Shooting not prohibited. CHAP. 107. AN ACT in relation to the treatment of animals. PASSED April 13, 1875; three-fifths being present. Without the approval of the Governor, pursuant to provision of section nine of article four of the Consti tution. The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows: SECTION 1. None of the provisions of law heretofore enacted for the of pigeons prevention of cruelty to animals, within this State, shall be construed to prohibit or interfere with the shooting, by members of sportsmens' clubs or incorporated societies, of pigeons, provided that, in each case, as soon as they can be captured or taken, after being shot, such pigeons, if living, shall immediately be killed. §2. This act shall take effect immediately. Consolidation of continuous lines. CHAP. 108. AN ACT in relation to railroad corporations. PASSED April 15, 1875; three-fifths being present. The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows: SECTION 1. In any case where two or more railroad companies shall have been, or shall hereafter be, organized under the general laws of this state, the whole of whose lines, as located by them respectively, shall form one continuous and connecting line of road, the said companies may consolidate their lines of road, stock, franchises and property according to the existing laws of this State relating to the consolidation of railroad companies; and any such consolidated company may thereupon construct or finish the construction of such continuous line of railroad and operate the same, subject to all provisions of law applicable to railroad corporations, organized under the said general laws, so far as not inconsistent with this act; but this act shall not in any manner affect the existing laws regulating the rate of fare on any railroad. § 2. This act shall take effect immediately. Ante, vol. 7p. 529. See note to chap. 256, Laws 1875, post, p. 102. CHAP. 113. AN ACT to extend the operation and effect of the act passed The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and SECTION 1. Any three or more persons may organize and form oil comthemselves into a corporation in the manner specified and required in panies. and by the act entitled "An act to authorize the formation of corporations for manufacturing, mining and mechanical or chemical purposes," passed February seventeenth, eighteen hundred and forty-eight, for the storage, conveyance and transportation of petroleum and other oils, so that under said act and the acts amendatory thereof it shall be lawful to form companies for carrying on the business of storing, conveying and transporting petroleum and other oils, and of doing all things necessary and proper therefor, subject to such laws or regulations as are now or may hereafter be in force in the several cities of this State where such business may be conducted relating to the storage and safe-keeping of petroleum and other oils. §2. Every corporation so formed shall be subject to all the provisions, duties and obligations contained in the above-mentioned act, and shall be entitled to all the benefits and privileges thereby conferred. §3. This act shall take effect immediately.. Sec ante, vol. 3, p. 733, and note to ch. 290, L. 1879, post, p. 758. CHAP. 119. AN ACT to amend chapter one hundred and forty-six of the laws of eighteen hundred and seventy-two, entitled "An act to authorize corporations to hold and convey real estate for business purposes in other States, with the consent thereof." PASSED April 17, 1875. The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows: Laws 1872, SECTION 1. Section one of chapter one hundred and forty-six of Amending the laws of eighteen hundred and seventy-two, entitled "An act to ch. 146, authorize corporations to hold and convey real estate for business pur- 9 Edm. 336 poses in other States, with the consent thereof," is hereby amended so as to read as follows: Corpora tions may hold real estate and stocks in other States. § 1. It shall be lawful for any corporation organized under the laws of this State and transacting business in several States or foreign countries, to acquire, hold and convey in such States or countries, with the consent thereof, such real estate as shall be requisite for such corporation in the convenient transaction of its business, or to purchase, hold, own and dispose of any stock in other corporations owning such real estate situated in such States or foreign countries in conformity to the laws thereof; but the authority herein granted shall not be construed to authorize any corporation organized under the laws, existing or doing business in this State, to purchase, hold, own or convey any other stocks than such as may be or may have been based upon or represent real estate, the possession of which shall be required in the transaction of its legitimate and ordinary business. § 2. This act shall take effect immediately. Amending ch. 37, Laws 1848, CHAP. 120. AN ACT to amend chapter thirty-seven of the laws of eighteen hundred and forty-eight, entitled "An act to authorize the formation of gas-light companies." PASSED April 17, 1875. The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows: SECTION 1. Section twenty of chapter thirty-seven of the laws of eighteen hundred and forty-eight, entitled "An act to authorize the 3 Edm. 849 formation of gas-light companies," is hereby amended so as to read as follows: May in crease or diminish capital stock. § 20. Any company which may be formed under this act may increase or diminish its capital stock, by complying with the provisions of this act, to any amount which may be deemed sufficient and proper for purposes of the corporation. But before any corporation shall be entitled to diminish the amount of its capital stock, if the amount of debts and liabilities shall exceed the amount of capital to which it is proposed to be reduced, such amount of debts and liabilities shall be satisfied and reduced so as not to exceed such diminished amount of capital; and any company formed under any special act, Companies may come under and avail itself of the privileges and provisions of this act, by complying with the following provisions; and thereupon such company, its officers and stockholders, shall be subject to all the restrictions, duties and liabilities of this act. formed under special acts. § 2. This act shall take effect immediately. CHAP. 130. AN ACT for the incorporation of societies for the prevention of cruelty to children. PASSED April 21, 1875; three-fifths being present. The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows: pre children, SECTION 1. Any five or more persons of full age, a majority of whom Society for shall be citizens of, and residents within, this State, who shall desirevention of to associate themselves together, for the purpose of preventing cruelty cruelty to to children, may make, sign and acknowledge, before any person author how ized to take the acknowledgment of deeds in this State, and file in the formed. office of the Secretary of State, and also in the office of the clerk of the county, in which the business of the society is to be conducted, a certificate in writing, in which shall be stated the name or title by which such society shall be known in law, the particular business and objects of such society, the number of trustees, directors or managers to manage the same, and the names of the trustees, directors or managers of the society, for the first year of its existence; but such certificate shall not be filed, unless the written consent and approbation of one of the justices of the supreme court of the district in which the place of business or principal office of such society shall be located, be indorsed on such certificate. society. §2. Upon filing the certificate as aforesaid, the persons who shall Powers have signed and acknowledged such certificate, and their associates and of the successors shall thereupon by virtue of this act, be a body politic and corporate, by the name stated in such certificate, and as such shall have power, 1. To have perpetual succession by its corporate name. 2. To sue and be sued, complain and defend, in any court of law or equity. 3. To make and use a common seal, which may be affixed by making an impression directly on the paper, and alter the same at pleasure. 4. To appoint such officers, managers and agents as the business of the corporation may require. 5. To make by-laws not inconsistent with the laws of this State or of the United States, for the management of its property and the regulation of its affairs. 6. To contract and be contracted with. 7. To take and hold by gift, purchase, grant, devise or bequest any property, real or personal, and the same to dispose of at pleasure. But such corporation shall not, in its corporate capacity, hold real estate, the yearly income derived from which shall exceed the sum of fifty thousand dollars. 8. To exercise any corporate powers necessary to the exercise of the powers above enumerated and given. 3. Any society so incorporated may prefer a complaint before any May aid in court or magistrate having jurisdiction for the violation of any law protecting relating to or affecting children, and may aid in bringing the facts before such court or magistrate in any proceeding taken. children. trates and peace offi § 4. All magistrates, constables, sheriffs and officers of police shall, Magisas occasion may require, aid the society so incorporated, its officers, members and agents in the enforcement of all laws which now are or cers to aid may hereafter be enacted, relating to or affecting children. society. Limitation. § 5. The provisions of this act shall not extend or apply to any association or individuals, who shall, in the certificate filed as hereinabove provided, use or specify a name or style the same or substantially the same as that of any previously existing incorporated society in this State. § 6. This act shall take effect immediately. See chapter 122, Laws 1876, chapter 428, Laws 1877, chapters 384 and 404, Laws 1878, post. Under section 3, of ch. 122, of the Laws of 1876, authorizing any court or magistrate to commit to an asylum, etc., any child engaged or used in violation of the act, the recorder of a city has power to commit such child to the care of the New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children above authorized. Matter of Donohue, 1 Abb. New Case, 1. In that case three boys below the age of fifteen years were brought before the recorder of Poughkeepsie on a charge made by the New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, of being employed as gymnasts and acrobats in a circus and their masters or employers were arrested charged with exhibiting, using and employing these boys as gymnasts and acrobats. The recorder found the charge sustained and committed the boys to the care of the Society making the charge. The masters or employers obtained a writ of habeas corpus, and on the proceedings proved that the boys had been apprenticed to them by their parents to learn the trade of gmynasts and acrobats. The court, WESTBROOK, J., decided that the commitment to the Society was proper; that the constitutionality of the statute under which the commitment was made could not be inquired into under the writ of habeas corpus, and that the constitutional right of trial by jury and due process of law does not extend to claims to the custody of children under indenture of apprenticeship. In People v. Turner, 55 Ill. 280; S. C., 8 Am. Rep. 645, an act of the legislature of Illinois authorized the commitment to a "reform school" of children between six and sixteen years of age who are "vagrants or destitute of proper parental care, or are growing up in mendicancy, idleness or vice," to remain until reformed or until the age of twenty-one. On the application of the father of a child so committed, held, that the child must be discharged, the act being unconstitutional, and the commitment not being for any criminal offense. But in Prescott v. State, 19 Ohio St. 184; S. C., 2 Am. Rep. 388, a statute authorizing the grand jury, where an infant under the age of sixteen years is charged with crime, and the charge appears to be supported by evidence sufficient to put the accused upon trial, instead of finding an indictment, to return to the court that the accused is a suitable person to be committed to the house of refuge, and directing the court thereupon to order the commitment without trial by jury, is constitutional. So in Milwaukee Industrial School v. Supervisors, 40 Wis. 328; S. C., 22 Am. Rep. 702, a statute enacted that children under a certain age, who were inmates of poor-houses, or who were abandoned by their parents, or who were without means of subsistence, should be committed to industrial schools during minority. Held, not unconstitutional as authorizing imprisonment without due process of law. |