to those cases. Several documents in this series relate to a famous case of criminal contempt brought against Samuel S. Freer, publisher of the Ulster Gazette in Kingston, in 1803. (Freer was charged with trying to influence the court's decision in the trial of Harry Croswell for libel.)

J0130Series J0130, New York State Supreme Court of Judicature (Albany) General and Special Term Minute Books, contains related records.

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

There are no restrictions regarding access to or use of this material.