Case Name: The Health Department of the City of New York v. The Rector, etc., of Trinity Church
Court: New York Court of Common Pleas
Jurisdiction: New York
Decision Date: 1895-01
Citations: 10 Misc. 738
Docket Number: 
Parties: The Health Department of the City of New York v. The Rector, etc., of Trinity Church.
Judges: 
Reporter: New York Miscellaneous Reports
Volume: 10
Pages: 738–739

Head Matter:
The Health Department of the City of New York v. The Rector, etc., of Trinity Church.
(New York Common Pleas
General Term,
January, 1895.)
The General Term has power, at any and all times, to amend an order, seasonably granted, allowing an appeal to the Court of Appeals, by inserting the ground upon which it was made.
Motion to amend order granting leave to appeal to the Court of Appeals.
IFF. P. Prentice, for motion.
S. P. Wash, opposed.

Opinion:
Daly, Oh. J.
This is an application to the General Term '(January, 1895) to amend a nrior order of the General Term (March 7, 1892).
An order having been made by the General Term in March, 1892, permitting an appeal from its. decision to the Court of Appeals (the action having been commenced in a District Court), it is now asked that .the General Term amend éuch order by inserting therein the ground upon which it was made, viz., that a question of law .is involved which ought to be reviewed by the Court of Appeals. Such a statement in the order, where the amount of the matter in controversy, as in this case, does not exceed $500, is required in order to authorize an appeal to the Court of .Appeals. Laws of 1874, chap. 322; Squire v. McDonald, 138 N. Y. 554 ; Bastable v. City of Syracuse, 72 id. 64. The application for the amendment is opposed on the ground that we have no jurisdiction to make the amendment, and De Freest v. City of Troy, 34 Hun, 580 ; 101 N. Y. 608, is cited as authority.
The last-named case holds that the power to allow an appeal to the Court of Appeals can only be exercised by the General Term which, rendered the decision, or by the next General Term held after judgment thereon has been entered. The casé has no bearing upon the question of amending an order .whereby permission to appeal .to the Court of Appeals was heretofore and seasonably granted. The court possesses unrestricted power at all times to make the record declare the truth as to its judgment. National Bank v. N. Y. Bank, 97 N. Y. 645. In that ease it was held that the General Term had power to amend its order after an appeal had been taken therefrom to the Court of Appeals by adding a statement that the reversal was upon the facts as well as the law, although the effect was to give the respondent a better position in the Court of Appeals; following Guernsey v. Miller, 80 N. Y. 181, and Buckingham v. Dickinson, 54 id. 682. If the decision appealed from could be amended after appeal, the decision upon the application for leave to appeal is equally amendable. The amendment allowed in the cases cited is more radical than that which is now applied for, and the decisions amply justify the relief asked. 1
Motion granted, without costs.
Bischoff and Pryor, JJ., concur.
Motion granted, without costs.