New York State Supreme Court of Judicature (New York) Pleadings and Other Civil Court Documents

Arranged chronologically by year, then by an assigned code entered on the verso of each document. The code consists of the New York County Clerk's Office abbreviated series title "PL" ("pleadings"), the initial letter of plaintiff's surname, and an assigned sequential number (up to four digits).

Series contains documents relating to litigation in the Supreme Court of Judicature, filed by the court clerk in New York City, and in that court's successor the Supreme Court (New York County), filed by the New York County Clerk. Most of the documents are pleadings by plaintiffs and defendants. There are also numerous affidavits of service, bonds for court costs, clerk's reports of damages, writs of inquiry and inquisitions, and circuit rolls (including minutes of trials). There are many declarations by the district attorney of New York County seeking recovery of debt and damages from individuals who had been arrested and gave bond for appearance in the Court of General Sessions of the Peace and failed to appear. Some documents are missing (particularly for codes 1842 M and 1844 H), and there are very few documents for 1845 and 1846.

JN522Series JN522, Supreme Court of Judicature (New York) Pleadings and other civil and criminal court documents, contains related material

JN110Series JN110, Spreadsheet index to Supreme Court documents other than judgment rolls, and

JN121Series JN121, Card index to Supreme Court pleadings and other court documents, index Series JN535.

These records were transferred by the New York State Unified Court System, Office of Court Administration in 2017.

Documents were filed by the clerk of the Supreme Court of Judicature in New York City prior to July 1, 1847. During the period July 1-December 31, 1847, documents were filed by the New York County Clerk. The latter group includes documents of proceedings commenced in the Court of Chancery (1st Circuit) prior to its discontinuance on July 1, 1847, and of proceedings in the Supreme Court, Equity Term (New York County), after July 1, 1847, in which a final decree or order was issued before the end of that year.

Use and reproduction of fragile documents may be restricted.