Real estate already taken may be held under this act. Prior damages. "Real that such terms are just to the party interested in such rights, titles, interests or property, the court shall confirm the report and direct the proper conveyance or release to be executed, which shall have the same effect as if executed by an owner of such rights, titles, interests or property having legal power to sell, surrender and convey the same. § 14. In all cases where the commissioner of public works shall have heretofore entered upon, taken or used, any real estate, either with or without the license of the owner thereof, for the purpose of increasing the supply of water for the city of New York, and the title to such real estate shall not have been acquired by said city either by purchase or by any proceedings under any existing law and the said city, by any of its officers, agents or employes, shall be in possession thereof at the time this act shall take effect, and such possession shall be continued for the period of sixty days thereafter, such possession shall be deemed an election on the part of said city to take such real estate under and pursuant to the provisions of this act, and in that case it shall be the duty of the corporation counsel, at the expiration of said sixty days, to make the necessary application for the appointment of commissioners pursuant to the provisions of this act to appraise the damages and compensation to be paid for the taking and using of the same. The performance of such duty may be enforced by the supreme court by mandamus on the application of any owner or claimant of the real estate so taken or used, and upon the hearing before the commissioners appointed upon such application they shall, if requested by said owners or claimants, also appraise and determine the amount of damages sustained by said owners or claimants respectively by reason of any use or occupation of said real estate by said city, or any of its officers or agents, before the making of such application. The said commissioners shall in their report state the amount of damages so ascertained and determined by them, and the amount thereof shall form a part of the amount required to be paid by said city before the right and title to the real estate specified in said report shall be vested in said city as herein before provided. Upon such hearing all of the provisions of this act in relation to compelling the attendance of witnesses, and the examination thereof, shall apply to the claim for damages growing out of such use and occupation. § 15. As to any damages which may have accrued to the owner or claimant of any real estate, as to which the proceedings provided by this act may be instituted, before such proceedings shall have been instituted, this act shall not be taken or construed to deprive any party of a right to a trial by jury of the question of such damage, and the said commissioners shall estimate and determine such damages, and the compensation to be made therefor, only upon the consent of all the parties thereto. Such consent, however, shall be conclusively presumed as against any party who shall appear and take part in the proceedings to determine the amount of such damage, without first entering an objection to the dermination* thereof by such commissioners. In absence of such objection, but not otherwise, the said commissioners shall proceed to final determination of such question. § 16. The term real estate, as used in this act, shall be construed estate, to signify and embrace all uplands, lands under water, the waters of " definition of. So in the original. any lake, pond or stream, all water rights or privileges, and any and all easements and incorporeal hereditaments, and every estate, interest and right, legal and equitable, in lands, or water, including terms for years, and liens thereon by way of judgment, mortgage, or otherwise, and also all claims for damage to such real estate. tion of § 17. The commissioners appointed in pursuance of this act shall Compensa receive as compensation the sum of ten dollars per day for each day commisactually employed. They may employ the necessary clerks and sur- sioners. veyors. The salaries of the commissioners and of their employes, and the necessary traveling expenses and other expenses incurred in and about such special proceedings shall be paid by the said comptroller, as provided for in this act, on the certificate of the commissioner of public works of the city of New York. of water. 18. For the purpose of preventing any waste of water, the com- Preventmissioner of public works of the city of New York is hereby author- ing waste ized to construct such aqueducts, reservoirs, dams, sluices, canals and appurtenances as may be necessary to collect or retain the water in or from any lakes or streams which may be taken under the operation of this act, and use such waters as the wants and necessities of said city may require, provided that nothing contained in this or in any exist- Proviso. ing act shall authorize or permit any water in excess of the ordinary flow thereof to be drawn from Lake Mahopac and Lake Glenida, in the town of Carmel and county of l'utnam, between the first day of March and the first day of September in any year; and provided also that nothing in this or in any existing act contained shall be so construed as to interfere with any existing right to catch fish, obtain ice, or keep, use and maintain boats in or upon any natural lake or pond which may be acquired under this act, nor shall it be so construed as to destroy any existing right of riparian owners upon such lakes and ponds to use the waters thereof, or to build upon the shores thereof, except as such rights may be affected by the raising or lowering of the waters of such lake or ponds, as herein before prescribed. § 19. It shall be the duty of the comptroller of the city of New York, and he is hereby authorized and directed, on requisition of the commissioner of public works of the city of New York, to raise, from time to time, on bonds of said city, amounts of money sufficient to pay the sums which may be necessary, from time to time, to be paid for the acquisition of any real estate, or for the extinguishment of any right, title, interest therein, to be acquired or extinguished under this act, together with all expenses necessarily incurred in surveying, locating and acquiring title to real estate, or extinguishing claims for damages thereto; and also all such sums as, from time to time, may be found necessary for the construction of acqueducts*, reservoirs, dams, sluices, canals and appurtenances as are now in process of construction; and all such payments shall be made by the comptroller on the certificate of the commissioner of public works of the city of New York; provided, however, the amount so raised shall not, in any one year, exceed the limitations which, by law, may be or may have been imposed as to the amount of expenditure to be made by the commissioner of public works. Money to be raised to pay for rights, etc by bonds § 20. The bonds so to be issued by the comptroller of the city of Bonds New York, in pursuance of this act, shall be entitled "additional Čroton water stock of the city of New York," shall bear interest at the *So in the original. Highways around new reservoir. Venue of actions. Amend ment of pleadings and pro rate of not exceeding seven per cent per annum, and shall be redeemable in not less than ten nor more than fifty years, as the said comptroller shall determine to be for the best interest of the said city; and the board of aldermen of the city of New York is hereby authorized and directed to raise, from time to time, by tax upon the estates, real and personal, subject to taxation in the city and county of New York, the sum or sums of money which may be required to pay the interest on said bonds and to redeem them at maturity. The mayor and comptroller of said city are hereby authorized and directed to sign said bonds, and it shall be the duty of the clerk of the board of aldermen to countersign the same and to affix thereto the seal of the city. Such bonds shall not be disposed of at less than the par value thereof. 21. The said city of New York is hereby required to repair and forever maintain the highways built or in process of construction by the said city around the new reservoir, on the middle branch of the Croton river, in the town of South East. 22. All actions for the recovery of real property, or of any estate or interest therein, or for the determination in any form of such right or interest, and for injuries to real estate, brought under the provisions of this act, shall be brought and tried in the county in which the subject of the action, or some part thereof, is situated, subject to the powers of the court to change the place of trial in cases provided by statute. § 23. If in any particular it shall at any time be found necessary to amend any pleading, proceeding, process or action, or to supply any defect therein, arising in the course of any special proceeding authorceedings. ized by this act, the same may be amended or supplied in such manner as shall be directed by the supreme court, which is hereby authorized to make such amendment or correction. § 24. All acts and parts of acts inconsistent with this act are hereby 516, post, p. repealed. Amended 1879, ch. 814. Injury to works of art, build etc. §25. This act shall take effect immediately. CHAP. 451. AN ACT for the more effectual prevention of wanton and malicious mischief, and to prevent the defacement of natural scenery. PASSED June 15, 1877; three-fifths being present. The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows: SECTION 1. Any person who shall maliciously or wantonly injure or deface any monument or work of art, building, fence or other structure. ings, trees, or destroy or injure any ornamental tree, or shrub or plant, whether situated on any private ground or on any street, public place, public or private way, or cemetery, or who shall paint or print upon, or in Advertise any other manner place upon or affix to any stone or rock, not a part rocks, of a building, or upon or to any bridge or tree, any word, letter, character or device, stating, referring to, or advertising, or intended to state, refer to or advertise the sale or manufacture of any property or article, profession, business, exhibition, amusement or place of amuse ments on trees, bridges, etc. ment, or other thing, and any person who shall, directly or indirectly, cause any such act to be done, or shall aid therein, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction, shall, for each and every such offense, be punished by a fine not exceeding two hundred Punishand fifty dollars, or by imprisonment not exceeding six months, or by both such fine and imprisonment. ment. the injury. § 2. Every such person shall, moreover, be liable whether before or Action for after conviction as aforesaid, to an action in favor of any person injured, or owning or possessing any land, premises upon which any such act has been done, in which action damages may be recovered of not less than five dollars, and, in addition to that sum, of not more than five times the amount of the actual damage sustained; provided, how- Proviso. ever, that nothing herein before contained shall apply to any word, letter, character or device relating to any sale, manufacture, profession, business exhibition or amusement held, carried on or to take place upon the lands or premises owned or possessed by the person who shall have, by himself or by any other, painted, printed, placed or affixed the same. overseer of § 3. If within six months from the time of the commission of any Action by of the acts referred to in the first section of this act, an action author- poor. ized to be brought as aforesaid, by any person owning or possessing any land or premises upon or about which any words, letters, characters or devices may have been painted, printed, placed or affixed, as aforesaid, shall not bring the same and prosecute such action to judgment without unreasonable delay, an action may be brought by the overseers of the poor of the town in which such act has been done, for the benefit of the poor of said town, against the persons who shall do the same, or who shall aid therein or cause the same to be done, or such action may be brought by the overseer of the poor of any town, village or city where such persons shall be found, or by the officers in such towns, villages and cities as may possess the general powers of overseers of the poor." * tion property § 4. The fact that such act has been aided or caused to be done by Presump-] any person charged therewith, shall, in any such action, as a legal against presumption, be deemed to be proved against any of the owners or owner of proprietors or managers of the property, articles, profession, business, or business exhibition, amusement or other thing relative to which such words, adverletters, characters or devices may have been painted, printed, placed or affixed, as aforesaid, until the contrary is shown by competent evidence. tised. when § 5. When any such action may be brought by overseers of the poor Action by or other officers, as aforesaid, the same may be brought in the court overseer, of any justice of the peace, or in a justice or district court of any city, brought. which courts are hereby given jurisdiction over the same; and in any Judgment. such action judgment for damages may be recovered to an amount not exceeding two hundred dollars and costs, and judgment rendered in any such action may be pleaded in bar of any action brought to recover damages for the same offense. § 6. Chapter five hundred and seventy-three of the laws of eighteen hundred and fifty-three, and chapter two hundred and twenty-two of the laws of eighteen hundred and sixty-five, are hereby repealed. *The peculiar construction of this section is not the work of the printers.-ED. GEN. LAWS. Repeal ch. 1853, 4 573, Laws Edm. 617. and ch.222 Laws 1865. 6 Edm. 454. Amending 2 R. S. 133. 2 Edm. 137. Claims to money paid into state treasury by public administrators. CHAP. 456. AN ACT to amend section seventy-four of title six, chapter six, part two of the revised statutes, relative to the application for moneys paid into the state treasury by administrators. PASSED June 16, 1877. The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows: SECTION 1. Section seventy-four of title six, chapter six, part two of the revised statutes, is hereby amended so as to read as follows: $74. Any person claiming any moneys that shall have been paid into the state treasury by any county treasurer, pursuant to this title, or by any administrator pursuant to section eighty-one of title three of this chapter, may present a petition to the supreme court, praying that such moneys may be paid to him; and a copy of such petition shall be served upon the attorney-general fourteen days previous to the time when the same shall be presented. § 2. This act shall take effect immediately. CHAP, 465. Highways. AN ACT to amend the revised statutes in relation to the laying out of public roads and the alteration thereof. Amending 1R. S. 514, 1 Edm. 473, ante, p. 183. Proceeding in altering or laying out road without consent of owners. PASSED June 16, 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 sixty of article four of title one of chapter sixteen of the first part of the revised statutes is further amended so that said section shall read as follows: § 60. In all cases of the alteration of any road, or the laying out of any new road, (except where the same is altered, opened or laid out with the consent in writing of the owner or owners of the land to be taken for such alteration or opening,) the person or persons applying for the same shall serve a notice on the town clerk of the town, and on a justice of the peace and the commissioner or commissioners of highways thereof, asking for a jury to certify to the necessity of the same, and specifying a time not less than ten nor more than twenty days from the time of serving such notice when such jury will be drawn at the clerk's office of the town by the town clerk thereof, and shall notify in writing each of the owners or occupants through which such alteration or new road is proposed to be laid, of the time and place of drawing such jury, by personally serving such notice on such owner or occupant at least five days before the drawing of such jury, or by mailing a copy thereof at least eight days before such drawing to such owner or owners, in the manner prescribed by law for Jury, how the service of legal notices. At the time and place mentioned the town clerk of such town, having received such notice that such jury is to be drawn, shall, 23 Barb.197. in the presence of a justice of the peace or one of the commissioners of highways of the town, deposit in a box the names of all persons then residents of his town whose names are on the lists filed in said town clerk's office, of those selected and returned as jurors, pursuant to article second, title four, chapter seven, part third of the revised statutes, who are not interested in the lands through which such road is to pass or be located, nor of kin to the owner thereof, and shall publicly, in the presence of such justice of the peace or commissioner, draw therefrom the name of twelve persons, and shall make a certificate of such names and the purposes for which they were drawn, and shall deliver the same to the person asking for the jury, and the applicant for such jury shall pay to the said town clerk one dollar for drawing How sum- such jury. The applicant for such road or alteration of a road, on receiving such certificate, shall deliver the same to a justice of the peace of the town wherein the road is to be laid, and it shall be the duty of such justice forthwith to issue a summons to one of the constables of said town directing him to drawn. moned. |