Docket book of selected cases heard in Albany courts

This volume was probably originally the property of the law partnership of Hale Kingsley and James W. Bentley. These lawyers either as a team or singly are identified in the volume as being involved with almost every case recorded in the volume. Bentley, whose name also appears on the coversheet, was employed by the secretary of state as assistant examiner of corporations.

The volume includes the dockets or outlines of actions taken in selected cases heard before various Albany courts, and very few docket of cases heard before Supreme Court in other counties. Each case docket included in the volume is identified by the name and location of the court, and the name of the parties involved in the case. Most dockets identify Kingsley and Bentley either together or singly as attorneys for the plantiff, some entries also identify the defense attorney or referee involved with the case and for still others no attorneys are identified. The docket or outlines for each case lists chronologically the dates and a short statement describing major pre-trial, and post-trial actions. Where relevant, legal announcements pertaining to a given case have been included with the docket.

The Albany courts represented in the volume are: New York State Supreme Court Albany County; Albany Justice Court; Albany County Court; Albany Surrogates Court. The dockets in the volume are arranged chronologically, by date of the first action listed for a case. An alphabetic index by plaintiff is included in the beginning of the volume.

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