New York County Court


The County Court of the State of New York is a New York State Unified Court System court of general jurisdiction outside New York City. In New York City, criminal and civil matters are heard in the city Criminal Court and Civil Court, respectively, or the state Supreme Court.

Jurisdiction

The court has unlimited criminal jurisdiction and civil jurisdiction where the amount in controversy is no more than $25,000. In many counties, this court primarily hears criminal cases, and usually only felonies as lesser crimes are handled by local courts.

Structure

A County Court operates in each county except for the five counties of New York City. Unlike the Supreme Court, each County Court is considered distinct.
The County Court is authorized to establish "appellate sessions", an intermediate appellate court that hears appeals from the inferior courts. Appellate sessions are located in the Third and Fourth Judicial Departments only.

Judges

Judges are elected to ten-year terms.

Appellate procedure

Appeals in civil cases are to the Supreme Court, Appellate Division as of right, and in criminal matters appeals are to the Court of Appeals only by permission of a judge of the Court of Appeals.