In 1623, Peter Minuit, shortly after being appointed Director-General of New Netherland, formed a council of five, which held legislative, executive, and judicial powers.
The Schout Fiscal was a combination of prosecutor, sheriff, chief of police, constable, and warden with the duty to "under the orders of the Governor's Council to arrest and arraign on behalf of the Company all persons accused of crime, to superintend the trial, and see to the proper carrying out of the sentence."
The Schout was also required to "keep a strict account of all information taken by him and of all criminal trials, and regularly transmit reports to the Company's main offices in Holland."
Patroons (from the Dutch for owner or head of a company) were landholders with manorial rights to large tracts of land in New Netherland in North America along the Hudson River.
Through the Charter of Freedoms and Exemptions of 1629, the Dutch West India Company first started to grant this title and land to some of its invested members.
The patroon exercised within his authority "unlimited civil and criminal jurisdiction...even the power of life and death," subject to an appeal to the Governor.
The Burgomasters were administrators who rotated three-month terms "to attend at City Hall for the dispatch of public business."
Together, the three orders of officers formed a college and enacted laws and ordinances for the city, analogous to the General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
The body, collectively known as the Lords of the Court of the City of New Amsterdam, was headed either by a chosen president or the senior Burgomaster.
In early 1784, James Duane was appointed mayor of New York City, and from that time after the Court was in continuing existence until its abolition.
John Anthon, a prominent lawyer, wrote an act to change the name to the Court of Common Pleas of the City of New York, and to create the position of First Judge.