CHAPTER 444.

AN ACT to create a board of excise in the several towns of this State.

PASSED May 4, 1874, three-fifths being present.

The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:

SECTION 1. At the annual town meetings in the several towns in this State, held next after the passage of this act, there shall be elected, in the same manner as other town officers are elected, three commissioners of excise, who, while acting as such commissioners, shall not hold either of the offices of supervisor, justice of the peace, or town clerk, the office of president or trustee of any incorporated village; and who shall compose the board of excise of their respective towns, and discharge the duties imposed upon the supervisor and justice of the peace of towns, and the president and trustees of incorporated villages thereof, by chapter one hundred and seventyfive of the laws of eighteen hundred and seventy, and laws amendatory thereof and supplementary thereto; and shall be entitled to receive compensation at the rate of three dollars per day while in session, as a board of excise, which shall be a town charge, except in the counties where the moneys received by said board are paid into the county treasury as hereinafter provided, when it shall be a county charge. The commissioners first elected under this act shall be classified by lot, under the superintendence of the supervisor, the justice of the peace having the shortest time to serve, and the town clerk, or a majority of such officers, who shall meet at the office of the town clerk of their respective towns, for such purpose, within ten days after such town meeting, and the persons drawing for one, two, and three years shall serve for such terms respectively; and annually thereafter one commissioner of excise shall be elected for a term of three years. Vacancies occurring in said boards, from any cause, shall be filled by appointment by the supervisor and justices of the peace of said town, or a majority of them, until the next annual town meeting, when such vacancy shall be filled by election.

SEC. 2. The said commissioners shall be voted for upon a separate ballot, which shall be deposited in a separate box, marked Excise," and, before entering upon the duties of their offices, shall take and subscribe the constitutional oath of office and file the same with the town clerk; and shall execute a bond to the supervisor thereof, to be approved by him in double the amount of the excise moneys of the preceding year, conditioned for paying over to him, or his immediate successor in office, within thirty days after the re

ceipt thereof, all moneys received by them as such excise commissioners. Said moneys shall be disposed of as directed by the town board, except in those counties where the support of the poor is a county charge, where such excisc money shall be paid into the county treasury, subject to the control of the board of supervisors.

SEC. 3. Nothing in this act shall affect the provisions of any special act in so far as the same provides for any special disposition of excise moneys or fines.

SEC. 4. This act shall take effect immediately.

SEC. 15. No inn, tavern, or hotel keeper, or any other person licensed to sell any strong or spirituous liquors or wines, shall, either personally or by his wife, servant, employee, or other agent, sell or give any such liquors or wines to any Indian or apprentice, knowing or having reason to believe him to be such, or within the knowledge of such agent, without the consent of his master or mistress; nor to any minor under the age of eighteen years, without the consent of his father or mother or guardian. Whoever shall either personally or by his wife, servant, employee, or other agent offend against either of these provisions shall forfeit $10 for each and every offence, to be recovered by the master of such apprentice or servant, or by the parent or guardian of such minor; and any person who shall, either personally or by his wife, servant, employee, or other agent sell or give away any strong or spirituous liquor, ale, beer, or wine, to any Indian in this State, or shall sell or give away beer or ale or any spirituous liquors or wine to any minor under the age of fourteen years, knowing or having reason to believe him to be such age, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and on conviction shall be liable to a fine $25 for each and every offence.

LANDLORD AND TENANT BILL.

PASSED MAY, 1873.

CHAP. 583.

AN ACT TO DEFINE SOME OF THE RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF LANDLORDS AND TENANTS.

The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:

SECTION 1. Whenever the lessee or occupant other than the owner of any building or premises shall use or occupy the same, or any part thereof, for any illegal trade, manufacture, or other business, the lease or agreement for the letting or occupancy of such building or premises shall thereupon become void, and the landlord of such lessee or occupant may enter upon the premises so let or occupied, and shall have the same remedies to secure possession thereof as are given by law in the case of a tenant holding over after the expiration of his lease.

SEC. 2. The owner or owners of any building or premises knowingly leasing or giving possession of the same, to be used or occupied, in whole or in part, for any illegal trade, manufacture, or business, or knowingly permitting the same to be used for any illegal trade, manufacture, or business, shall be jointly and severally liable with the tenant or tenants, occupant or occupants, for any damage that may result by reason of such illegal use, occupancy, trade, manufacture, or business.

SEC. 3. This act shall take effect immediately.

CIVIL DAMAGE LAW.

THE following is the new Civil Damage Bill passed by the New York Legislature, May, 1873:

CHAP. 646.

AN ACT TO SUPPRESS INTEMPERANCE, PAUPERISM, AND CRIME. The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:

SECTION 1. Every husband, wife, child, parent, guardian, employer, or other person, who shall be injured in person, or property, or means of support by any intoxicated person, or in consequence of the intoxication, habitual or otherwise, of any person, shall have a right of action in his or her name against any person or persons who shall, by selling or giving away intoxicating liquors, have caused the intoxication, in whole or in part, of such person or persons; and any person or persons owning and renting or permitting the occupation of any building or premises, and having knowledge that intoxicating liquors are to be sold therein, shall be liable, severally or jointly with the person or persona selling or giving intoxicating liquors aforesaid, for all damages sustained and for exemplary damages; and all damages recovered by a minor shall be paid either to such minor or his or her parent. guardian, or next friend, as the court shall direct; and the unlawful sale or giving away of intoxicating liquors shall work a forfeiture of all rights of the lessee or tenant under any lease or contract of rent upon the premises.

SEC. 2. In any action arising for violations of the provisions of this act, any justice of the peace in the country where the offence is committed shall have jurisdiction to try and determine the same, providing the amount of damages claimed does not exceed two hundred dollars, in which case, and where the damages claimed do not exceed five hundred dollars, the justice of the peace before whom the action is commenced shall associate with himself any other two justices of the peace in the same county, who shall have jurisdiction to try and determine the same.

CHAPTER 420.

AN ACT to amend chapter six hundred and twenty-eight of the laws of eighteen hundred and fifty-seven, entitled "An Act to suppress intemperance and to regulate the sale of intoxicating liquors." Passed June 5, 1877, three-fifths being present.

The people of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:

SECTION 1. Section fifteen of chapter six hundred and twentyeight of the laws of eighteen hundred and fifty-seven, entitled "An Act to suppress intemperance and to regulate the sale of intoxicating liquors," is hereby amended so as to read as follows:

SEC. 15. No inn, tavern, or hotel keeper, or any other person licensed to sell any strong or spirituous liquors or wines, shall either personally, or by his wife, servant, employee, or other agent, sell or give any such liquors or wines to any Indian or apprentice, knowing or having reason to believe him to be such, or within the knowledge of such agent, without the consent of his master or mistress, nor to any minor under the age of eighteen years, without the consent of his father or mother or guardian. Whoever shall either personally, or by his wife, servant, employee, or other agent, offend against either of these provisions shall forfeit ten dollars for each and every offence, to be recovered by the master of such apprentice or servant, or by the parent or guardian of such minor; and any person who shall either personally, or by his wife, servant, employee, or other agent, sell or give away any strong or spirituous liquors, ale, beer, or wine, to any Indian in this State, or shall sell any beer, ale, wine, or any strong or spirituous liquor to any minor under the age of fourteen years, knowing or having reason to believe such minor to be under such age, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and on conviction shall be liable to a fine of twenty-five dollars for each and every offence.

SEC. 2. This act shall take effect immediately.

Extract from the decision of the Court of Appeals in 1860:

"The ravages upon the physical, intellectual, and spiritual condition of our race by the habitual use of intoxicating beverages, together with the labors for the last forty years of benevolent and philanthropic individuals to arrest the scourge by efforts to pro