Stewart Freeman Hancock Jr., a retired New York Court of Appeals judge known for his scholarship, humanity, liveliness and sense of the absurd—he once declared Christmas trees vegetables to sidestep a Sunday blue law—died Tuesday at his home in Cazenovia. He was 91.
Hancock served on the state’s highest court from 1986 to 1993 and authored pivotal decisions in criminal law, workers rights, the right to die and free speech. He unhesitatingly rejected the U.S. Supreme Court when he felt that the New York constitution offered greater privacy protections for criminal suspects and broader protections for journalists than its federal counterpart.
