§ 112. New York

New York is divided into four judicial districts to be known as the Northern, Southern, Eastern, and Western Districts of New York.

Northern District

(a) The Northern District comprises the counties of Albany, Broome, Cayuga, Chenango, Clinton, Columbia, Cortland, Delaware, Essex, Franklin, Fulton, Greene, Hamilton, Herkimer, Jefferson, Lewis, Madison, Montgomery, Oneida, Onondaga, Oswego, Otsego, Rensselaer, Saint Lawrence, Saratoga, Schenectady, Schoharie, Tioga, Tompkins, Ulster, Warren, and Washington.

Court for the Northern District shall be held at Albany, Auburn, Binghamton, Malone, Plattsburgh, Syracuse, Utica, Watertown, and Plattsburgh.

Southern District

(b) The Southern District comprises the counties of Bronx, Dutchess, New York, Orange, Putnam, Rockland, Sullivan, and Westchester and concurrently with the Eastern District, the waters within the Eastern District.

Court for the Southern District shall be held at New York, White Plains, and in the Middletown-Wallkill area of Orange County or such nearby location as may be deemed appropriate.

Eastern District

(c) The Eastern District comprises the counties of Kings, Nassau, Queens, Richmond, and Suffolk and concurrently with the Southern District, the waters within the counties of Bronx and New York.

Court for the Eastern District shall be held at Brooklyn, Hauppauge, Hempstead (including the village of Uniondale), and Central Islip.

Western District

(d) The Western District comprises the counties of Allegany, Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Chemung, Erie, Genesee, Livingston, Monroe, Niagara, Ontario, Orleans, Schuyler, Seneca, Steuben, Wayne, Wyoming, and Yates.

Court for the Western District shall be held at Buffalo, Canandaigua, Elmira, Jamestown, and Rochester.

(June 25, 1948, ch. 646, 62 Stat. 885; Pub. L. 90–217, Dec. 18, 1967, 81 Stat. 662; Pub. L. 91–546, § 1, Dec. 14, 1970, 84 Stat. 1412; Pub. L. 95–271, § 1, Apr. 28, 1978, 92 Stat. 221; Pub. L. 95–408, § 4(c), Oct. 2, 1978, 92 Stat. 885; Pub. L. 95–573, § 3, Nov. 2, 1978, 92 Stat. 2458; Pub. L. 98–620, title IV, § 405, Nov. 8, 1984, 98 Stat. 3361; Pub. L. 101–650, title III, § 324(a)(2), Dec. 1, 1990, 104 Stat. 5120; Pub. L. 104–317, title VI, § 609, Oct. 19, 1996, 110 Stat. 3860; Pub. L. 106–113, div. B, § 1000(a)(1) [title III, § 306], Nov. 29, 1999, 113 Stat. 1535, 1501A–37; Pub. L. 108–455, § 4, Dec. 10, 2004, 118 Stat. 3628; Pub. L. 108–482, title III, § 302, Dec. 23, 2004, 118 Stat. 3918.)

Historical And Revision

Historical and Revision Notes

Based on title 28, U.S.C., 1940 ed., §§ 178 and 178a (Mar. 3, 1911, ch. 231, § 97, 36 Stat. 1119; Jan. 21, 1920, ch. 50, 41 Stat. 394; July 1, 1922, ch. 260, 42 Stat. 812; Aug. 12, 1937, ch. 591, 50 Stat. 623).

A reference in section 178 of title 28, U.S.C., 1940 ed., to Franklin County in the list of Counties in the Northern District, in which one term might be held annually, in the discretion of the judge, was omitted as superseded by the provisions of said section 178a of title 28, requiring an annual term to be held at Malone, which is in Franklin County.

References to seizures made, matters done and processes or orders issued respecting waters within the concurrent jurisdiction of the southern and eastern districts, were omitted as unnecessary and covered by the revised language.

Provision for 20 days’ notice of the special term authorized in the discretion of the court in the counties of Clinton, Jefferson, Onondaga, Oswego, Rensselaer, St. Lawrence, Saratoga, and Schenectady was omitted as unnecessary, in view of section 141 of this title providing for such notice as the district judge orders.

The special provision permitting any district judge in New York to act as judge in any other district in that State upon request of the resident district judge was omitted, thus making applicable the uniform procedure for designation and assignment of district judges throughout the United States, provided by section 292 of this title.

Words “with the waters thereof” after the list of counties in each district were omitted as unnecessary and inconsistent with other sections of this chapter.

The provisions with reference to the return of process in admiralty cases, the designation of judges and their powers, and the holding of sessions for the hearing of motions and for proceedings in bankruptcy and admiralty, were omitted as unnecessary and more properly the subject of rule of court.

The provisions of sections 178 and 178a of title 28, U.S.C., 1940 ed., respecting court accommodations at Malone and in the counties of Schenectady, Rensselaer, Saratoga, Onondaga, St. Lawrence, Clinton, Jefferson, Oswego, and Franklin, were omitted as covered by section 142 of this title.

The county of Bronx, in the southern district, was formed out of a part of New York County in 1912.

Lockport was omitted as a place of holding court in the Western District. Court has not been held there for 32 years.

Changes were made in arrangement and phraseology.

Amendments

Amendments

2004—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 108–482 inserted “Plattsburgh,” after “Malone,”.

Pub. L. 108–455 substituted “Watertown, and Plattsburgh” for “and Watertown”.

1999—Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 106–113 amended last sentence generally. Prior to amendment, last sentence read as follows: “Court for the Eastern District shall be held at Brooklyn, Hauppauge, and Hempstead (including the village of Uniondale).”

1996—Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 104–317 amended last sentence generally, substituting “Court for the Southern District shall be held at New York, White Plains, and in the Middletown-Wallkill area of Orange County or such nearby location as may be deemed appropriate.” for “Court for the Southern District shall be held at New York and White Plains.”

1990—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 101–650 substituted “Utica, and Watertown” for “and Utica”.

1984—Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 98–620 provided for holding court at Hauppauge.

1978—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 95–408, § 4(c)(1), added counties of Columbia, Greene, and Ulster to those counties comprising the Northern District of New York.

Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 95–573 provided for holding court at White Plains.

Pub. L. 95–408, § 4(c)(2), struck out Columbia, Greene, and Ulster from those counties comprising the Southern District of New York.

Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 95–271 substituted “and Hempstead (including the village of Uniondale)” for “Mineola, and Westbury”.

1970—Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 91–546 provided for holding court at Westbury.

1967—Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 90–217 provided for holding court at Mineola.

Effective Date Of Amendment

Effective Date of 1984 Amendment

Amendment by Pub. L. 98–620 effective Jan. 1, 1985, and not to affect the composition, or preclude the service, of any grand or petit jury summoned, impaneled, or actually serving on that date, see section 411 of Pub. L. 98–620, set out as a note under section 85 of this title.

Effective Date of 1978 Amendment; Savings Provision

Amendment by Pub. L. 95–408 effective 180 days after Oct. 2, 1978, with such amendment not to affect the composition or preclude the service of any grand or petit juror summoned, empaneled, or actually serving in any judicial district on the effective date of this Act, see section 5 of Pub. L. 95–408, set out as a note under section 89 of this title.

Miscellaneous

Pretermission of Regular Session of Court at Hempstead and Holding of Special Session at Westbury; Procedures Applicable, Appropriations, Etc.

Sections 2 to 5 of Pub. L. 95–271 provided that:

“Sec. 2. The United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York, by order made anywhere within its district, may pretermit the regular session of court at Hempstead until Federal quarters and accommodations are available and ready for occupancy, except that for the entire period and such pretermission, a special session of the court shall be held at Westbury. Pretermission may be ordered without regard to the provisions of section 140(a) of title 28, United States Code.

“Sec. 3. Notwithstanding the provisions of section 142 of title 28, United States Code, the Administrator of General Services, at the request of the Director of the Administrative Office of the United States Courts, shall continue to provide existing quarters and accommodations at Westbury for the duration of the special session held pursuant to section 2 of this Act. Appropriations to the judicial branch of Government shall be available to the Director to make necessary disbursements for such quarters and accommodations, and to pay user charges as required by section 210 of the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949, as amended (40 U.S.C. 490) [see now 40 U.S.C. 586, 587], at rates otherwise authorized by law.

“Sec. 4. Notwithstanding the provisions of section 456 of title 28, United States Code, any judge, and any officer or employee of the judicial branch, whose official station is, on the day before the date of enactment of this Act [Apr. 28, 1978], Westbury, may maintain that official station for the duration of the special session held pursuant to section 2 of this Act.

“Sec. 5. The Director of the Administrative Office of the United States Courts may pay travel and transportation expenses in accordance with subchapter II, chapter 57 of title 5, United States Code, to any officer or employee of the judicial branch whose official station changes as a consequence of this Act [enacting this provision and amending subsec. (c) of this section] and who relocates his residence incident to such change of official station.”