§ 22. Gender.

Words of the masculine gender include the feminine and the neuter, and may refer to a corporation, or to a board or other body or assemblage of persons; and, when the sense so indicates, words of the neuter gender may refer to any gender.

§ 23. Heretofore and hereafter.

Each of the terms, heretofore, and hereafter, in any provision of a statute, relates to the time such provision takes effect.

§ 24. Holiday and half holiday.

The term holiday includes the following days in each year: The first day of January, known as New Year's day; the twelfth day of February, known as Lincoln's birthday; the twenty-second day of February, known as Washington's birthday; the thirtieth day of May, known as Memorial day; the fourth day of July, known as Independence day; the first Monday of September, known as Labor day; the twelfth day of October, known as Columbus day; and the twenty-fifth day of December, known as Christmas day, and if either of such days is Sunday, the next day thereafter; each general election day and each day appointed by the president of the United States or by the governor of this state as a day of general thanksgiving, general fasting and prayer, or other general religious observances. The term half holiday includes the period from noon to midnight of each Saturday which is not a holiday.

Amended by L. 1909, ch. 112. In effect March 23, 1909.

§ 25. Holiday in contractual obligations.

Where a contract by its terms requires the payment of money or the performance of a condition on a public holiday, such payment may be made or condition performed on the next business day succeeding such holiday, with the same force and effect as if made or performed in accordance with the terms of the contract.

§ 26. Judge.

The term judge includes every judicial officer authorized, alone or with others, to hold or preside over a court of record.

§ 27. Last, preceding, next and following.

A reference to the last or preceding section, or other provision of a statute, means the section or other division immediately preceding, and a reference to the next or following section or other division of a statute means the section or other division immediately following.

§ 28. Lunatic and lunacy.

The terms lunatic and lunacy include every kind of unsoundness of mind except idiocy.

§ 29. Men.

The term men includes boys.

§ 30. Month, computation.

A number of months after or before a certain day shall be computed by counting such number of calendar months from such day, exclusive of the calendar month in which such day occurs, and shall include the day of the month in the last month so counted having the same numerical order in days of the month as the day from which the computation is made, unless there be not so many days in the last month so counted, in which case the period computed shall expire with the last day of the month so counted.

§ 31. Month in statute, contract and public or private instrument.

In a statute, contract or public or private instrument, unless otherwise provided in such contract or instrument or by law, the term month means a calendar month and not a lunar month.

§ 32. Municipal officers.

A reference to several officers of a municipal corporation holding the same office, or to a board of such officers, shall be deemed to refer to the

single officer holding such office, when but one person is chosen to fill such office in pursuance of law.

§ 33. Notice.

When a notice is required to be given to a board or body, service of such notice upon the clerk or chairman thereof shall be sufficient.

§ 34. Now.

The term now in any provision of a statute referring to other laws in force, or to persons in office, or to any facts or circumstances as existing, relates to the laws in force, or to the person in office, or to the facts or circumstances existing, respectively, immediately before the taking effect of such provision.

§ 35. Number, singular and plural.

Words in the singular number include the plural, and in the plural number include the singular.

§ 36. Oath, affidavit and swear.

The terms oath and affidavit include every mode authorized by law of attesting the truth of that which is stated. The term swear includes every mode authorized by law for administering an oath.

§ 37. Person.

The term person includes a corporation and a joint-stock association. When used to designate a party whose property may be the subject of any offense, the term person also includes the state, or any other state, government or country which may lawfully own property in the state.

§ 38. Property.

The term property includes real and personal property.

§ 39. Property, personal.

The term personal property includes chattels, money, things in action, and all written instruments themselves, as distinguished from the rights or interests to which they relate, by which any right, interest, lien or incumbrance in, to or upon property, or any debt or financial obligation is created, acknowledged, evidenced, transferred, discharged or defeated, wholly or in part, and everything, except real property, which may be the subject of ownership.

Oil wells and all fixtures connected therewith, situate on lands leased for oil purposes and oil interests, and rights held under and by virtue of any lease or contract or other right or license to operate for or produce petroleum oil, shall be deemed personal property for all purposes except taxation.

§ 40. Property, real.

The term real property includes real estate, lands, tenements and hereditaments, corporeal and incorporeal.

§ 41. Quorum and majority.

Whenever three or more public officers are given any power or authority, or three or more persons are charged with any public duty to be performed or exercised by them jointly or as a board or similar body, a majority of all such persons or officers at a meeting duly held at a time fixed by law, or by any by-law duly adopted by such board or body, or at any duly adjourned meeting of such meeting, or at any meeting duly held upon reasonable notice to all of them, may perform and exercise such power, authority or duty, and if one or more of such persons or officers shall have died or have become mentally incapable of acting, or shall refuse or neglect to attend any such meeting, a majority of the whole number of such persons or officers shall be a quorum of such board or body, and a majority of a quorum, if not less than a majority of the whole number of such persons or officers may perform and exercise any such power, authority or duty.

§ 42. Register of county.

Any act done in pursuance of law by the register of a county shall be deemed to be a compliance with any provision of law authorizing or requiring such act to be done by the county clerk of such county, and any instru

ment or writing filed, entered or recorded in pursuance of law in the office of a register of a county, shall be deemed to be a compliance with any provision of law authorizing or requiring such paper to be filed, entered or recorded, as the case may be, in the office of the clerk of such county. The term county clerk when used in relation to conveyances of real property or the filing or recording of instruments which are or may be filed in the office of the register of a county, shall include the register of each county in which there is a register.

§ 43. Seal of court, public officer or corporation.

A seal of a court, public officer or corporation may be impressed directly upon the instrument or writing to be sealed, or upon wafer, wax or other adhesive substance affixed thereto, or upon paper, or other similar substance affixed thereto by mucilage or other adhesive substance.

§ 44. Seal, private.

The private seal of a person, other than a corporation, to any instrument or writing shall consist of a wafer, wax or other similar adhesive substance affixed thereto, or of paper or other similar substance affixed thereto, by mucilage or other adhesive substance, or of the word “ seal," or the letters L. S.," opposite the signature.

§ 45. Seal, private as corporate seal.

An instrument or writing duly executed, in the corporate name of a corporation, which shall not have adopted a corporate seal, by the proper officers of the corporation under their private seals, shall be deemed to have been executed under the corporate seal.

§ 46. Signature.

The term signature includes any memorandum, mark or sign, written or placed upon any instrument or writing with intent to execute or authenticate such instrument or writing.

§ 47. State.

The term state, when used generally to include every state of the United States, includes also every territory of the United States and the District of Columbia.

§ 48. Tense, present.

Words in the present tense include the future.

§ 49. Territory.

The term territory when used generally to include every territory of the United States, includes also the District of Columbia.

50. Time, computation.

Time shall continue to be computed in this state according to the Gregorian or new style. The first day of each year after the year seventeen hundred and fifty-two is the first day of January, according to such style.

§ 51. Time, night.

Night time includes the time from sunset to sunrise.

§ 52. Time, standard.

The standard time throughout this state is that of the seventy-fifth meridian of longitude west from Greenwich, except that at two o'clock ante meridian of the last Sunday in March of each year such standard time throughout this state shall be advanced one hour, and at two o'clock ante meridian of the last Sunday in October of each year such standard time throughout this state shall, by the retarding of one hour, be returned to the mean astronomical time of the seventy-fifth meridian of longitude west from Greenwich, and all courts and public officers, and legal and official proceedings, shall be regulated thereby.

Amended by L. 1918, ch. 112, in effect March 28, 1918.

§ 53. Time, use of standard.

Any act required by or in pursuance to law to be performed at or within a prescribed time, shall be performed according to the standard time. § 54. Village.

The term village means an incorporated village.

§ 55. Women.

The term women includes girls.

§ 56. Writing and written.

The terms writing and written include every legible representation of letters upon a material substance, except when applied to the signature of an instrument.

§ 57. Year, common and leap.

For the purpose of computing and reckoning the days of the year in the same regular course in the future, every year, the number of which in the Christian era is a multiple of four, is a bisextile or leap year consisting of three hundred and sixty-six days, unless such number of the year is a multiple of one hundred and the first two figures thereof treated as a separate number is not a multiple of four, and every year which is not a leap year is a common year consisting of three hundred and sixty-five days. § 58. Year in statute, contract and public or private instrument. The term year in a statute, contract, or any public or private instrument, means three hundred and sixty-five days, but the added day of a leap year and the day immediately preceding shall for the purpose of such computation be counted as one day. In a statute, contract or public or private instrument, the term year means twelve months, the term half year, six months, and the term a quarter of a year, three months.

ARTICLE 3.

Ancient Statutes and Resolutions.

Sec. 70. Statutes of England and Great Britain inoperative in this state. 71. Acts of the legislature of the colony of New York inoperative. 72. Resolutions of the congress of the colony and the convention of New York inoperative.

§ 70. Statutes of England and Great Britain inoperative in this state. A statute of England or Great Britain shall not be deemed to have had any force or effect in this state since May first, seventeen hundred and eighty-eight.

§ 71. Acts of the legislature of the colony of New York inoperative. Acts of the legislature of the colony of New York shall not be deemed to have had any force or effect in this state since December twenty-ninth, eighteen hundred and twenty-eight.

§ 72. Resolutions of the congress of the colony and the convention of New York inoperative.

The resolutions of the congress of the colony of New York and of the convention of the state of New York, shall not be deemed to be the laws of this state hereafter.

ARTICLE 4.

References, Titles and Head Notes.

Sec. 80. References to repealed provisions. 81. Titles and head notes.

§ 80. References to repealed provisions.

If any provision of a law be repealed and, in substance, re-enacted, a reference in any law to such repealed provision shall be deemed a reference to such re-enacted provision.

§ 81. Titles and head notes.

If the title of any article or other division of a statute, or the head note of a section shall be amended or repealed in the body of the statute, or if a new article or other division having a title, or a new section having a new head note be added to a statute, the corresponding title or head note, if any, in an abstract of contents at the beginning of the article or other division of the statute shall be deemed to be correspondingly amended or repealed, although there be no express reference thereto.

ARTICLE 5.

Effect of Repeals.

Sec. 90. Effect of the repeal of a repealing statute.

91. Effect of the repeal of a statute upon amendments thereof.
92. Effect of the repeal of an amending statute.

93. Effect of repealing statute upon existing rights.

94. Effect of repealing statute upon pending actions and proceedings. 95. Effect of the repeal of a statute by another statute substantially re-enacting the former.

96. Effect of hyphen in schedule of repeals.

§ 90. Effect of the repeal of a repealing statute.

The repeal hereafter or by this chapter of any provision of a statute, which repeals any provision of a prior statute, does not revive such prior provision.

§ 91. Effect of the repeal of a statute upon amendments thereof.

The repeal by the Consolidated Laws of a statute includes a statute amendatory of the statute repealed.

§ 92. Effect of the repeal of an amending statute.

The repeal hereafter or by this chapter of any provision of a statute, which amends a provision of a prior statute, leaves such prior provision in force unless the amendatory statute be a substantial re-enactment of the statute amended.

§ 93. Effect of repealing statute upon existing rights.

The repeal of a statute or part thereof shall not affect or impair any act done, offense committed or right accruing, accrued or acquired, or liability, penalty, forfeiture or punishment incurred prior to the time such repeal takes effect, but the same may be enjoyed, asserted, enforced, prosecuted or inflicted, as fully and to the same extent as if such repeal had not been effected.

§ 94. Effect of repealing statute upon pending actions and proceedings. Unless otherwise specially provided by law, all actions and proceedings, civil or criminal, commenced under or by virtue of any provision of a statute so repealed, and pending immediately prior to the taking effect of such repeal, may be prosecuted and defended to the final effect in the same manner as they might if such provisions were not so repealed.

§ 95. Effect of the repeal of a statute by another statute substantially re-enacting the former.

The provisions of a law repealing a prior law, which are substantial re-enactments of provisions of the prior law, shall be construed as a continuation of such provisions of such prior law, modified or amended according to the language employed, and not as new enactments.

§ 96. Effect of hyphen in schedule of repeals.

When two numbers in a schedule of repeals of the consolidated laws are connected by a hyphen both such numbers are included as well as all intermediate numbers.

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