THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK,

SO FAR AS ITS PROVISIONS RELATE TO THE HEALTH

DEPARTMENT.

AN ACT to reorganize the local government of the City of New York. Passed April 5, 1870; three-fifths being present. As amended by an act entitled "An act to make further provision for the government of the City of New York," passed April 26, 1870; and further amended by an act entitled "An act to amend an act entitled 'An act to reorganize the local government of the City of New York,' passed April 5, 1870," passed April 18, 1871.

ARTICLE THIRD.

OF THE EXECUTIVE POWER.

SECTION 28.

And the mayor shall be an ex-officio member of the Board of Police and of the Board of Health, with every right, power and privilege appertaining to any member of said boards, except increase of salary, or voting for the appointment of patrolmen of the police force.

ARTICLE FOURTH.

OF THE COÖRDINATE CITY DEPARTMENTS GENERALLY.

SECTION 29. All the heads of departments hereinafter mentioned, except of the departments of finance and law, shall be appointed by the mayor, as hereinafter provided. Any provision of law giving to the governor power to remove any officer of the city government referred to in this act is hereby repealed. The common council shall have the power of impeachment of the mayor by resolution of two-thirds of all the members elected in each board. The mayor shall have the power of impeaching all heads of departments. In case the

mayor shall be impeached, his assent to the resolution shall not be requisite. The court for the trial of impeachments shall be the full court of common pleas of the city and county of New York. It shall be the duty of the said court to define, by rule, the mode of impeachment and trial of charges. If the court decide that the charges are sustained, the office of the impeached officer shall become vacant.

SEC. 30. There shall be the following other departments in said city Finance Department, Law Department, Police Department, Department of Public Works, Department of Public Charities and Correction, Fire Department, Health Department, Department of Public Parks, Department of Buildings, and Department of Docks.

SEO. 31. The said departments shall, at such times as the mayor may direct, make to him, in such form and under such rules as he may prescribe, reports of the operations and action of the same and each of them, and shall always, when required by him, furnish to him such information as he may demand within such time as he may direct.

SEC. 32. The heads of all departments, except as otherwise specifically directed herein, shall have power to appoint and remove all chiefs of bureaux (except the chamberlain), as also all clerks, officers, employés, and subordinates, in their respective departments. The number of all officers, clerks, employés, and subordinates in every department, except the police and fire departments, with their respective salaries or compensation, shall be such as the head of each department shall designate and approve, except that the aggregate expense thereof shall not exceed the total amount duly appropriated by law to each department for such purposes.

SECTION 90. The health department shall consist of the police commissioners of the city of New York, the health officer of the port, and also four officers to be called "Commissioners

of Health of the City of New York," who shall be appointed by the mayor for a term of five years, two of whom must have been practising physicians in said city for a period of five years preceding their appointment. Said four commissioners of health shall receive an annual salary of five thousand dollars each. These several officers shall together constitute a board, which shall be the head of the health department.

SEC. 91. There shall be four bureaux in this department. The chief officer of one bureau shall be called the "City Sanitary Inspector," and he shall be a practising physician of at least ten years in the city of New York. There shall be another bureau, to be called the "Sanitary Permit Bureau." There shall be another bureau, to be called the "Bureau of Street Cleaning." The chief officer of another bureau shall be called the "Register of Records." And in said bureau shall be recorded, without fees, every birth, marriage, and death, and all inquisitions of coroners (excepting those whereby a jury find a death caused by negligence or malicious injury), which shall occur or be taken within the city of New York.

SEO 92. It shall be the duty of said board, immediately upon organization under this act, to cause to be conformed to this article the code of laws and regulations then or lately adopted by the board of health for the metropolitan. sanitary district, which shall be called the "sanitary code." And said health department is hereby authorized and empowered to add to such sanitary code from time to time additional provisions for the security of life and health in the city of New York, and therein to distribute appropriate powers and duties to the members and employés of the board of health. Any violation of said code shall be treated and punished as a misdemeanor.

SEC. 93. Whenever, in any law of this State, any power or duty shall be conferred or enjoined upon any board of health, or in relation to the board of health of the metropolitan sanitary district, except as herein provided, the same shall be applicable to the department hereby created. Upon the organi

zation of the said board under this act, the metropolitan board of health and its officers and employés shall, on demand, turn over to the department of health created by this act, all the property of every kind, books, records, and papers in the use or possession of said metropolitan hoard of health, its officers or employés, in the city of New York, for the uses and purposes of the health department by this act established; and the health department created by this act are hereby authorized and empowered, immediately upon entering upon the duties of their office, to take possession of the same for such uses and purposes, and to hold the same subject to the control and superior title therein of the city and county of New York. All orders duly made by the metropolitan board of health, and by their terms or necessary legal effect to be executed in the city of New York, may be executed, and the execution thereof compelled, and the execution of such of them as are partly executed may be completed by the department of health hereby created; and the said orders may be severally rescinded or modified by last said department, with like effect as could have been done by the metropolitan board of health at the time the said orders were severally made. The said department may discharge all liens upon real estate in the city of New York, created in proceedings instituted by the metropolitan board of health, in the same manner and for the same causes that, by laws existing January first, eighteen hundred and seventy, they could be discharged by the metropolitan board of health. The authority, duty, and powers conferred or enjoined upon the metropolitan board of health by chapter seventy-four of the laws of eighteen hundred and sixty-six, and the several acts amendatory thereof, and by any other subsequent laws of this State, and upon the several officers and members of said board, not inconsistent with the provisions of this act, are hereby conferred upon and vested in or enjoined upon, and shall hereafter be exclusively exercised in the city of New York, by the health department and board of health, created by this act and by the officers of last said board of health and the said health department, and the same are to be exercised in the manner specified in the said chapter seventy-four of the laws of eighteen hundred and sixty-six, and the several acts amenda

tory thereof, and by any other subsequent laws of the State and in conformity to the provisions of this act.

ARTICLE FIFTEENTH.

GENERAL PROVISIONS, POWERS, AND LIMITATIONS.

SECTION 100. A majority of a board in any department of the city government shall constitute a quorum to perform any act authorized to said department, and each board may choose, in its own pleasure, a president from its members to preside at board-meetings, and a chief clerk.

SEC. 101. No expense shall be incurred by any of the departments, or officers thereof, whether the object of expenditure shall have been ordered by the common council or not, unless an appropriation shall have been previously made covering such expense.

SEC. 102. Whatever provisions and regulations other than those herein specially authorized may become requisite for the fuller organization, perfecting, and carrying out of the powers and duties prescribed to any department by this act, they shall be provided for by ordinance of the common council, who are hereby authorized to enact such necessary ordinances; except that the common council shall never pass an ordinance in relation to regulating the internal affairs of any of the departments herein authorized, or the workings of any of the bureaux, or the duties of any of the subordinate officers of the corporation, or the number of persons to be employed in said department, nor increasing their salaries, except upon the previous application in writing therefor of the head of the department to be affected by said ordinance.

SEC. 120. The city of New York is hereby excepted from the provisions of an act entitled an act to establish a metropolitan police district, and to provide for the government thereof, passed April fifteenth, eighteen hundred and fiftyseven, and of the acts amendatory thereof, and any sections of statutes and provisions of law which created said district, are hereby repealed; and the city of New York is also hereby