Statutes which have been heretofore repealed in terms are printed in the first section column in Roman type, while the statutes which have not been heretofore repealed and which have been consolidated in the text or recommended for repeal are printed in italic. By means of this table the location, classification and disposition of every general statute either in the text or in the schedule of repeals may be readily ascertained.

This table includes the legislation of 1909 and will serve as a great convenience to the profession.

CONSOLIDATORS' NOTES.

In the preparation of the. Consolidated Laws the consolidators prepared copious notes which contain the general scope and history of each law and such changes in the text as were made necessary by reason of the consolidation.

These notes were incorporated in the report of the board to the Legislature and were prepared in such a manner as to be useful when separated from the report; they appear to the editor to be of such importance and usefulness that they are incorporated in full in this edition, and it is believed they will add greatly to its value.

CONSTRUCTION OF THE CONSOLIDATED LAWS.

The Consolidated Laws are not deemed new enactments but furnish a continuation of the various statutes incorporated in them. In addition to the construction placed upon the Consolidated Laws by the General Construction Law, rules for the construction of the Consolidated Laws and Code amendments reported to the Legislature by the Board of Statutory Consolidation are further contained in Laws 1909, chapter 596, which act will be found on page xxiv in this volume and by its terms provides that "in construing the consolidated laws and the amendments to the code of civil procedure and the code of criminal procedure reported to the legislature by the board of statutory consolidation. and in construing the act amendatory thereof known as chapter two hundred and forty of the laws of nineteen hundred and nine, for the purpose of determining the effect of any of the provisions or sections thereof on any other provision or section thereof, or on any special law theretofore enacted, the several provisions and sections of such laws and code amendments and said act amendatory thereof shall not be considered as having been enacted or re-enacted by the legislature at the time of the passage of the consolidated laws or such

*

*

code amendments or said act amendatory thereof but as having been enacted as of the various times when such provisions and sections first became laws by any earlier statutes

*

*

the

true purpose and intent of this act is to prescribe that the statute law of the state so far as it has been reproduced in such consolidated laws and in such amendments to the code of civil procedure and code of criminal procedure and in said chapter two hundred and forty of the laws of nineteen hundred and nine and all special laws in force at the time of the enactment of such consolidated laws shall be of the same force and effect as they were before the enactment of such consolidated laws or code amendments or said acts amendatory thereof." It is therefore expected that the Consolidated Laws will receive the same construction by the courts as that placed upon the statutes contained therein when they were originally enacted.

In its report to the Legislature the board summarized its work in the following language: "The board has endeavored to incorporate into the Consolidated Laws the substance of every living general statute enacted since 1778 in the language of that statute, and the language of the original statute, particularly of the Revised Statutes, has been changed only where its insertion in the Consolidated Laws made such change necessary. * * * The board has endeavored not only to make the text of the Consolidated Laws embrace the living general substantive statutes of the State, but has sought to make the schedule of repeals complete by including statutes consolidated in the text, obsolete statutes and statutes previously repealed. The schedule is therefore a complete list of repeals and will wipe from the Session Laws many useless provisions and will add very much to a clearer understanding of the present law."

*

*

*

The members of the board served without compensation, and though actively engaged in their professional duties, they have given to the work much labor and thought, and the benefit of their extended experience and knowledge of the law, so essential to the completion and perfection of the important duty placed upon them by the Legislature. The active part in the work taken by the chairman of the board who was in daily touch with it, and constant in his efforts to perfect and complete it, was fittingly expressed by one of the members of the board at a recent meeting of the New York State Bar Association when he said, in referring to the work of the board: "We selected as our chairman, Judge Rodenbeck of the Court of Claims, who not being in active practice

himself has been able to give an amount of labor and attention to the detail of this work that has been simply incredible and has incited the admiration and wonder of his associates."

The Legislature manifested its appreciation of the services rendered by the members of the board by adopting the following resolution:

"Resolved, That the thanks of the Legislature be extended to the Honorable Adolph J. Rodenbeck, William B. Hornblower, John G. Milburn and Adelbert Moot, members of the Board of Statutory Consolidation, for their valuable services as members of said board in the preparation of the Consolidated Laws, and "Resolved, That the clerk of the Senate be directed to cause this resolution to be suitably engrossed and attested and a copy to be presented to each of the members of said Board."

The entire body of the statute law of the State, of general application, except that contained in the Code of Civil Procedure, the Code of Criminal Procedure, the Public Service Commissions Law and the Railroad Law has thus been consolidated and systematically arranged without change of substance while all other general statutes have been repealed as required by the act creating the Board of Statutory Consolidation, thus rendering a search for any living general statutory law elsewhere than in the Consolidated Laws unnecessary.

The bar will recognize in the work accomplished by the Board of Statutory Consolidation a notable achievement and will not fail to justly estimate the value and importance of the work which has been done and accord to it a full measure of appreciation. It is the hope of the editor and the object of his very earnest endeavor that the members of the legal profession will approve the manner and the form in which that work, as enacted into law by the Legislature, is here presented, and that they will find this edition of the Consolidated Laws useful and valuable in the performance of their important duties.

Acknowledgment is due to Mr. Herbert W. Huntington, a coemployee in the work of the Board of Statutory Consolidation, for his assistance in preparing this edition of the Consolidated Laws for the press and to Mr. De Witt C. Blashfield, editor-inchief of Abbott's Cyclopedic Digest of New York, editor of the Cyc Annual Annotations, etc., for the editorial supervision of the index.

ALBANY, N. Y., June, 1909.

FREDERICK E. WADHAMS.

STATUTE CREATING THE BOARD OF STATUTORY CONSOLI

DATION.

L. 1904, Ch. 664.

AN ACT to provide for the consolidation of the statutes of the

state.

Became a law May 9, 1904, with the approval of the Governor. Passed, three-fifths being present.

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

Section 1. A board of statutory consolidation is hereby constituted to consist of Adolph J. Rodenbeck, Charles Andrews, Judson S. Landon, William B. Hornblower and John G. Milburn, or such other persons as may be appointed by the governor in case of vacancy. The duty of such board shall be to direct and control the revision, simplification, arrangement and consolidation of the statutes of the state as hereinafter provided.

§ 2. The plan and scope of the work shall follow that adopted in the general laws, so far as practicable. The statutes shall not be changed in substance except that as to matters of procedure such board shall report for enactment such amendments as it may deem proper and necessary to condense and simplify the existing practice and as shall adapt the procedure to existing conditions.

§ 3. The consolidation of the statutes herein provided for shall be carried on under the direction and control of said board by such persons as it shall designate and employ for that purpose whose compensation and necessary expenses shall be fixed by said board and paid by the comptroller on the certificate of the chairman or such other executive officer thereof as may be designated by said board from any appropriation that may be made for that purpose. The members of said board shall serve without compensation, but shall receive their necessary expenses and disbursements incurred in the discharge of their duties either at the capital or elsewhere which shall be paid in the same manner as the compensation and expenses of persons employed by said board.

§ 4. The board shall cause its work to be printed from time to time, and distribute copies of the same to members of the legisla [xx]

ture, judges of the courts, and such other persons as it may see fit for the purpose of obtaining their suggestion and advise.* It shall report annually to the legislature upon the progress of the work and shall make its final report of the statutes so consolidated for enactment to the legislature of nineteen hundred and seven. The printing for said board may be done by the legislative printer and payment therefor shall then be made out of the appropriation for legislative printing. Such board shall not be charged with the duty of advising as to current legislation.

§ 5. Such board, in its final report to the legislature shall suggest such contradictions, omission and imperfections as may appear in the original text, with the manner in which they have reconciled, amended or supplied the same. It shall also designate such statutes, or parts of statutes, as in its judgment ought to be repealed, with the reasons for such repeal, and may also recommend the enactment of any acts, or parts of acts, which such repeal may, in its judgment, render necessary.

6. The sum of thirty-two thousand five hundred dollars is hereby appropriated out of any moneys in the treasury not otherwise appropriated for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of this act up to the first day of June, nineteen hundred and five, to be expended in the manner herein provided.

§ 7. This act shall take effect immediately.

* So in original.