CHAPTER I.

BOUNDARIES, BOROUGHS, POWERS, RIGHTS AND OBLIGATIONS OF THE CITY.

The City of New York; corporations consolidated; territories; short title of this act.

1. All the municipal and public corporations and parts of municipal and public corporations, including cities, villages, towns and school districts, but not including counties, within the following territory, to wit: The county of Kings, the county of Richmond, the city of Long Island City, the towns of Newtown, Flushing and Jamaica, and that part of the former town of Hempstead as it existed on the thirtyfirst day of December, eighteen hundred and ninety-seven, bounded on the east and north by the east and north bounds of the former village of Far Rockaway, and on the east by a line drawn due north from the northwest corner of said village to the south line of the town of Jamaica, as it existed on the thirty-first day of December, eighteen hundred and ninety-seven, are hereby annexed to, united and consolidated with the municipal corporation known as the mayor, aldermen and commonalty of the city of New York, to be hereafter called "The City of New York"; and the boundaries, jurisdictions and powers of the said city of New York herein constituted, are for all purposes of local administration and government, hereby declared to be co-extensive with the territory above described; and the said city of New York is hereby declared to be the successor corporation in law and in fact of all the municipal and public corporations united and consolidated as aforesaid, with all their lawful rights and powers, and subject to all their lawful obligations, without diminution or enlargement except as herein. otherwise specially provided; and all of the duties and powers of the several municipal and public corporations united and consolidated as aforesaid into The City of New York are hereby devolved upon the board of aldermen of the said city of New York, so far as the same are applicable to said city, and not herein otherwise specially provided, to be exercised in accordance with the provisions of this act. This act may be cited by the short title of "The Greater New York Charter."

Division into boroughs.

2. The City of New York, as constituted by this act, is hereby divided into five boroughs to be designated respectively: Manhattan, The Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens and Richmond; the boundaries whereof shall be as follows:

First. The borough of Manhattan shall consist of all that portion of The City of New York, as hereby constituted, known as Manhattan Island, Nuttin or Governor's Island, Bedloe's Island, Bucking or Ellis Island, the Oyster Islands, and also Blackwell's Island, Randall's Island and Ward's Island in the East or Harlem rivers.

Second. The borough of The Bronx shall consist of all that portion of The City of New York, as hereby constituted, lying northerly or easterly of the borough of Manhattan, between the Hudson river and the East river or Long Island sound, including the several islands belonging to the municipal corporation heretofore known as the mayor, aldermen and commonalty of the city of New York, not included in the borough of Manhattan.

Third. The borough of Brooklyn shall consist of that portion of The City of New York, as hereby constituted, hitherto known as the city of Brooklyn.

Fourth. The borough of Queens shall consist of the territory known as Queens county.

Fifth. The borough of Richmond shall consist of the territory known as Richmond county.

Name; powers and rights of the corporation; seal.

83. The name of the corporation constituted by this act shall be "The City of New York," and the same shall by that name, be a body politic and corporate in fact and in law with power to contract and to be contracted with, to sue and be sued, to have a common seal and to have perpetual succession, with all of the rights, properties, interests, claims, demands, grants, powers, privileges and jurisdictions held by the mayor, aldermen and commonalty of the city of New York, and held by each of the municipal and public corporations or parts thereof, other than counties, by this act united and consolidated with the corporation known as the mayor, aldermen and commonalty of the city of New York, except so far as modified or repealed by the provisions of this act.

Local government; board of aldermen; liabilities of corporations consolidated.

4. For all purposes the local administration and government of the people and property within the territory hereby comprised within The City of New York shall be in and be exercised by the corporation aforesaid; and the board of aldermen as in this act constituted, subject to the conditions and provisions of this act, shall exercise all the powers vested in the corporation of The City of New York by this act or otherwise, save as in this act is otherwise specially provided. All valid and lawful charges and liabilities now existing against any of the municipal or public corporations or parts thereof, which by this act are made part of the corporation of The City of New York, including the county of Kings and the county of Richmond, or which may hereafter arise or accrue against such municipal and public corporations, or parts thereof, including the said counties of Kings and of Richmond, which but for this act would be valid and lawful charges or liabilities against the same, shall be deemed and taken to be like charges against or liabilities of the said The City of New York, and shall accordingly be defrayed and answered unto by it to the same extent, and no further, than the said several constituent corporations would have been bound if this act had not been passed. All bonds, stocks, contracts and obligations of the said municipal and public corporations, including the county of Kings and the county of Richmond, and such proportion of the debt of the county of Queens and of the town of Hempstead as shall be ascertained as hereinafter prescribed, which now exist as legal obligations, shall be deemed like obligations of The City of New York, and all such obligations as are authorized or required to be hereafter issued or entered into, shall be issued or entered into by and in the name of the corporation of The City of New York.

Laws relating to the creation and payment of debts to remain in force; common debt; taxation.

5. All laws, or parts of laws, heretofore passed creating any debt or debts of the municipal and public corporations united and consolidated as aforesaid, or for the payment of such debts, or respecting the same, as well as every such law. respecting the debts of the corporation known as the mayor, aldermen and commonalty of the city of New York, shall

remain in full force and effect, except that the same shall be carried out by the corporation hereby constituted, to wit: The City of New York, and under such name and in such form and manner as may be suitable to the administration of said corporation; and all the pledges, taxes, assessments, sinking funds, and other revenues and securities provided by law for the payment of the debts of the municipal and public corporations aforesaid, shall be in good faith enforced, maintained and carried out by the corporation of The City of New York. All the valid debts of the municipal and public corporations mentioned in the first section of this act, including the county of Kings and the county of Richmond and the proportion of the debt of the county of Queens and of the town of Hempstead aforesaid, and the valid debts of the towns, incorporated villages, and school districts herein united and consolidated with the corporation heretofore known as the mayor, aldermen and commonalty of the city of New York into The City of New York, as well as the debts of the latter corporation, shall be the common debt of The City of New York, as hereby constituted. So far as resort to taxation is authorized or necessary to pay such debts, such taxation shall extend equally throughout the territory of the corporation herein constituted, except that all assessments for benefits, heretofore laid or provided to be laid for the payment of any portion of such debts, or to reimburse any of the said municipal and public corporations which created such debt, in respect thereof, shall be preserved and enforced, it being the intent hereof that the obligations and liability of The City of New York, as the successor of municipalities and public corporations consolidated into it, shall be the same as, and not otherwise greater than, the respective obligations and liabilities of the several constituent corporations, and that The City of New York shall succeed to all of their rights as well as to their obligations and liabilities in respect thereof, except as herein otherwise specially provided.

Effect where only a part of a corporation is annexed.

§ 6. Where part only of the territory of a municipal or public corporation is embraced by this act within the limits of The City of New York, as herein constituted, the respective rights, duties and liabilities of the said city and of the municipal or public corporations part of whose territory is so annexed to the said city, shall be as in this act provided. If any case shall arise for which this act does not make provision, or full

and adequate provision arising out of such annexation, or out of the consolidation herein provided for, the board of aldermen may by ordinance make provision for such case, or for its equitable determination, so far as concerns The City of New York.

Same subject; creation of debt.

87. No municipal or public corporation, part of whose territory is annexed to The City of New York, shall hereafter create any debt which shall bind property within The City of New York, nor shall such municipal or public corporation levy any tax or assessment upon property within The City of New York, as herein constituted.

Transfer of property; counties not to become indebted.

§ 8. In consideration of the foregoing provisions whereby The City of New York, as hereby constituted, assumes as aforesaid the valid debts, obligations and liabilities of the municipal and public corporations including the counties, towns, incorporated villages and school districts as aforesaid, and to carry out the scheme and purpose of this act, all of the public buildings, institutions, public parks, water works and property of every character and description, whether of a public or private nature, heretofore owned and controlled by any of the said municipal and public corporations or parts thereof, hereby consolidated into The City of New York, including any and all such property owned by the county of New York, the county of Kings, and the county of Richmond, wherever situated, and by the county of Queens situated in that portion thereof, which is included within the limits of The City of New York, as constituted by this act, and all the right, title and interest of the said municipal and public corporations and counties as aforesaid, or any of them, in and to such property. are hereby vested in The City of New York and divested out of the said corporations and counties, and the power of said municipal and public corporations and of the said counties of New York, Kings, Queens and Richmond to become indebted, shall cease upon the consummation and taking effect of the consolidation herein provided for.

Former funds; payable to The City of New York.

89. All funds and moneys which, on the first day of January, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, shall be held by or be