2006 New York Code - Judicial departments; appellate divisions of supreme court and justices thereof; temporary designation of additional justices; transfer of appeals; jurisdiction.

 
    § 4. a. The state shall be divided into four judicial departments. The
  first department shall consist of the counties within the first judicial
  district  of  the  state.  The  second  department  shall consist of the
  counties within the second, ninth, tenth and eleventh judicial districts
  of the state. The third department shall consist of the counties  within
  the  third, fourth and sixth judicial districts of the state. The fourth
  department shall consist of the counties within the fifth,  seventh  and
  eighth judicial districts of the state. Each department shall be bounded
  by the lines of judicial districts. Once every ten years the legislature
  may  alter  the  boundaries  of  the  judicial  departments, but without
  changing the number thereof.
    b. The appellate divisions of the supreme  court  are  continued,  and
  shall  consist  of  seven  justices  of the supreme court in each of the
  first and second departments, and five justices in  each  of  the  other
  departments.  In each appellate division, four justices shall constitute
  a quorum, and the concurrence of three shall be necessary to a decision.
  No more than five justices shall sit in any case.
    c.  The  governor  shall  designate  the  presiding  justice  of  each
  appellate division, who shall act as such during  his  or  her  term  of
  office  and shall be a resident of the department. The other justices of
  the appellate divisions shall be designated by the  governor,  from  all
  the  justices  elected  to the supreme court, for terms of five years or
  the unexpired portions of their respective terms of office, if less than
  five years.
    d. The justices heretofore designated shall continue  to  sit  in  the
  appellate  divisions  until  the  terms of their respective designations
  shall expire. From time to time as the terms of the designations expire,
  or vacancies occur,  the  governor  shall  make  new  designations.  The
  governor  may also, on request of any appellate division, make temporary
  designations in case of the absence or inability to act of  any  justice
  in  such  appellate  division,  for  service only during such absence or
  inability to act.
    e. In case any appellate division shall certify to the  governor  that
  one or more additional justices are needed for the speedy disposition of
  the business before it, the governor may designate an additional justice
  or additional justices; but when the need for such additional justice or
  justices  shall no longer exist, the appellate division shall so certify
  to the  governor,  and  thereupon  service  under  such  designation  or
  designations shall cease.
    f.  A  majority  of  the  justices  designated to sit in any appellate
  division shall at all times be residents of the department.
    g. Whenever the appellate division in any department shall  be  unable
  to  dispose  of its business within a reasonable time, a majority of the
  presiding justices of the several departments, at a  meeting  called  by
  the  presiding  justice  of  the department in arrears, may transfer any
  pending appeals from such department to any other department for hearing
  and determination.
    h. A justice of the appellate division of the  supreme  court  in  any
  department may be temporarily designated by the presiding justice of his
  or  her  department  to  the  appellate  division  in  another  judicial
  department upon agreement by the presiding  justices  of  the  appellate
  division of the departments concerned.
    i. In the event that the disqualification, absence or inability to act
  of  justices  in any appellate division prevents there being a quorum of
  justices qualified to hear an appeal, the justices qualified to hear the
  appeal may transfer it to the appellate division in  another  department
  for  hearing  and  determination.  In the event that the justices in any
  appellate division qualified to hear an appeal are equally divided, said


  justices may transfer the appeal to the appellate  division  in  another
  department  for hearing and determination. Each appellate division shall
  have power to appoint and remove its clerk.
    j.  No  justice of the appellate division shall, within the department
  to which he or she may  be  designated  to  perform  the  duties  of  an
  appellate  justice,  exercise  any  of  the  powers  of a justice of the
  supreme court, other than those of a justice out  of  court,  and  those
  pertaining to the appellate division, except that the justice may decide
  causes  or proceedings theretofore submitted, or hear and decide motions
  submitted by consent of counsel, but any such justice, when not actually
  engaged in performing the  duties  of  such  appellate  justice  in  the
  department  to  which  he or she is designated, may hold any term of the
  supreme court and exercise any of the powers of a justice of the supreme
  court in any judicial district in any other department of the state.
    k. The appellate divisions of the supreme court  shall  have  all  the
  jurisdiction possessed by them on the effective date of this article and
  such  additional  jurisdiction  as  may  be prescribed by law, provided,
  however, that the right to appeal to  the  appellate  divisions  from  a
  judgment  or order which does not finally determine an action or special
  proceeding may be limited or conditioned by law.