Article VI, § 7 of the NY Constitution establishes the Supreme Court as a court of "general original jurisdiction in law and equity” (NY Const, art VI, § 7 [a]). Under this grant of authority, the Supreme Court "is competent to entertain all causes of action unless its jurisdiction has been specifically proscribed” (Thrasher v United States Liab. Ins. Co., 19 NY2d 159, 166), and to that extent its powers are "unlimited and unqualified” (Kagen v Kagen, 21 NY2d 532, 537).
However, as all parties agree, rent-control and rent-stabilization disputes are a modern legislatively created category not encompassed within the traditional categories of actions at law and equity referred to in section 7 (a) of article VI of the NY Constitution (see generally, Langerman v Langerman, 303 NY 465). Thus, the Supreme Court’s authority in this case depends on the reach of section 7 (b) of article VI, which provides: "If the legislature shall create new classes of fictions and proceedings, the supreme court shall have jurisdiction over such classes of actions and proceedings,” even though "the legislature may provide that another court or courts shall also have jurisdiction and that actions and proceedings of such classes may be originated in such other court or courts.”