Extension of Judicial Review in New York

There are several reasons why it should be worth while to investigate the operation of the most unique of American governmental institutions in the most important state of the Union. For one thing, in the person of Chancellor KZN” New York furnished one of the founders of American Constitutional Law, while at the same time it was KzNT’s fame that early gave New York decisions the importance they still retain in great part in the field of citation and precedent. Again it was YNT’S influence that inclined the fresh shoot of constitutional jurisprudence in New York in a conservative direction, so that in the face of the most complex social and economic conditions that obtain anywhere in the Union, the New York courts have ordinarily pressed those doctrines of constitutional law which have for their purpose the security of property rights more vigorously than the courts of almost any other jurisdiction. But on the other hand, finally, with respect to her written constitution New York has had a normal and representative history, having had, since 1777, four successive constitutions, each of which has progressively stimulated the extension of judicial review by increased and more detailed inhibitions upon legislative action.