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 ROMISSORY 
 NOTES 
 
 BILLS OF EXCHANGE. 
 CHECKS AND NEGOTIABLE BONDS 
 
 IMPORTANT CHANGBS IN THE I/AW, 
 
 New York Negotiable Instruments Law 
 
 WHICH TOOK EFFECT 
 
 OCTOBER 1, 1897 
 
 Annotated and Indexed by 
 
 GEO. W. VAN SICLEN 
 
 OF THE New York Bar. 
 
 200 Pages; Cloth; Price, $2.00 
 
 published by 
 
 Record and Guide, 14-16 Vesey Street 
 
 New York. 
 

 ING 
 
 / 
 
 OF ,THE 
 
 Greater New York Charter 
 
 REAL ESTATE INTERESTS 
 
 BY 
 
 . ' GEO. W. VAN SICLEN 
 
 OF THE New York Bar. 
 
 Author of "Guide to Buyers and Sellers of Real Estate." 
 
 Commentaries on "The Negotiable Instruments Law.' 
 
 Founder of the Title Guarantee and Trust Co. 
 
 One of the Incorporators of the Real Estate Exchange. 
 
 Sometime Law Editor of The Real Estate Record and Guide. 
 
 New York, 1897. 
 
 The Record and Guide Publishing Co. 
 
 14-16 vesey street. 
 
95HU 
 
 Copyright, 1897, 
 
 BY THE REAL ESTATE RECORD ASSOCIATION, 
 
 14-16 VESEY STREET, NEW YORK. 
 
 Printed by 
 
 The Record and Guide Press, 
 
 227 William St., N. Y. 
 
Bearing of the Charter 
 
 OF 
 
 THE CITY OF NEW YORK 
 
 UPON 
 
 REAL ESTATE INTERESTS 
 
 BY 
 
 GEO. W. VAN SICLEN 
 
 Real estate is affected in many ways by provisions of 
 the new charter of New York City, which are scattered and 
 tangled through a law book of over 600 pages ; an analysis 
 and summary of these provisions is therefore desirable 
 that they may be clearly understood, and may be quickly 
 found when needed. 
 
 Correct name. — The correct name of this great city is 
 not Greater New York, but " The City of New York". 
 
 The. — Notice that word "The." It is part of the lawful 
 name of the corporation. Sometimes a charter has that 
 word, and sometimes not, just as the legislature happened 
 (or intended) to pass it ; but if it was so written in the char- 
 ter of a corporation it must be used in all official documents ; 
 and if it was not so placed in the charter, it must be left 
 
2 BEARING OF THE CHARTER 
 
 out of all official documents. In an old law case a person 
 prosecuted for forgery by writing ''Nassau Bank," was set 
 free, because the true name of the bank was " The Nassau 
 Bank," and he had not written the latter, and consequently 
 had not forged that bank's name. 
 
 This is "The City of New York," and not the ''City of 
 New York," nor "New York City," when called by its right 
 name. 
 
 Short title. — But the charter may be cited by the short 
 title of "The Greater New York Charter". (Sec. i.) 
 
 Charter takes effect. — The charter takes effect January 
 ist, 1898, except that as to any election required to be held or 
 other act done or forbidden before that date, the new law 
 took effect from and after its passage May 4th, 1897, when 
 it was approved by the Governor. 
 
 Not accepted by old New York — This new charter was 
 accepted by Brooklyn and Long Island City, and not ac- 
 cepted by the old City of New York, but was signed by the 
 Governor, and became a law, notwithstanding. 
 
 Rights, powers, obligations, duties — The new city is 
 declared by Sec. i to be the successor corporation in law 
 and fact of all the municipal and public corporations con- 
 solidated, with all their rights and powers, and subject to 
 all their lawful obligations; this obviously includes the 
 trustees of each public school district in Hempstead and 
 Flushing, and those of each village in Staten Island and 
 Queens County. 
 
 ** Developed " or devolved ? — The draftsman of Sec. i 
 
UPON REAL ESTATE INTERESTS. 3 
 
 of the charter evidently believes in the theory of evolution 
 (unless he is misrepresented by the printer), for the law as 
 printed goes on to say that the duties and powers of the 
 several municipal and public corporations consolidated 
 " are hereby developed upon the Municipal Assembly of said 
 City of New York." He probably meant ''devolved." But 
 in view of the size of the charter and of the way in which 
 it has become, or seemed to become, a law, " developed " is 
 quite a suitable word. 
 
 Boroughs — The five boroughs are Manhattan, The 
 Bronx, Brooklyn, Richmond and Queens. 
 
 Former assessments. — All assessments for benefits 
 heretofore laid for the payment of any part of the debts of 
 any of the municipal corporations consolidated, are to be 
 preserved and enforced. (Sec. 5.) 
 
 Public buildings and property. — All of the public 
 buildings, institutions, public parks, waterworks and prop- 
 erty of the various municipal corporations consolidated, 
 and all the property of the Counties of Kings, Richmond 
 and Queens, in the consolidated district (except the Queens 
 County court house and county buildings) become the 
 property of The City of New York on January ist, 1898. 
 As the county court house of Queens County is in Long 
 Island City, with its court rooms, jail, county treasurer's 
 office, etc., it was evidently thought best to not take that 
 away from the county, only a portion of which is included 
 in the new city of New York. 
 
 No more county debts. — After the same date the 
 
4 BEARING OF THE CHARTER 
 
 Counties of New York, Kings and Richmond cease to have 
 power to become indebted. 
 
 No more debts of municipal corporations And after 
 
 the same date all the towns, villages, and school districts 
 cease to have power to become indebted. (Sec. 8.) As that 
 power was not taken away by the law until the consumma- 
 tion and taking effect of the consolidation, many of those 
 corporations seized the opportunity to run in debt and 
 bond themselves for large sums, which they never would 
 have authorized or incurred, but for the expectation that 
 the new city will have to foot the bills. Still, they are now 
 parts of the new city, and will have to pay a share ; and 
 many needed improvements have been made sooner than 
 they would otherwise have come to pass. 
 
 Taxes for 1897 — Each municipal body is to regularly 
 levy its taxes in 1897, as if there were to be no consoli- 
 dation ; and all that are uncollected on January rst, 1898, 
 will become valid liens due to the new city, and are to be 
 collected by the officers of the new city; the various tax 
 and assessment lists from all the villages and school dis- 
 tricts, etc., are to be transmitted to the new comptroller on 
 or immediately after January ist, 1898, and by him sent to 
 the collector of assessments and arrears for collection. 
 (Sec. 937.) 
 
 City Record — Brief extracts of all resolutions and or- 
 dinances introduced or passed by the Municipal Assembly, 
 and of all recommendations of committees, and of all final 
 proceedings, and full copies of all messages from the Mayor, 
 
UpON REAL ESTATE INTERESTS. 5 
 
 and of all reports of departments or officers, are to be pub- 
 lished in the City Record immediately after the adjourn- 
 ment of each meeting of the Municipal Assembly. (Sec. 29.) 
 As many of these will affect real estate every one interested 
 will be wise to procure that publication regularly. 
 
 Published in City Record. — Every ordinance or reso- 
 lution providing for the alienation or disposition of any 
 property of the city, the granting of a franchise, terminat- 
 ing the lease of any property or franchise belonging to 
 the city, or the making of any specific improvement, 
 * * * or authorizing * * * the taxing or assessing 
 of property in the city must be published at least five days 
 in the City Record before it can be finally passed by the 
 Municipal Assembly. And the Mayor can not approve it 
 until three days after such publication after its passage. 
 (Sec. 30.) 
 
 Keep your City Records on file — But, note, if an ordi- 
 nance or resolution (or an abstract of it) has once been 
 published in the City Record, after that it need only be re- 
 ferred to by date and page of the former City Record, stat- 
 ing any amendments. 
 
 Real Estate Record and Guide. — A much more conven- 
 ient method, saving much time, labor, and risk of overlook- 
 ing important points, will be to subscribe to Real Estate 
 Record and Guide, published weekly at 14-16 Vesey St., 
 in which will be found full reports of everything affecting 
 real estate. 
 
 No such resolution or ordinance affecting property can 
 
6 BEARING OF THE CHARTER 
 
 pass the Council or Board of Aldermen at the same session 
 at which it is offered, except by unanimous consent. 
 
 Records and minutes open to inspection The City 
 
 Clerk must keep them open at all reasonable times. 
 
 City Clerk's signature is necessary to all leases of city 
 property, and all grants and other documents, as under ex- 
 isting laws. And he keeps the seal. (Sec. 31.) 
 
 Muniments, records, patents, deeds, minutes, writings 
 and papers belonging to the city, and all belonging to the 
 places consolidated, are to be kept by the City Clerk. (Sec. 
 32.) 
 
 Auctioneers — Every auctioneer must get a license from 
 the city clerk and file with him a bond for $2,000, with two 
 good sureties. The President of the Council can revoke 
 the license and forfeit the bond on good cause shown. 
 (Sec. 34.) 
 
 Municipal Assembly must meet at least once a month, 
 except in August and September. (Sec. 37.) 
 
 Votes on an assessment, or a franchise — The votes 
 of three-fourths of all the tnejnbers elected to each house are 
 necessary to the laying of an assessment, or the grant of a 
 franchise. (Sec. 39.) 
 
 Mayor's veto The Mayor has to pass on every ordi- 
 nance and resolution. He must return it in ten days, or it 
 takes effect. If he returns it disapproved, it can be passed 
 over his veto by two-thirds of all the members elected to each 
 house, unless it involves * * * the laying of an assess- 
 
UPON REAL ESTATE INTERESTS. 7 
 
 ment, or the grant of a franchise, and then it takes five- 
 sixths of all the members elected to each house. (Sec. 40.) 
 
 Ordinances in force in 1897 in all the places consoli- 
 dated are to remain in force within the boundaries of each 
 place, until modified by the Municipal Assembly, and they 
 may be enforced in the name of The City of New York. 
 
 Municipal Assembly. — The legislative power of the city 
 is in two houses, the Council and the Board of Aldermen, 
 which taken together constitute the Municipal Assembly. 
 
 Council — There are 29 members of the Council, viz : the 
 President, who is elected on a general ticket just like 
 the Mayor, and 28 members from 10 council districts. 
 Queens County makes one council district, and is to have 
 two members, one from Long Island City and Newtown, 
 and one from Flushing, Jamaica and the part of Hemp- 
 stead that has been included in the city. Richmond county, 
 the whole of Staten Island, makes another council district, 
 and has two members. The other eight council districts, 
 which have three members each in the council, are shown 
 on the accompanying map. 
 
 Ex-riayors. — Every ex-mayor of The City of New York 
 so long as he remains a resident, is to belong to the 
 Council, but cannot vote in it. Wisdom without power. 
 
 Board of Aldermen. — This Board is made up of one 
 representative from each assembly district, except that 
 only one alderman is to be elected by Long Island City 
 and Newtown together, and one by Flushing, Jamaica and 
 the part of Hempstead together ; and also one from the 
 
8 BEARING OF THE CHARTER 
 
 part of the first and second assembly districts of West- 
 chester that have been included in the city. 
 
 The President of the Board of Aldermen is elected by 
 them from among their own number. 
 
 Heads of departments — Each head of an administra- 
 tive department is a member of the Board of Aldermen with 
 the right to talk but not to vote. (Sec. 25.) 
 
 The City Clerk is appointed by the Council for six 
 years, so that he holds over longer than the members of 
 the Council, their term being four years, while that of the 
 Aldermen is two. 
 
 Additional waterworks may be acquired and con- 
 structed by the Municipal Assembly, and the latter is to 
 fix the terms for its distribution. (Sec. 42.) 
 
 The height of buildings may hereafter be restricted by 
 the Municipal Assembly, but such an ordinance must first 
 be approved by the Board of Public Improvements ; and it 
 needs a majority of all the members elected, in each house to 
 pass it, the vote being taken by ayes and noes. (Sec. 43.) 
 
 Franchises for street railways and ferries and ferry 
 leases may be granted by the Municipal Assembly. (Sec. 
 45.) 
 
 Where ordinances, rules and regulations originate. — 
 Any modification of the existing rules, regulations and ordi- 
 nances affecting any of the departments (Health, Police, 
 Park, Fire and Building Departments), and all ordinances 
 to be passed to govern the Board of Public Improvements 
 
UPON REAL ESTATE INTERESTS. 9 
 
 must originate with the department concerned^ and must be 
 adopted or rejected by the Municipal Assembly without 
 amendment. But except where the power to make new rules, 
 regulations and ordinances is expressly conferred on a de- 
 partment, the power to do so is in the Municipal Assembly; 
 and so is the power to repeal them. (Sec. 47.) 
 
 riarkets, parks, parkways, boulevards, driveways, 
 bridges, ferries, tunnels under streams only, docks, 
 wharves, piers — acquiring land for said purposes, 
 public buildings, school houses, sites therefor. — The 
 power to provide by ordinance for all these is in the 
 Municipal Assembly. (Sec. 48.) So is the power to 
 
 Regulate the use of streets, highways, roads, public 
 places and sidewalks ; and the temporary occupation of 
 them for erecting and repairing a building on an adjoining 
 lot ; and the erection of booths and stands within stoop linesy 
 but only for the sale of newspapers^ periodicals^ fruits and 
 soda water ^ and only with the consent of the adjoining owner. 
 (Sec. 49.) 
 
 Regulate the opening of street surfaces ; the numbering 
 of houses, and naming of streets (but you can't change a 
 number or a name between May ist and December ist) ; the 
 use of streets and sidewalks for signs, sign-posts, awnings, 
 awning-posts, horse troughs, urinals, telegraph posts and 
 other purposes. To regulate pavements, cross-walks, curbs, 
 gutters, sidewalks ; and banners or placards or flags across 
 streets, or from houses or other buildings ; and advertise- 
 ments, or hand-bills along the streets ; and in relation to 
 
10 BEARING OF THE CHARTER 
 
 public fountains ; and to places of public amusement ; also 
 to vaults, cisterns, areas, hydrants, sewers and pumps ; and 
 partition walls and fences ; also in relation to bone boiling, 
 fat rendering and other noxious businesses. 
 
 To regulate the fees for searches and certificates to be 
 charged by the collector of assessments and arrears. 
 
 For all these you must apply to the Municipal Assembly, 
 or to the ordinances which it may enact to regulate them, 
 as it has the power under Sec. 49. 
 
 Court houses. — Many court rooms are needed not only 
 for the courts of record, but for the city magistrates and 
 police justices all over the city. It takes two-thirds of all 
 the members elected to each house to pass a resolution assign- 
 ing any such place. (Sec. 53.) 
 
 Commissioners of deeds are to be appointed by the 
 Board of Aldermen alone. (Sec. 58.) 
 
 Franchises can only be granted by ordinance. (Sec. 72.) 
 
 Inalienable. — The rights of the city in and to its water 
 front, ferries, wharf property, land under water, public 
 landings, wharves, docks, streets, avenues, parks, and all 
 other public places are inalienable ; they can not hereafter 
 be sold nor given nor granted away. (Sec. 71.) 
 
 No franchise for more than twenty=five years can be 
 granted hereafter to use streets, avenues, parkways or 
 highways ; but it may contain a clause for renewals for 
 not more than twenty-five years all told at fair re-valua- 
 tions ; and may provide for the "plant" to become the 
 property of the city at the end of the franchise without 
 
UPON REAL ESTATE INTERESTS. n 
 
 .further compensation to the grantee ; or that the city may- 
 buy It at a fair valuation [leaving out the value of the 
 franchise]. (Sec. 73.) 
 
 Before granting a franchise to use any street, avenue, 
 parkway or highway, the whole grant, with rates, fares and 
 charges must be published twenty days, and it must be 
 voted for by at least three-fourths of all the members 
 elected to each branch of the Municipal Assembly and 
 approved by the Mayor ; it takes a vote of five-sixths of 
 all the members elected to each branch to pass such a grant 
 for renewal or extension over his veto. (Sec. 74.)* 
 
 Old buiidings and parcels of land no longer needed 
 for public use may be disposed of by the city, on approval 
 by the Sinking Fund Commissioners, at public sale. 
 
 Grants to city of lands under water The city has 
 
 control of the water front of the entire city (subject to the 
 rights of private owners of property) and power to acquire 
 and construct wharves and docks and everything necessary 
 or proper in aid of commerce. And the charter grants in 
 fee to the city all the rights of the State of New York to 
 any and all lands under water in all the rivers and waters 
 in and around the city, and the right to fill in. (Sec. 83.) 
 And the city can not sell any of this property, but must 
 
 [*NoTE. — Sec. 77 of the Charter says that Section 93 of Chapter 565 of the 
 LawsoflBdO, and amendments thereto, shall not apply to grants under this 
 title. That Chapter 565 is the General Railroad Law of the State, and Sec. 93 
 relates to the sale at auction, to the highest bidder, of the franchise to use any 
 street, avenue or park for a railroad. As before stated^ this is not to apply to 
 the new city of New York.'\ 
 
12 BEARING OF THE CHARTER 
 
 hold it all in perpetuity. But the city can lease it from time 
 to time, like other property. (Sec. 84.) 
 
 Private rights of owners of shore property, docks 
 and piers, could not be, and are not, taken away by this 
 grant to the city. (Sec. 85.) 
 
 No patent of land under water can hereafter be 
 granted except to the city, or to the riparian proprietor (of 
 the adjoining upland.) If the city wants it, compensation 
 must be made to the riparian proprietor for his rights. All 
 such matters in each case may be judicially determined in 
 an action in court brought by the city. (Sec. 86.) 
 
 riayor. — The executive power of The City of New York 
 is vested in the Mayor, as chief executive, and in the 
 officers of the departments. The Mayor can not be re- 
 elected for the next term after the expiration of his term. 
 (Sec. 94.) 
 
 Administrative departments. — There are eighteen ad- 
 ministrative departments ; six of them being represented 
 in the Board of Public Improvements. As directly or in- 
 directly real estate interests are affected by each of them, 
 we will enumerate them as they are stated in Sec. 96 of the 
 charter. 
 
 Department of Finance. 
 
 Law Department. 
 
 Police Department. 
 
 Represented in the Board of Public Improvements : 
 
 1. Department of Water Supply. 
 
 2. Department of Highways. 
 
UPON REAL ESTATE INTERESTS. 13 
 
 3. Department of Street Cleaning. 
 
 4. Department of Sewers. 
 
 5. Department of Public Buildings, Lighting and 
 
 Supplies, 
 
 6. Department of Bridges. 
 Department of Parks. 
 Department of Buildings. 
 Department of Public Charities. 
 Department of Correction. 
 Fire Department. 
 Department of Docks and Ferries. 
 Department of Taxes and Assessments. 
 Department of Education. 
 Department of Health. 
 
 The Comptroller is the head of the Department of 
 Finance. 
 
 The Corporation Counsel is the head of the Law De- 
 partment. 
 
 The Police Board of four Police Commissioners consti- 
 tutes the head of the Police Department. There are over 
 7,000 policemen. 
 
 The President of the Board of Public Improvements 
 is the head of that Board. 
 
 The Commissioner of Water Supply is the head of that 
 department. 
 
 The Commissioner of Highways, 
 
 The Commissioner of Street Cleaning, 
 
14 BEARING OF THE CHARTER 
 
 The Commissioner of Sewers, with 700 miles of sewers 
 in charge, 
 
 The Commissioner of Public Buildings, Lighting and 
 Supplies, and 
 
 The Commissioner of Bridges are the heads of those 
 departments, respectively. (Sec. 100.) 
 
 The Park Board, consisting of three Commissioners of 
 Parks, constitutes the head of the Department of Parks. 
 There are about 5,000 acres of parks. 
 
 The Board of Buildings, consisting of three Commis- 
 sioners of Buildings, constitutes the head of the Depart- 
 ment of Buildings. There are about 170,000 dwellings 
 churches, and business houses. 
 
 The Board of Public Charities, consisting of three com- 
 missioners of charities, constitute the head of that depart- 
 ment. 
 
 The Commissioner of Correction is the head of that de- 
 partment. 
 
 The Fire Commissioner is the head of the Fire Depart- 
 ment. There are over 2,000 paid firemen. 
 
 The Board of Docks, consisting of three commissioners 
 of docks, constitutes the head of the Department of Docks 
 and Ferries. There are 75 miles of wharfage. 
 
 The Board of Taxes and Assessments, consisting of a 
 president and four other commissioners of taxes and assess- 
 ments, constitutes the head of that department. 
 
 The Board of Education, consisting of nineteen mem- 
 bers, constitutes the head of the Department of Education. 
 
14 
 
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UPON REAL ESTATE INTERESTS. 15 
 
 The Board of Health, consisting of the President of the 
 Police Board, the Health Officer of the port, and three 
 Health Commissioners, constitutes the head of the Health 
 Department. (Sec. 109.) 
 
 Erection or repair of any city building is to be super- 
 intended by a board or commission the members of which 
 are to be appointed by the Mayor. (Sec. 118.) 
 
 Any lease of property leased to the city, authorized by 
 the Commissioners of the Sinking Fund, shall be entered 
 into by the Comptroller. 
 
 The assent of the Comptroller shall be necessary to all 
 agreements made by any city officer or department for the 
 purchase of any real estate or easement therein that involves 
 payment by the city ; and the Comptroller must have thirty 
 days' notice of every confirmation of an award requiring 
 the city to pay for acquiring real estate for the city. 
 
 Bureaus of the Finance Department ; of these there 
 shall be five : 
 
 1. One for management of the markets, and collection 
 of rents, interest and revenue, to be known as the Bureau 
 for the Collection of City Revenue and Markets. 
 
 2. The Bureau for the Collection of Taxes, whose chief 
 officer is the Receiver of Taxes. 
 
 3. The Bureau for Collection of Assessments and Arrears. 
 
 4. The Auditing Bureau. 
 
 5. The Bureau for receiving and taking care of the city's 
 money and for payment of the Comptroller's warrants, the 
 chief officer of which is the Chamberlain. 
 
l6 BEARING OF THE CHARTER 
 
 The bonds of the Receiver of Taxes, and the Collector 
 of Assessments and Arrears, to the amount of $25,000 each, 
 are liens on their real estate and that of their bondsmen, 
 respectively. (Sec. 152.) 
 
 Offices for receipt of taxes and assessments are to be in 
 each borough, Brooklyn, The Bronx, Manhattan, Queens 
 and Richmond ; and all taxes, assessments and arrears on 
 property in each borough are to be paid at those re- 
 spective offices. (Sec. 157.) 
 
 Assessment lists are to be filed in the Comptroller's 
 office, all of them in detail, with the date of confirmation 
 and the date of entry in such record. (Sec. 159.) 
 
 An assessment becomes a lien immediately upon its 
 entry in that record /;/ the Comptroller s office. If the prop- 
 erty is in any other borough than Manhattan,^ copy of the 
 list is to be filed m the office of the collector of assess- 
 ments for that borough. (But remember, it is a lien from 
 the time the original is filed in the Comptroller's office.) 
 A list for the borough of Manhattan is not copied, but 
 stays there in the Comptroller's office. (Sec. 159.) 
 
 Markets, for farmers and market-gardeners, and a gen- 
 era, market, are set apart at Gansevoort and Washington 
 streets and Tenth and Thirteenth avenues by Sec. 163. 
 
 Bonds for ten dollars each can be issued by The City of 
 New York, and preference is to be given to applicants for 
 the smallest amounts and smallest denominations of bonds, 
 hereafter. (Sec. 171.) 
 
 City property, how sold or leased — The Commissioners 
 
UPON REAL ESTATE INTERESTS. 
 
 17 
 
 of the Sinking Fund have the power to sell or lease, for 
 the highest price, or rent, at auction or by sealed bids, only 
 after advertisement and appraisal, any city property (ex- 
 cept parks, wharves, piers, and land under water) : no lease 
 to be for more than ten years, and with one renewal of not 
 more than ten years. 
 
 riarket property (except Sixteenth street and Avenue C, 
 Gouverneur Slip and Old Slip markets) can only be sold 
 or leased for markets. (Sec. 205.) 
 
 Sinking Fund — The Sinking Fund of The City of New 
 York is created by Sees. 206 to 216. 
 
 Leases to the city, for use by the city for its purposes, 
 must be first presented to the Sinking Fund Commissioners, 
 upon a report of the Comptroller of all the facts relating to 
 such piece of property and his opinion in regard to the 
 proposed lease. (Sec. 217.) 
 
 Lands may be ceded to U. S. Government to improve 
 Harlem River by the Commissioners of the Sinking Fund, 
 or by the Municipal Assembly ; that is, all the estate, right, 
 title, and interest of The City of New York in such lands as 
 may be required for that purpose. (Sec. 218.) The lands 
 in this city now owned by the United States Government 
 are worth over $30,000,000. 
 
 School buildings and lots no longer needed for school 
 purposes may be sold at auction by the Sinking Fund 
 Commissioners, upon application of the Board of Educa- 
 tion. (Sec. 220.) There are over 300 school buildings, 
 and over 200,000 scholars, with 7,500 teachers. 
 
i8 BEARING OF THE CHARTER 
 
 Taxes when Sinking Fund is not sufficient to meet 
 bonds falling due may be increased to an amount sufficient 
 to pay the bonds off. (Sec. 228.) It is to be hoped that 
 this power will be used wisely, and that bonds falling due 
 will be extended or renewed, and that posterity may be 
 called on to share some of the hundreds of permanent im- 
 provements, rather than that we of to-day should have too 
 high a tax rate. 
 
 Taxes are levied and raised under Sections 247, 248 
 and 249. The Comptroller submits an estimate to the 
 Municipal Assembly four weeks before its annual meeting, 
 for the purpose of levying the taxes. The Municipal As- 
 sembly fixes the amount, and then adds ''for deficiencies" 
 not over three per cent, of the aggregate amount. The 
 total is about $70,000,000 every year. It will increase. 
 
 Corporation Counsel. — All legal proceedings in opening, 
 widening, altering and closing streets, and in acquiring real 
 estate for the city by condemnation proceedings, and the 
 preparation of all leases, deeds, contracts, bonds, and other 
 legal papers of the city or any department, shall be in 
 charge of and conducted by the Corporation Counsel, and 
 he shall approve as to form all such contracts, leases, deeds, 
 bonds and other legal papers. (Sec. 255.) 
 
 A Bureau of Street Opening, 
 
 A Bureau for Recovery of Penalties, 
 
 A Bureau for Collection of Arrears of Personal Taxes, 
 are to be established by the Corporation Counsel, with such 
 
UPON REAL ESTATE INTERESTS. 19 
 
 other bureaus as he may deem necessary, (Sees. 258 to 
 260.) 
 
 Claims against the city can not be sued for unless the 
 demand or claim was presented to the Comptroller at least 
 thirty days before the suit is begun, and he refused or ne- 
 glected to adjust or pay it. (Sec. 261.) 
 
 Supreme Court has exclusive jurisdiction of all actions 
 against the city. (Sec. 262.) 
 
 The Police Department of the new city is governed by 
 Sees. 270 to 371. It has been made too powerful. In the 
 course of time the citizens are likely to lose their individu- 
 ality and their rights. 
 
 The Police Department is to co=operate with the 
 Board of Health, and policemen are to arrest for violation 
 of the rules of the Board of Health. (Sees. 310, 311.) 
 This affects real estate owners, because many of the or- 
 dinances and rules of the latter Board relate to Tenement 
 and Lodging Houses^ Sees. 1304 to 1325, as well as to 
 Nuisances, Sees. 1287 to 1298, and to other similar matters. 
 
 Steam boilers must be inspected by the police annually. 
 (Sec. 342.) 
 
 Boroughs. — Each of the five boroughs has its own Pres- 
 ident, elected in his own borough, at the same election with 
 the Mayor of the city, and holding his office four years. 
 (Sec. 382.) He is a member of the local board of every dis- 
 trict of local improvements in his borough. (Sec. 383.) And 
 calls all meetings of the various local boards ; and certifies 
 
20 BEARING OF THE CHARTEi. 
 
 all resolutions, proceedings and determinations of the local 
 boards of local improvements in his borough. (Sec. 384.) 
 
 Districts of Local Improvements. — There are twenty- 
 two such districts, corresponding in boundaries to the ex- 
 isting senatorial districts situated in whole or in part 
 within The City of New York. They are to be named or 
 numbered by the Municipal Assembly after January ist, 
 1898, (Sec. 390.) 
 
 The Local Board is in each district of local improve- 
 ments ; its jurisdiction is confined to those subjects or 
 matters, in its own district, the costs and expenses of which 
 are in whole or in part a charge upon the people or prop- 
 erty of that district or of a part of it. The Local Board 
 consists of the president of the borough and of each mem- 
 ber of the Municipal Assembly who is a resident of such 
 local improvement district, (and if he moves out of the 
 district he ceases to be a member of that local board). 
 
 The charter does not explicitly say so, but it is probably 
 true that if he moves into another local improvement dis- 
 trict he becomes at once a member of the local board of 
 the latter. 
 
 If any of the local improvements over which a local 
 board has power happen to be in more than one local im- 
 provement district, the members of the local boards in all 
 the districts which the improvement affects, together con- 
 stitute the local board for that particular improvement. 
 (Sec. 391.) 
 
 Powers of a local board. — A local board shall have 
 
UPON REAL ESTATE INTERESTS. 21 
 
 power in all cases where the cost of improvement is to be 
 met in whole or in part by assessments upon the property 
 benefited, to recommend that proceedings be initiated to 
 open, close, extend, widen, grade, pave, regrade, repave, 
 and repair streets, avenues and public places, and to con- 
 struct lateral sewers within the district ; to flag or reflag, 
 curb or recurb sidewalks, to relay cross-walks, to set or re- 
 set lamps, and to provide signs designating names of streets. 
 A local board has a few other powers, to listen to com- 
 plaints and to pass resolutions. (Sec. 393.) 
 
 rieetings of each local board shall be held in the main 
 hall or public building of the borough, whenever called by 
 the president. 
 
 A quorum of a local board is constituted by the presi- 
 dent and one other member. (Sec. 394.) 
 
 Local improvement. How bring it about. 
 
 Send in a petition to the president of the borough. 
 
 He must appoint a time for a meeting of the proper local 
 board, not more than fifteen days thereafter. 
 
 He must publish in the "City Record," at least ten days 
 before that meeting, a notice when it will be held, and that 
 the petition is on file in his office for inspection. (Sec. 400.) 
 
 Then the local board, after consideration of the petition, 
 may recommend that proceedings be initiated to open, to 
 close, to extend, to widen, to regulate, to grade, to curb, to 
 gutter, to flag, and to pave streets, to lay crosswalks, and 
 to construct lateral sewers within its district, and generally 
 
22 BEARING OF THE CHARTER 
 
 for such other improvements in and about such streets as 
 the public wants and convenience of the district shall re- 
 quire. (Sec. 401.) 
 
 Then the local board shall forthwith transmit a copy 
 of its resolution recommending the improvement, to the 
 Board of Public Improvements (see page 27,, post) and if 
 the latter board thinks it ought to be proceeded with, it 
 shall go on with it in the regular routine of said Board of 
 Public Improvements. (See 413 to 422, pages 23 to 26, post.) 
 
 The expense of all such improvements shall be assessed, 
 and be a lien on the property benefited in proportion to the 
 amount of benefit, and in no case shall extend beyond the 
 limits of said district. (Sec. 402.) 
 
 The local board has power, apparently without petition^ 
 to cause the flagging or reflagging of sidewalks, laying or 
 relaying of crosswalks, fencing vacant lots, digging down 
 lots or filling in sunken lots within its district, by resolu- 
 tion approved by the Board of Public Improvements. After 
 such public work or improvement is authorized, the Board 
 of Public Improvements attends to it and goes ahead with 
 it, as in case of similar work authorized after petition. 
 (See Sees. 413 to 422, pages 23 to 26, post.) 
 
 But the Board of Public Improvements has power to order 
 and authorize any of these local improvements without 
 action by the local board. 
 
 And no local board can incur any expenditures (by The 
 City of New York) other than as authorized by the Board 
 of Estimate and Apportionment. (Sec. 404.) 
 
UPON REAL ESTATE INTERESTS. 23 
 
 Board of Public Improvements — This board is consti- 
 tuted by combining the Mayor, Corporation Counsel, Comp- 
 troller, the commissioners of water supply, highways, street 
 cleaning, sewers, public buildings, lighting and supplies, 
 and bridges, and the presidents of the boroughs, together 
 with a President of the Board of Public Improvements (ap- 
 pointed by the Mayor), seventeen in all ; but the Mayor, 
 Corporation Counsel, Comptroller and borough presidents 
 don't count in making up a quorum ; and a Borough Presi- 
 dent cannot vote except upon matters relating exclusively 
 to his own borough. (Sec. 410.) A majority of the re- 
 maining nine members, that is five, constitute a quorum. 
 This board must meet at least once a week. (Sec. 412.) 
 
 Any public v^ork in the department of any commis- 
 sioner who is a member of this board, that may be the sub- 
 ject of a contract, must first be approved by this Board of 
 Public Improvements, and by the Municipal Assembly. 
 
 No work involving assessment for benefit, shall be 
 authorized by the Board of Public Improvements until there 
 has been submitted to it a written estimate of the cost 
 and the assessed value, on the last tax-roll, of the real es- 
 tate to be assessed. (Sec. 413.) 
 
 The ilunicipal Assembly can not enter directly into 
 any contract whatever for any public work or improve- 
 ment. There must first be a report by the Board of Public 
 Improvements; and if that be unfavorable, it takes a vote 
 of five-sixths of both houses, and the Mayor's approval, to 
 pass it. (Sec. 414.) 
 
24 BEARING OF THE CHARTER 
 
 Powers of Board of Public Improvements: 
 
 1. Adoption of a map or plan for any part of the city not 
 yet mapped. 
 
 2. Acquiring title to land for parks, streets, bridges, and 
 tunnels. 
 
 3. Acquiring title to land for sewers. 
 
 4. Approval of plans for sewerage and drainage. 
 
 5. Construction, repairing and cleaning sewers and 
 drains. 
 
 6. Repairs of pavements and readjusting grades of streets 
 in connection therewith. 
 
 7. Water rents and contracts for water supply with pri- 
 vate companies or other municipalities. 
 
 8. Any public work provided for in the tax levy or by 
 issue of bonds. But in issuing bonds for repairing streets, 
 the Municipal Assembly can designate the boroughs where 
 the money is to be expended. (Sec. 415.) 
 
 Ordinances to be prepared by Board of Public Im- 
 provements. — This board has to prepare and recommend 
 to the Municipal Assembly all ordinances regulating many 
 matters which affect real estate, as follows: 
 
 1. Laying water pipes ; making all attachments thereto, 
 and extending, constructing^ and repairing the waterworks. 
 
 2. Regulating, grading, curbing, guttering, flagging and 
 paving streets, laying crosswalks, constructing, reconstruct- 
 ing and repairing streets, making all excavations in streets 
 for public purposes, prescribing width of sidewalks, and 
 regulating manner of constructing and laying sidewalks. 
 
UPON REAL ESTATE INTERESTS. 
 
 25 
 
 3. Encroachments upon and obstructions in the streets, 
 and authorizing and requiring their removal. 
 
 4. The use of streets and sidewalks for signs, sign-posts, 
 awnings, awning-posts, horse-troughs, urinals, telegraph- 
 posts and other purposes. 
 
 5. The exhibition of handbills or advertisements along 
 the streets. 
 
 6. Construction, repair and use of vaults, cisterns, areas, 
 hydrants and pumps. 
 
 7. Construction and repair of public markets. 
 
 8. Preservation and protection of any and all of the 
 waterworks, to ensure pure and wholesome water. 
 
 9. Cleaning and sprinkling streets, and the use of streets 
 and sidewalks for building purposes, and for all other tem- 
 porary or business purposes. 
 
 10. Laying gas pipes, electric wires, steam pipes, pneu- 
 matic tubes ; and lighting all public places and streets ; 
 and inspecting gas or electricity and meters for both, and 
 all electric wires ; and the opening of streets to lay pipes, 
 wires and tubes. 
 
 11. Erecting, extending and repairing public buildings 
 (other than school houses, alms houses, penitentiaries, and 
 police and fire station houses). 
 
 12. The rates of fare on the Brooklyn Bridge, and on 
 any other bridges. 
 
 13. Making all contracts for public work or supplies. 
 (Sec. 416.) 
 
26 BEARING OF THE CHARTER 
 
 Rules and plans maybe prescribed by the Board of 
 Public Improvements for regulating, grading, curbing, gut- 
 tering, also for crosswalks and sidewalks throughout the 
 city. (Sec. 418.) 
 
 Every piece of work or Job, the several parts of which 
 cost together over $1,000, must be by contract established 
 by ordinance or resolution of the Municipal Assembly, and 
 advertised in the City Record, and awarded to the lowest 
 bidder. However, the head of a department may reject 
 all bids. And a majority of the Board of Public Improve- 
 ments of whom the Mayor and Comptroller shall be two, 
 may award a contract to a bidder not the lowest. (Sec. 419.) 
 
 Assessments for local improvements are laid as di- 
 rected by Sec. 422. 
 
 Comptroller is to pay contractors as directed in Sec. 
 
 423. 
 
 No contractor can be let off from a fine or penalty, 
 
 nor can his time be extended^ except by the unanimous vote 
 of the Board of Public Improvements. (Sec. 424.) 
 
 The maps or plans of the old city, and of the 23rd and 
 24th wards, and of Brooklyn and Long Island City, here- 
 tofore laid out and adopted as permanent, shall remain the 
 maps or plans of the new city so far as they cover its 
 territory, and be deemed final and conclusive as to location^ 
 width and grade of streets (so far as heretofore adopted). 
 (Sec. 432.) 
 
 Map is to be completed by the President of the Board 
 of Public Improvements as required by Sec. 433. And if 
 
UPON REAL ESTATE INTERESTS. 
 
 27 
 
 he is slow about it he may be required to complete the 
 whole or any part within a fixed time. (Sec. 434.) 
 
 Whenever any street in The City of New York shall 
 have been used as such for upwards of twenty years without 
 having its grade established by law, the level or surface of 
 such street as so used shall be deemed to be and to have been 
 the grade thereof. (Sec. 433.) 
 
 This section is going to make trouble. Some will claim 
 that it cannot be used for twenty years as a street in *' The 
 City of New York " before the arrival of January ist, 1918. 
 But others will claim, and probably successfully, that some 
 old streets were streets before there was any new city 
 called '' The City of New York," and they came into the 
 new city on January ist, 1898, as streets already, and as 
 streets twenty years old, but without any grade established 
 by law. However, the 
 
 Grade may be changed and so may the map or plan of 
 the city, under Sec. 436. But, of course, such alterations 
 will often bring great expense upon the city. 
 
 flaps and plans are to be filed, and maps and profiles 
 showing changes, one in the Register's office, one m the 
 Corporation Counsel's office, and one in the office of the 
 Board of Public Improvements. (Sec. 437.) So are 
 
 Drainage plans, in the same offices (Sec. 439), after 
 the drainage and sewer system are completed, as directed 
 by Sec. 438. 
 
 The grade of a street may be raised for proper drain- 
 age. (Sec. 441.) 
 
28 BEARING OF THE CHARTER 
 
 flain Offices of the Departments of Water Supply, High- 
 ways, Street Cleaning, Sewers, Public Buildings, Lighting 
 and Supplies, and Bridges, shall be in the borough of Man- 
 hattan. There may be branch offices with deputy commis- 
 sioners in the other boroughs, when appointed by the com- 
 missioner of any department. (Sec. 452.) 
 
 *' Street." — The word "street" or ''streets" in this 
 charter includes "street, avenue, road, alley, lane, highway, 
 boulevard, concourse, public square and public place," or the 
 plurals thereof respectively. (Sec. 462.) 
 
 Water supply — There are 325,000,000 gallons of water 
 consumed daily, or 100 gallons to every man, woman and 
 child. The Department of Water Supply is under a commis- 
 sioner of water supply, who has control : 
 
 1. Of all structures and property connected with that 
 supply, including fire and drinking hydrants and water 
 meters. 
 
 2. Of maintaining the quality of the water, and of the 
 construction of works necessary to deliver it. 
 
 3. Of collection of water rents. 
 
 4. Of enforcing regulations concerning its use. (Sec. 469.) 
 The Department of Water Supply is governed by the 
 
 rules laid down in Title 4, Sees. 468 to 517 of the charter. 
 
 Water rents are fixed by the Municipal Assembly. 
 (Sec. 473.) 
 
 rieters are governed as directed by Sec. 475. 
 
 Proceedings to acquire title to real estate needed for 
 water supply must be taken under Sees. 484 to 508. 
 
UPON REAL ESTATE INTERESTS. 29 
 
 " Real estate '* defined. As used in this chapter 
 
 (that is, chapter X. of the charter, which relates to the 
 Board of Public Improvements, and comprises Sees. 410 to 
 601,) the term "real estate" shall be construed to signify 
 and embrace all uplands, lands under water, the water of 
 any lake, pond or stream, all water rights or privileges, and 
 any and all easements and hereditaments, corporeal and in- 
 corporeal, and every estate, interest and right, legal and 
 equitable, in lands or water, or any privilege or easement 
 thereunder, including terms for years, and liens thereon 
 by way of judgment, mortgages or otherwise, and also all 
 claims for damage to such real estate. It shall also be 
 construed to include all real estate (as the term is above 
 defined) heretofore acquired or used for railroad, highway 
 or other purpose, (providing the persons or corporations 
 owning such real estate, or claiming interest therein, shall 
 be allowed the perpetual use, for such purposes, of the same 
 or of such other real estate to be acquired for the purposes 
 of this act as will afford practicable route or location for 
 such railroad, highway or other public purpose, and in the 
 case of a railroad commensurate with and adapted to its 
 needs ; and provided, also, that such persons or corpora- 
 tions shall not, directly or indirectly, be subject to expense, 
 loss or damage by reason of changing such route or loca- 
 tion, but that such expense, loss or damage shall be borne 
 by the city.) (Sec. 484.) 
 
 This is a pretty good, broad definition of real estate. 
 Evidently water is sometimes real estate ; in fact the 
 
30 BEARING OF THE CHARTER 
 
 ancient legal maxim is "'Aqua cedit solo,'' water belongs to 
 or goes with the land. You can't bring a suit to recover 
 possession of a lake, or of water only, but you must bring 
 it for the land that lies at the bottom, and call it land covered 
 with water. A right to fish (called in law the right of pis- 
 cary) and a mill right, or right to use the overflow from a 
 dam, are examples of water rights and privileges. 
 
 An easement is a liberty, privilege, or advantage in 
 land, without profit, existing distinct from an ownership of 
 soil ; thus the right to use a public highway is a public 
 easement; and the right to use a gateway, or a right of 
 way for one family over another's land, is a private ease- 
 ment. 
 
 A hereditament is anything that may be inherited ; 
 everything that goes to an heir (it really includes every 
 kind of interest in real estate) ; a piece of furniture which 
 is an heirloom, ard which by custom descends to the heir 
 together with a house, is a hereditament. And so is the 
 house. 
 
 A corporeal hereditament is of a material nature ; you 
 can perceive it by your senses ; land is a corporeal heredit- 
 ament. 
 
 An incorporeal hereditament is one that is not perceived 
 by the bodily senses, such as a right of way in a lane, or 
 a right to pasture cattle on a common. 
 
 An estate is the condition or circumstance in which the 
 owner stands with regard to his property ; it is the same 
 
LOCAL IMPROVEMENT DISTRICTS 
 Borough of Brooklyn. 
 
 GH 
 
UPON REAL ESTATE INTERESTS. 
 
 31 
 
 as "right, title and interest " in property ; it may be an es- 
 tate of inheritance, or an estate in fee simple, or an estate 
 for life, or an estate by the curtesy (which is the husband's 
 right to the income of his wife's property so long as he 
 lives after her death, if she made no will, and if they ever 
 had a child born alive), or an estate for years, etc., etc. 
 
 A legal estate is that kind of estate of which the courts 
 of common law will take cognizance, such as an estate in 
 fee simple in an ejectment suit. 
 
 An equitable estate is one acquired by the operation of 
 equity, such as the estate or title of a ward for whose use- 
 lands are held in trust by a trustee who holds the legal 
 estate (that is the deed or title to the lands being in the 
 trustee's name.) 
 
 A term for years is a limited ^tnod of time for which an 
 estate is granted, as under a lease ; it is called a term be- 
 cause it has a certain beginning and a certain end. 
 
 The other words and phrases in this definition of ''real 
 estate " in Sec. 485 explain themselves. But all the fore- 
 going terms, and many others, are fully explained in^ 
 Van Siclen's Guide to Buyers and Sellers of Real Es- 
 tate, and New York Real Property Law, published by 
 the Record and Guide, 14 and 16 Vesey St., New York.. 
 
 There are about 360 square miles of land in the new- 
 city limits, and it is assessed at about $2,400,000,000, so> 
 that it is fairly worth over $4,000,000,000. 
 
 The head of the Department of Highways is the Com-^ 
 3 
 
3^ 
 
 BEARING OF THE CHARTER 
 
 missioner of Highways. He shall have cognizance and 
 control of 
 
 1. Regulating, grading, curbing, flagging and guttering 
 streets, and laying crosswalks. 
 
 2. Constructing and repairing public roads. 
 
 3. Paving, repaving, resurfacing and repairing all streets ; 
 and relaying all pavements removed for any cause. 
 
 4. Laying or relaying surface railroad tracks, form of 
 rail, etc. 
 
 5. Filling sunken lots, fencing vacant lots, digging down 
 lots, and licensing vaults under sidewalks. 
 
 6. Recommending ordinances relating to his department. 
 
 7. Removal of incumbrances. 
 
 8. Issue of permits to builders and others to use the 
 streets, but not to open them. (Sec. 524.) 
 
 A permit from Department of Highways is necessary 
 before there can be any removal of the pavement or dis- 
 turbance of the surface of any street for vaults, cellars, 
 buildings, sewers, water, gas, electric wires, or any purpose 
 whatever. And it must be relaid promptly and to the 
 satisfaction of the commissioner, or he can have it done 
 over again, after notice to you, and the cost will be a lien 
 on the property like an assessment. (Sec. 525.) 
 
 Office of Commissioner of Street Improvements in 
 23rd and 24th wards is abolished. The Commissioner 
 of Highways of The City of New York will have all his 
 powers and duties hereafter. (Sec. 526.) And so will the 
 latter administer in former Brooklyn, Long Island City 
 
UPON REAL ESTATE INTERESTS. 33 
 
 Richmond County, and part of the County of Queens, all 
 the powers and duties in relation to regulating, grading, 
 curbing, guttering, paving, laying crosswalks, and filling 
 lots, that were exercised heretofore by the municipal cor- 
 poration of each of said cities, and of each town and vil- 
 lage in each of said counties. (Sec. 527.) 
 
 The Department of Street Cleaning besides the ordi- 
 nary and usual duties of such a department, has powers 
 which affect the rights of each individual owner of real 
 estate, as laid down in subdivision 2, Sec. 534, viz. : cog- 
 nizance and control 
 
 '• 2. Of the framing of regulations controlling the use of 
 sidewalks and gutters by abutting owners and occupants 
 for the disposition of sweepings, garbage, etc., which reg- 
 ulations shall have the force of city ordinances, and shall 
 be enforced by the police." 
 
 Private sewers may be constructed in city streets, on 
 approval by the Commissioner of Sewers and the Board of 
 Public Improvements, under the rules laid down in Sec. 560. 
 
 The Commissioner of Sew^ers succeeds to the powers 
 and duties, in his department, of the old corporations of 
 the various cities, towns and villages consolidated, includ- 
 ing those of the former Commissioner of Street Improve- 
 ments in the 23rd and 24th wards. (Sees. 565, 566.) 
 
 Public baths and public urinals are to be cared for, 
 managed and maintained by the Department of Public 
 Buildings, Lighting and Supplies. 
 
 Testing gas, and gas meters, and electric meters and 
 
34 BEARING OF THE CHARTER 
 
 >] 
 
 electric lights, and meters for steam furnished for use to 
 any person are all in charge of the Commissioner of Public 
 Buildings, Lighting and Supplies hereafter. (Sec. 575.) 
 
 The transmission of electricity, gas, steam, and 
 pneumatic power, in, or through any and all streets and 
 public places, is under the control of said Commissioner of 
 Public Buildings, Lighting and Supplies. (Sec. 573, sub- 
 division 2.) 
 
 Separate contracts for lighting each borough are to 
 be made by the commissioner. (Sec. 587.) 
 
 Park Commissioners are to be appointed to have ad- 
 ministrative jurisdiction, one in the boroughs of Manhat- 
 tan and Richmond, one in the borough of The Bronx, and 
 one in the boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens. (Sec. 607.) 
 
 The head of the Department of Buildings is to be 
 called the Board of Buildings, which will consist of three 
 commissioners of buildings ; one is to be appointed to 
 have administrative jurisdiction in the boroughs of Man- 
 hattan and The Bronx, one in the borough of Brooklyn, 
 and one in the boroughs of Queens and Richmond. 
 (Sec. 644,) 
 
 Each commissioner succeeds to the powers and duties 
 of the Department of Buildings, or Superintendent of Build- 
 ings, whose place he takes. (Sec. 646.) 
 
 The Board of Buildings can make new rules and regu- 
 lations. (Sec. 645.) 
 
 Present law^s and rules for construction, alteration 
 or removal of buildings continue in force in borough 
 
UPON REAL ESTATE INTERESTS. 35 
 
 or locality until new rules are made by the Board of Build- 
 ings. 
 
 A «< Building Code** is to be provided by the Municipal 
 Assembly, and when established is to take the place of the 
 existing laws. (Sec. 647.) 
 
 The present building law, and regulations of the 
 
 building department, are found in their most convenient 
 and intelligible form, fully analyzed and indexed by Mr. 
 William J. Fryer, in the volume published in 1897 by The 
 Record and Guide, 14-16 Vesey Street, New York : ''Laws 
 Relating to Buildings in New York City." This valuable 
 treatise contains : 
 
 L The Building Law. 
 
 IL Law Limiting Heights of Dwelling Houses. Law 
 Requiring Temporary Floorings. 
 
 in. Regulations of the Building Department. 
 
 IV. Tenement and Lodging House Laws. 
 
 V. Regulations of the Department of Public Works. 
 
 VI. Revised Ordinances of the City Pertaining to Build- 
 ings, 
 
 VII. Laws Relating to Extinction and Prevention of 
 Fires, and to Explosives and Combustibles in Buildings. 
 
 VIII. State Factory Inspection Law. 
 
 IX. Mechanics' Lien Law of 1897. 
 
 The completeness of this treatise requires that the exact 
 text of the new charter in relation to the Department of 
 Buildings should be included here. It is as follows: 
 
36 BEARING OF THE CHARTER 
 
 CHAPTER XIL 
 
 DEPARTMENT OF BUILDINGS^ 
 
 Appointment of commissioners; qualifications; juris- 
 diction; salaries. — Sec. 644. The head of the department 
 of buildings shall be called the board of buildings. Said 
 board shall consist of three members to be known as com- 
 missioners of buildings. They shall be appointed by the 
 mayor and shall hold their respective offices as provided in 
 chapter IV. of this act. Each of said commissioners shall 
 be a competent architect or builder of at least ten years' 
 experience. One of said commissioners shall be the presi- 
 dent of the board, and shall be so designated by the mayor. 
 In appointing such commissioners the mayor shall specify 
 the borough or boroughs in which they are respectively to 
 have administrative jurisdiction, to wit : One in the bor- 
 oughs of Manhattan and the Bronx ; one in the borough 
 of Brooklyn, and one in the boroughs of Queens and Rich- 
 mond. The principal office of the department of buildings 
 shall be in the borough of Manhattan. There shall be a 
 branch office in the borough of Brooklyn and a branch 
 office may be established in any of the other boroughs, in 
 the discretion of the board. The salary of the commis- 
 sioner of buildings for the boroughs of Manhattan and the 
 Bronx, and the salary of the commissioner of buildings for 
 the borough of Brooklyn, shall in each case be $7,000 a 
 year. The salary of the commissioner of buildings for the 
 boroughs of Queens and Richmond shall be $3,500 a year. 
 
 Rules and regulations. — Sec. 645. The board shall have 
 the power, by a vote of a majority of its members, to es- 
 
UPON REAL ESTATE INTERESTS. 37 
 
 tablish general rules and regulations for the administration 
 of the department, and such other rules and regulations as 
 were authorized by law at the time of the passage of this 
 act to be established by the superintendent of buildings 
 in the city of New York, or by the commissioner of the 
 department of buildings in the city of Brooklyn, as said 
 cities were formerly constituted. Such rules and regula- 
 tions shall, so far as practicable, be uniform in all the bor- 
 oughs, but the board shall have power, from time to time, 
 to amend or repeal such rules and regulations when in the 
 opinion of a majority of the commissioners it shall seem 
 necessary or desirable. The board shall also have power 
 to appoint a secretary, and within the limits of its appro- 
 priation to appoint such subordinate officers as may be 
 necessary for the proper conduct of the office of the de- 
 partment. 
 
 General powers of commissioners under existing 
 laws — Sec. 646. The commissioner for the boroughs of 
 Manhattan and the Bronx shall within such boroughs in 
 addition to the powers, rights and duties expressly con- 
 ferred or imposed upon him by this act possess and exercise 
 all the powers, rights and duties and shall be subject to all 
 the obligations heretofore vested in, conferred upon or re- 
 quired of the department of buildings or the superintendent 
 of buildings in the city of New York as heretofore consti- 
 tuted, except in so far as the same are inconsistent with or 
 are modified by this act. The commissioner for the borough 
 of Brooklyn shall within such borough in addition to the 
 powers, rights and duties expressly conferred or imposed 
 upon him by this act possess and exercise all the powers, 
 rights and duties, and shall be subject to all the obligations 
 heretofore vested in, conferred upon or required of the de- 
 partment of buildings or the commissioner of the department 
 
38 BEARING OF THE CHARTER 
 
 of buildings in the city of Brooklyn as heretofore constituted, 
 except in so far as the same are inconsistent with or are modi- 
 fied by this act. The commissioner for the boroughs of 
 Queens and Richmond shall within such boroughs respect- 
 ively in addition to the powers, rights and duties expressly 
 conferred or imposed upon him by this act possess and ex- 
 ercise all the powers, rights and duties and shall be subject 
 to ail the obligations heretofore vested in, conferred upon 
 or required of any department, commission, board or officer 
 of Long Island City as heretofore constituted, or of any 
 town or village as heretofore constituted which is com- 
 prised within that portion of the county of Queens included 
 in The City of New York as constituted by this act, or which 
 is vested in, conferred upon or required of any department, 
 commission, board or officer of any town or village in the 
 county of Richmond as heretofore constituted, so far as 
 such powers, rights, duties and obligations concern, affect 
 or relate to the construction, alteration or removal of any 
 building or structure erected or to be erected within said 
 boroughs or either of them, except in so far as the same 
 are inconsistent with or are modified by this act. 
 
 Continuation and repeal of existing laws ; building 
 code. — Sec. 647. The several acts in effect at the time of 
 the passage of this act concerning, affecting or relating to 
 the construction, alteration or removal of buildings or 
 other structures m any of the municipal and public cor- 
 porations included within The City of New York, as con- 
 stituted by this act, are hereby continued in full force and 
 effect in such municipal and public corporations respect- 
 ively, except in so far as the same are inconsistent with or 
 are modified by this act, provided, however, that the 
 municipal assembly shall have power to establish, and 
 from time to time to amend a code of ordinances, to be 
 
UPON REAL ESTATE INTERESTS. 39 
 
 known as the Building Code, providing for all matters con- 
 cerning, affecting or relating to the construction, alteration, 
 or removal of buildings or structures erected or to be 
 erected in The City of New York, as constituted by this act, 
 and for the purpose of preparing such code to appoint and 
 employ a commission of experts ; and provided further 
 that upon the establishment of such code the several acts 
 first above mentioned shall cease to have any force or 
 effect, and are hereby repealed, but such repeal shall not 
 take effect until such building code shall be established by 
 the municipal assembly as herein provided. 
 
 The provisions of such building code shall be in con- 
 formity with and be subject to all general laws of the state 
 concerning, affecting or relating to buildings or classes Qf 
 buildings, or other structures. 
 
 Duties of commissioners; appointment and removal 
 
 of subordinates Sec. 648. Each commissioner shall, 
 
 within the borough or boroughs in which he is appointed 
 to exercise administrative jurisdiction, have charge of the 
 administration of, and it shall be his duty, subject to and 
 in accordance with the general rules and regulations estab- 
 lished by the board, to enforce such rules and regulations 
 and the provisions of this chapter and of such ordinances 
 as may be established by the municipal assembly and of 
 the laws relating to the construction, alteration or removal 
 of buildings or other structures erected or to be erected 
 within such borough or boroughs. Each commissioner 
 within the limits of his appropriation shall have power to 
 appoint and at pleasure to remove subordinate officers, as 
 follows : Such superintendents of buildings, and such in- 
 spectors of buildings, engineers, clerks, messengers, assist- 
 ants and other subordinates as in his judgment may be 
 necessary and proper to carry out and enforce such rules 
 
40 BEARING OF THE CHARTER 
 
 and regulations and ordinances and the provisions of said 
 laws and of this chapter within the borough or boroughs 
 under his jurisdiction. The superintendents of buildings 
 shall each be a competent architect, engineer or builder of ■ 
 at least ten years' practice. The inspectors shall be com- 
 petent men, either architects, engineers, masons, carpen- 
 ters, plumbers, or iron workers, who shall have served at 
 least five years as such. It shall not be lawful for any offi- 
 cer or employe in the department to be engaged in con- 
 ducting or carrying on business as an architect, civil engi- 
 neer, carpenter, plumber, iron worker, mason or builder 
 while holding office in the department. Each commissioner 
 shall have power to designate in writing one of the superin- 
 tendents of buildings or any of the inspectors so appointed 
 by him to act on any survey authorized by law, or to per- 
 form such other duties as the said commissioners may 
 direct. Each commissioner may designate a superintendent 
 of buildings, who, during the absence or inability of any- 
 such commissioner shall possess all the powers and per- 
 form all the duties of such commissioner. Any employe, 
 for any neglect of duty, or omission to properly perform 
 his duty, or violation of rules, or neglect or disobedience of 
 orders, or incapacity, or absence without leave, may be 
 punished by the commissioner appointing him by forfeiting 
 and withholding pay for a specified time, or by suspension 
 from duty with or without pay, but this provision shall not 
 be deemed to abridge the right of said commissioner to 
 remove or dismiss any inspector of buildings or other sub- 
 ordinate appointed by him or by any predecessor in office 
 from the service of the department at any time in his dis- 
 cretion. 
 
 Decisions of commissioners; appeals — Sec. 649. Each 
 commissioner shall have power and it shall be his duty. 
 
UPON REAL ESTATE INTERESTS. 41 
 
 subject to the provisions of law and the ordinances of the 
 municipal assembly and the general rules and regula- 
 tions established by the board, to pass upon any question 
 relative to the mode, manner of construction or materials 
 to be used in the erection or alteration of any building or 
 other structure erected or to be erected within the bor- 
 ough or boroughs under his jurisdiction which is included 
 within the provisions of this chapter or of any existing law 
 applicable to such borough or boroughs relating to the 
 construction, alteration or removal of buildings or other 
 structures, and to require that such mode, manner of con- 
 struction, or materials shall conform to the true intent and 
 meaning of the several provisions of this chapter and of 
 the laws and ordinances aforesaid and the rules and regu- 
 lations established by the board. Whenever a commis- 
 sioner to whom such question has been submitted shall re- 
 ject or refuse to approve the mode, manner of construction 
 or materials proposed to be followed or used in the erection 
 or alteration of any such building or structure, or when it is 
 claimed that the rules and regulations of the board or the 
 provisions of law or of said ordinances do not apply or that 
 an equally good and more desirable form of construction 
 can be employed in any specific case, the owner of such 
 building or structure, or his duly authorized agent, may 
 appeal from the decision of such commissioner to the 
 board in any case where the amount involved by such de- 
 cision shall exceed the sum of one thousand dollars ; pro- 
 vided, however, that in the boroughs of Manhattan and The 
 Bronx such appeal shall be taken to the board of exam- 
 iners, established by chapter four hundred and fifty-six of 
 the laws of eighteen hundred and eighty-five and the sev- 
 eral acts amendatory thereof or supplemental thereto. The 
 commissioner for the boroughs of Manhattan and The 
 
42 BEARING OF THE CHARTER 
 
 Bronx shall be ex-officio a member and the chairman of 
 said board of examiners. The other members of said 
 board of examiners shall be the persons mentioned and 
 described in section thirty-one of said chapter four hun- 
 dred and fifty-six of the laws of eighteen hundred and 
 eighty-five. The appeal authorized by this section maybe 
 taken within ten days from the entry of a decision upon 
 the records of the commissioner by filing with the commis- 
 sioner rendering such decision and with the secretary of 
 the board established by this act or with the clerk of the 
 board of examiners, as the case may be, a notice of appeal 
 stating specifically the questions which the appellant de- 
 sires to have passed upon by the board of buildings or by 
 the board of examiners, as the case may be, and by filing 
 with the secretary of the board of buildings or the clerk 
 of the board of examiners, as the case may be, copies of all 
 papers required by law or by the rules and regulations of 
 the board of buildings to be submitted to the commissioner 
 upon an application for a building permit, and the board of 
 buildings or the board of examiners, as the case may be, 
 shall thereafter fix a day within a reasonable time for the 
 hearing of such appeal, and upon such hearing the appellant 
 may be represented either in person or by his agent or 
 attorney. The decision of the board of buildings or the 
 board of examiners, as the case may be, upon such appeal, 
 shall be rendered without unnecessary delay and such de- 
 cision shall be final. 
 
 Power to vary the provisions of law. — Sec. 650. Each 
 commissioner shall have power, with the approval of the 
 board, to vary or modify any rule or regulation of the 
 board or the provisions of this chapter or of any existing 
 law or ordinance relating to the construction, alteration or 
 removal of any building or structure erected or to be 
 
UPON REAL ESTATE INTERESTS. 
 
 43 
 
 erected within his jurisdiction upon an application to him 
 therefor in writing by the owner of such building or 
 structure or his duly authorized agent, where there are 
 practical difficulties in the way of carrying out the strict 
 letter of the law, so that the spirit of the law shall be ob- 
 served and public safety secured and substantial justice 
 done ; but no such variation or modification shall be granted 
 or allowed except by a vote of a majority of the board. 
 Where such application has been filed with a commissioner 
 the owner of such building or structure or his duly author- 
 ized agent shall have the right to present a petition to such 
 commissioner and the board, setting forth the grounds for 
 the desired variation or modification, and may appear be- 
 fore said board and be heard. The board shall fix a date 
 within a reasonable time for a hearing upon such applica- 
 tion and shall as soon as practicable render a decision 
 thereon, which decision ehall be final. The particulars of 
 each such application and of the decision of the board 
 thereon shall be entered upon the records of the board, and 
 if the application is granted a certificate therefor shall be 
 issued by the commissioner to whom the application is 
 made and shall be countersigned by the secretary of the 
 board. 
 
 Accounts ; annual estimates ; expenditures Sec. 651, 
 
 Each commissioner shall keep accurate and detailed ac- 
 counts, in a form to be approved by the commissioners of 
 accounts, of all moneys received and expended by him, the 
 sources from which they are received and the purposes for 
 which they are expended, and shall prepare itemized 
 monthly statements of all receipts and expenditures in 
 duplicate, one of which statements, together with all 
 vouchers, shall be filed with the controller, and one of 
 which shall be filed in his own office. Each commissioner 
 
44 BEARING OF THE CHARTER 
 
 shall, on or about the first day of September in each year 
 prepare an itemized estimate of his necessary expenses for 
 the ensuing fiscal year and present the same to the board. 
 The three estimates so prepared as revised by the board 
 shall together constitute the annual estimate of the de- 
 partment of buildings, and shall be submitted to the board 
 of estimate and apportionment within the time prescribed 
 by this act for the submission of estimates for the several 
 departments of the city. No commissioner shall incur any 
 expense for any purpose m excess of the amount appro- 
 priated therefor ; nor shall he expend any money so appro- 
 priated for any purpose other than that for which it was 
 appropriated. 
 
 Record of applications. — Sec. 652. Each commissioner 
 shall keep a record of all applications presented to him 
 concerning, affecting or relating to the construction, alter- 
 ation or removal of buildings or other structures. Such 
 record shall include the date of the filing of each such ap- 
 plication ; the name and address of the applicant ; the 
 name and address of the owner of the land on which the 
 structure mentioned in such application is situated ; the 
 names and addresses of the architect and builder employed 
 thereon ; a designation of the premises by street number, 
 or otherwise sufficient to identify the same ; a statement of 
 the nature and proposed use of such structure ; and a brief 
 statement of the nature of the application, together with a 
 memorandum of the decision of the commissioner upon 
 such application and the date of the rendition of such de- 
 cision. The books containing such records are hereby 
 declared to be public records, and shall be open to inspec- 
 tion at all reasonable times. 
 
 Fire Department. — The head of the Fire Department is 
 the Fire Commissioner. There are over 2,000 paid firemen. 
 
UPON REAL ESTATE INTERESTS. 45 
 
 Volunteer Firemen retained The members of existing 
 
 volunteer fire departments in the former suburban villages 
 and towns are to be preferred, so far as practicable, for 
 appointment in the paid department. (Sec. 722.) 
 
 Fire Hydrants are to be kept clear from Snow and ice 
 in the street for ten feet each side of the hydrant from the 
 curb to the centre of the street by the owner or lessee of the 
 adjoining premises; $10 fine if you don't do rt, besides 
 paying the expense of clearing it. (Sec. 750.) 
 
 Pulling down buildings to prevent spread of fire 
 
 The Fire Commissioner has power to do this whenever he 
 judges it necessary. If it should occur, then the value of 
 the building is afterwards to be ascertained by a jury, and 
 paid to the owner in the manner provided for taking land 
 for public purposes. (Sec. 754.) 
 
 Chimney afire. ^No matter what the cause, if any 
 chimney, stove-pipe or flue takes fire the occupant of the 
 premises must pay $5 fine. (Sec. 760.) 
 
 Hoistways, iron=shutters, well-holes and trap-doors 
 must be closed at the completion of business each day : 
 $50 fine for every neglect or omission of each occupant 
 to do so ; and for any accident or injury to life or limb 
 resulting from such neglect or omission, the person cul- 
 pable or negligent shall be liable 7wt less than $1,000 to the 
 person injured, and in case of death not less than $5,000 to 
 his family or relatives. (Sec. 761. ) 
 
 Places of Amusement, theatres, and other public build- 
 ings, are to be protected from fire as directed in Sec. 762. 
 
46 BEARING OF THE CHARTER 
 
 Gunpowder and other Explosives can only be sold, or 
 kept, in small quantities, and under license from the Fire 
 Commissioners, as prescribed by section 763. 
 
 Fireworks and Petroleum, etc., also, as prescribed by 
 sections 764 to 768. 
 
 Chemicals and cotton, hay and other vegetable prod- 
 ucts very combustible, are governed by Sees. 769, 780. 
 
 Right to Enter Buildings — The Fire Commissioner and 
 his officers and agents have the right to enter your house 
 and store and any building to examine whether any com- 
 bustibles are stored there, and, if there has been a fire, to 
 investigate its origin. (Sees. 771, 780.) 
 
 These sections of the new charter, relating to fires and 
 their extinction, sections 748 to 783, doubtless supersede 
 the sections of the former Consolidation Act (chapter 410, 
 sections 446 to 468, Laws of 1882,) relating to the same 
 subject. 
 
 Docks, Piers, Harbor, Port and Waters. — (Sees. 816 
 to 881.) 
 
 Department of Docks and Ferries — The head of this 
 Department is the Board of Bocks, three Commissioners. 
 
 Repairing, building, leasing, cleaning, dredging all 
 wharves, piers, slips, docks, etc., are in the exclusive 
 charge of the Board of Docks. (Sec. 818.) 
 
 Lands under Water Owned by the State must be 
 conveyed to The City of New York by the State Commis- 
 sioners of the Land Office whenever the Board of Docks 
 
UPON REAL ESTATE INTERESTS. 47 
 
 may deem it necessary for the construction of wharves, 
 docks, slips, etc. (Sec. 831.) 
 
 ** Property " and " Wharf Property," whenever used 
 in chapter XVI. of the new charter (the one relating to 
 Docks and Waters), shall be taken to mean not only all 
 wharves, piers, docks, bulkheads, slips and basins, but the 
 land beneath the same, and all rights, privileges and ease- 
 ments appurtenant thereto, and such upland or made land 
 adjacent to said wharves, etc., jurisdiction over Vvhich up- 
 land and made land maybe assigned to the Department of 
 Docks and Ferries by the Commissioners of the Sinking 
 Fund. (Sec. 833.) 
 
 Floating Baths — The Board of Docks must furnish 
 sites for these free of charge, where designated by the. 
 Commissioner of Public Buildings. (Sec. 834.) 
 
 Public Jlarkets and Wharves may be erected and 
 kept by The Cityof New York over the waters of the East 
 and North Rivers, adjoining any of its docks or wharves. 
 (Sec. 835.) 
 
 Recreation Piers, Fire Department Piers and Docks 
 for the Street Cleaning Department may be designated 
 and set apart by the Board of Docks under sections 836 
 to 838. 
 
 Sheds on Piers or Bulkheads must be regulated, in their 
 construction, by the Board of Docks. (Sec. 844.) 
 
 Canal Boats, exclusively, are to have the East River 
 from the west side of pier No. 3 to and including the east 
 side of pier No. 8, and no other vessels can go in that sec- 
 
48 BEARING OF THE CHARTER 
 
 tion of waterfront between March 20th and December 31st 
 of each year. (Sec. 854.) 
 
 Docks set apart for Garden Produce are on the Hud- 
 son River from Gansevoort St. to Little West 12th St. 
 (Sec. 858.) 
 
 Wharfage and Dockage Rates will be found enumerated 
 in section 859 of the charter ; also in Sees. 860 to S6^. 
 
 What Waters included in the Port of New York 
 
 These are all the waters of the North and East Rivers and 
 the harbor embraced within or adjacent to or opposite to 
 the shores of The City of New York. (Sec. 864.) 
 
 Grants of Land under Water Restricted — No such 
 grants shall be made by the Municipal Assembly, or by 
 any officer or board, beyond the exterior lines of the City 
 of New York, as fixed by Act of the Legislature, April 
 17th, 1857, as amended. (Sec. 876.) 
 
 Time for Improving Lands Adjacent to Water on Har- 
 lem River. — The period of time fixed for the appropria- 
 tion to the purposes of commerce by the construction of 
 a dock or docks, and filling in the same, in all letters 
 patent, issued by the People of the State of New York to 
 the owners of the adjacent upland for lands underwater, 
 and, between high and low water mark in front of and 
 adjacent to the lands of the said owners of the adjacent 
 upland on the easterly shore of the Harlem River, is ex- 
 tended until two years after the time when plans for the 
 improvement of said river shall have been or shall be com- 
 pleted by the proper authorities, and copies of such plans 
 
UPON REAL ESTATE INTERESTS. 
 
 49 
 
 filed, one in the New York Register's Office and one in the 
 Office of the Secretary of State at Albany. (Sec. 877.) 
 
 Department of Taxes and Assessments — The head of 
 this department is called the Board of Taxes and Assess- 
 ments, composed of five commissioners, one of whom is 
 appointed as President of the Board, and one of whom must 
 be a learned lawyer. (Sec. 885.) 
 
 Taxes and Assessments are governed by sections 876 to 
 904; assessments more especially by the last twenty-three 
 sections. (Sec. 942 to 964.) 
 
 Correction of Assessed Valuation may be applied for 
 under section 895 during the time that the books are open 
 to public inspection, from the second Monday of January 
 to the first day of May every year (except 1898, when they 
 will be open from the first Monday of February to the first 
 day of May). Application for correction of the assessed 
 value of real estate must be made in writing, stating the 
 ground of objection. Then the Board will act on it. (Sec. 
 
 895) 
 
 Applications in each borough may be made to a deputy 
 tax commissioner appointed for that Borough by the 
 Board, and he can take testimony upon the matter, and 
 transmit it, with his opinion, to the Board. (Sec. 898.) 
 
 Taxes for 1898 in Brooklyn, Queens and Richmond 
 will be levied in 1897. 
 
 Taxes for old New York City for i897 have been 
 levied in 1897. 
 
50 BEARING OF THE CHARTER 
 
 To Prevent Double Taxation there shall be no taxes 
 levied in 1898, in Brooklyn, Queens and Richmond. 
 
 The 1897 taxes levied in the latter part of that year in 
 Brooklyn, Queens and Richmond will go into the receipts 
 of the new City for the purposes and disbursements of 
 
 1898, and if it transpires that the amount received from 
 any Borough from these 1897 taxes is either more or less 
 than its due proportion of the expenses of the new city, 
 such excess or deficit shall be equalized in the budget of 
 the year 1899 ; and the Municipal Assembly can lay 
 different rates of taxation in the several Boroughs, in 
 
 1899, so as to bring about this proper proportion. (Sec. 
 901.) 
 
 Different rates in each Borough each year will be 
 necessary in order to pay the salaries of the county officers, 
 and the other county charges and exp nses in the Counties 
 of New York, Kings and Richmond (all of which counties 
 are entirely within the new city), and the proportion that 
 will be due to Queens County from that part of Queens 
 County included in The City of New York. (Sec. 902.) 
 
 In forming the new City the Legislature did not abolish 
 nor change the existing county organizations. 
 
 Permits for Buildings must be filed, by copy, within 
 five days, with the Department of Taxes and Assessments, 
 by the officer who issues the permit. (Sec. 903.) 
 
 Exempt from taxation, every building for public wor- 
 ship, and every schoolhouse or other seminary of learning, 
 within the city, only when exclusively used for such pur- 
 
UPON REAL ESTATE INTERESTS. 51 
 
 pose, and exclusively the property of a religious society. 
 (Sec. 904.) 
 
 Decisions of the Board of Taxes and Assessments 
 
 can be reviewed by certiorari to the Supreme Court. (Sec. 
 906.) 
 
 riajority Clause — A determination or decision required 
 or authorized by this charter, when made by a majority of 
 any body or board, shall be held to be the determination 
 or decision of the body or board. (Sec. 908.) 
 
 Taxes are Due and Payable at the offices in the sev- 
 eral boroughs where the property is. (Sec. 913.) 
 
 Rebates for prompt payment and penalties for delay 
 remain as at present in old New York. 
 
 Undivided Parts of Taxes, where a sum of money in 
 gross has been taxed upon any land, may be paid by any 
 person claiming any divided or undivided part of the 
 premises, and the remainder may be sold if the balance of 
 the tax remains unpaid. (Sec. 920.) 
 
 Distress and Sale for Personal Taxes remaining un- 
 paid may be ordered by the Receiver of Taxes, and the 
 marshal can levy on and sell not only the goods and chat- 
 tels of the person against whom the warrant is issued, but 
 any goods and chattels in his or her possession, no matter 
 whom they may belong to. (Sec. 926.) The assessed valua- 
 tion for personal taxes is over $400,000,000. 
 
 Unpaid Taxes and Assessments prior to January ist, 
 1898, from Kings, Queens and Richmond counties, shall be 
 due and payable thereafter to The City of New York, and 
 
52 BEARING OF THE CHARTER 
 
 all tax and assessment lists in the hands of any officer of 
 any of the places within the new city limits must be turned 
 over to the Comptroller on that day, January ist, 1898. 
 Assessments for Local Improvements are to be made 
 
 by a Board of Assessors, not by the Commissioners of Taxes 
 and Assessments ; but this is only in cases other than those 
 required by law to be confirmed by a court of record. (Sec. 
 
 943) 
 
 A Board of Revision of Assessments, composed of the 
 Comptroller, Corporation Counsel and President of the 
 Board of Public Improvements, has the powers and duties 
 of revision, correction and confirmation of local assess- 
 ments, other than those confirmed by the Board of Assess- 
 ors or by a court, and may consider on the merits all objec- 
 tions made to any such assessment, and may subpoena and 
 examine witnesses, and may confirm the assessment or refer 
 it back to the Board of Assessors for revisal and correc- 
 tion. If not referred back within thirty days, such assess- 
 ments shall be deemed to be confirmed. (Sec. 944.) 
 
 Not more than half the fair value of any house or 
 lot, improved or unimproved land, can be assessed in any 
 case. (Sec. 947.) It is a comfort to know this. 
 
 No assessment for repairing can be laid inside the limits 
 of the old city. But in Brooklyn, Queens and Richmond you 
 can be assessed for repairing. (Sec. 948.) 
 
 Notice of Completion of Assessments is to be given in 
 the "City Record." (Sec. 950.) The labor of following 
 these up and finding them out, in that excellent but multi- 
 
UPON REAL ESTATE INTERESTS. 
 
 53 
 
 farious sheet, will be saved by those who are subscribers to 
 the Real Estate Record and Guide, which will continue to 
 publish all such information in regard to real estate, as it 
 has done for years past. 
 
 No liability to owners for originally establishing a 
 grade after January ist, 1898, but only for a change of 
 established grade where an owner has built in accordance 
 with it ; and you must make your claim for this at the time 
 and place for which notice is given by the Board of As- 
 sessors in the ''City Record." (Sees. 951, 952, 953.) 
 
 Assessments for Deepening Water in Docks, etc., may 
 
 be laid on adjoining owners. (Sec. 954.) 
 
 No suit can be brought to vacate an assessment for 
 
 local improvements other than those confirmed by a court 
 of record, but any party aggrieved is confined to the course 
 marked out in Sees. 958 to 953, whether the objection be 
 for fraud or any substantial error. 
 
 Re-assessment, — And any lands which may be dis- 
 charged from an assessment for fraud or irregularity in it 
 may have a new corrected assessment laid and collected 
 for the improvement. (Sec. 964.) 
 
 Opening Streets and Parks is to be done in the old 
 way, by application to the Supreme Court, and appointment 
 of commissioners of estimate and assessment. I do not 
 give the details of these proceedings, laid down in Sec. 
 970 to loi I, because every sensible man will in such mat- 
 ters 
 
54 BEARING OF THE CHARTER 
 
 Get a lawyer, either your own regular counsel, or if you 
 have none, employ one familiar with the new charter and 
 with such proceedings. 
 
 No streets can be opened in the grounds of St. John's 
 College, Fordham ; nor those of the University of The City 
 of New York ; nor those of Columbia College. (Sec. 972.) 
 
 The City is to own the land at once upon the report 
 being filed, if the land is vacant, or six months from the day 
 the report is filed, if there are buildings upon it^ in every 
 case, where the Board of Public Improvements deem it for 
 the public interest^ and may immediately take possession, 
 and in such cases interest is to run in favor of the owners, 
 from the date title vests in the City. In all other cases 
 title shall vest in the City upon the confirmation of the 
 Commissioners' report by the Court. (Sec. 990.) 
 
 Owners may convey to the City, without any condem- 
 nation proceedings; if their title is clear, and, if they give 
 a deed, with an abstract of title and complete searches, 
 and pay for recording the deed ; and the lots fronting on 
 such parcels shall not be chargeable with any portion of 
 the expense of opening any of the rest of that street, ex- 
 cept a fair proportion of the awards made for damages for 
 buildings. (Sec. 992.) This may be of value in the out- 
 lying portions of the new City. 
 
 The City may agree with owners of some or all par- 
 cels about the cost and damages and benefits of any such 
 a street opening, or other improvement, and after such an 
 agreement duly executed it shall be as binding as an 
 
UPON REAL ESTATE INTERESTS. 55 
 
 assessment regularly made. (Sec. 994.) Obviously a great 
 deal of the expense may thus sometimes be saved. 
 
 Contracts between Landlords and Tenants regarding 
 land taken by the City cease, determine, and become abso- 
 lutely discharged upon the vesting of the title in the City, 
 where the whole of the lot or parcel is taken, and shall 
 similarly cease as to the part taken^ where only a part is 
 taken. (Sec. 996.) 
 
 Notice of Confirmation of Assessment is to be pub- 
 lished by the comptroller in the '* City Record." (Sec. 
 1005.) 
 
 Interest at seven per cent, is to be charged on all as- 
 sessments not paid within sixty days, sections 1006, 1019 ; 
 and on all arrears of taxes. (Sec. 1020.) 
 
 Water Rents in same bill with Taxes after this. (Sec. 
 1024.) 
 
 On June First Taxes and Water Rates become arrears. 
 (Sec. 1023.) And have to pay seven per cent, per annum 
 interest from date of confirmation. 
 
 Sales for unpaid Taxes and Assessments are to be made 
 Mr^^ years after confirmation. (Sec. 1027.) 
 
 Sales for unpaid Water Rents are to be made/^«r 
 years after they were due. (Sec. 1027.) 
 
 I do not find that any date is fixed in the charter for the 
 payment of Water Rates ; but unless they are paid by 
 August i9t, five per cent penalty attaches, and unless paid 
 by November ist, 10 per cent. (Sec. 476) ; and as the Com- 
 missioner of Water Supply is to turn over all unpaid water 
 
56 BEARING OF THE CHARTER 
 
 rents to the Collector of Arrears, at the time the tax 
 levy is confirmed each year, section 1022, (which is on 
 or about September ist), it is best to assume that the old 
 date, May ist, remains the first date upon which water rents 
 can annually be paid. 
 
 Lands heretofore sold and bid in for taxes or assess- 
 ments by any village, town or city now consolidated shall 
 belong to the new city. (Sec. 1033.) 
 
 riortgagees are to be notified of sale before the time 
 to redeem expires. (Sees. 1036 to 1040.) 
 
 Notice of Expiration of Time to Redeem is to be pub- 
 lished twice a week for six weeks in the City Record 
 (Sec. 1041.) 
 
 Additional Details of Sale forTaxes,and of Redemption 
 are to be found in sections 1042 to 1054, as well as in 
 sections 1017 to 1042. 
 
 The title to all real estate purchased for school purposes 
 (except the State Normal School at Jamaica), is vested in 
 The City of New York. But all suits in relation to such 
 property must be brought in the name of the Board of 
 Education. (Sec. 1055.) 
 
 Taxes for School purposes are to be raised in two 
 funds, "The special school fund" and ''The general 
 school fund." 
 
 New school-houses, and sites, with repairs, etc., are to 
 be raised in the special school fund, and the Board of Esti- 
 mate and Apportionment must indicate in the budget the 
 respective amounts of this special fund which shall be 
 
UPON REAL ESTATE INTERESTS. 
 
 57 
 
 available for each of the four school boards (Manhattan 
 and The Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, and Richmond). (Sec. 
 1060.) 
 
 A Superintendent of School Buildings is to be ap- 
 pointed by the Board of Education, and he may appoint 
 four deputy superintendents ; one for each Borough. All 
 plans for new school buildings, and for alterations, must 
 be approved by the Superintendent. (Sec. 1074.) 
 
 Board of Health The head of the Department of 
 
 Health is the Board of Health, consisting of the President 
 of the Board of Police, the Health Officer of the Port, and 
 three Commissioners of Health appointed by the Mayor. 
 (Sec. 1167.) 
 
 The Board of Health has power to take possession of, 
 and occupy for temporary hospitals, any building or build- 
 ings in the City, during the prevalence of an epidemic. 
 
 And shall pay a just compensation for private property 
 so taken. (Sec. 1170.) 
 
 Repairs of Buildings — The Board of Health has power 
 to order and enforce the repairs of buildings, houses, and 
 other structures ; the regulation and control of all public 
 markets (so far as relates to the cleanliness, ventilation 
 and drainage, and to the prevention of the sale of im- 
 proper articles) ; the removal of any obstruction, matter or 
 thing in or upon the public streets, sidewalks or places, 
 dangerous to life or health ; the prevention of accidents 
 endangering life or health ; and generally the abating of 
 all nuisances. (Sec. 1171.) 
 
58 BEARING OF THE CHARTER 
 
 The Sanitary Code, (Sec. 1172), contains about 225 
 sections in itself. And you are bound by them all, and liable 
 to the penalties for their breach, whether you know what is 
 in them or not. At least forty of these sections bear directly 
 or indirectly upon the ownership of real estate in this City, 
 and, in the language of section 205 of that code (edition of 
 1896), " The ^7^«^r, lessee, tenant or occupant of a/ty bmlding 
 or premises, or of any part thereof, where there shall be 
 * * * ^ violation of any ordinance or section of the Sanitary 
 Code, shall be jointly and severally liable therefor." So the 
 best thing you can do is to obtain from the Health Depart- 
 ment a copy of the Sanitary Code. It governs all parts of 
 the new City, and privies in the suburbs of Jamaica or of 
 Hempstead must hereafter be built in accordance with sec- 
 tions 119, 192 and 206 of this Code, and the owners of cows 
 on Staten Island must hasten to get permits to keep them 
 within the City limits, in accordance with section 200, or 
 each will be guilty of a misdemeanor and liable to fine 
 and imprisonment. Does your tenant, who keeps a board- 
 ing house, allow too many people to sleep in one room? 
 Do you know ? You are liable, whether you know or not. 
 
 Alteration of old buildinsrs, erection of new buildings 
 must conform to this Sanitary Code as well as to the Build- 
 ing laws. Sidewalks must be kept clear of water and ice, 
 and from other obstructions ; manufactories must burn 
 their own smoke ; receptacles must be provided for ashes 
 and for garbage for the Street Cleaning Department ; con- 
 tagious diseases must be reported ; hatchways and well- 
 
UPON REAL ESTATE INTERESTS. 59 
 
 holes must be inclosed ; waste or soil pipes of tenements 
 and lodging houses must be ventilated ; sunken lots kept 
 clean and fenced ; and a score of other details be attended 
 to in accordance with this Sanitary Code, or the expense 
 of having them done by the Health Department becomes 
 a lien upon your real estate (like an assessment), and you, 
 the owner, although absent traveling, and ignorant of your 
 tenant's neglect and breach of the code, become liable to 
 fine and imprisonment. (Sees. 1172, 1278 and 1222 of 
 Charter.) So send and get a copy of that Code. 
 
 Dangerous Buildings, and Places — Whenever any 
 building, erection, excavation, premises, business pursuit, 
 matter or thing, or the sewerage, drainage or ventilation 
 thereof, shall be in a condition or in effect dangerous to 
 life or health, the Board of Health may take sufficient 
 proof to authorize declaring it a public nuisance, or dan- 
 gerous to life or health, and may order it to be removed, 
 or altered or improved. 
 
 Stay or modification of such an order may be applied 
 for within three days after service, or attempted service, by 
 the party served, or intended to be served. 
 
 This is an outrageous power. So long as the Board 
 intended to serve the owner, or attempted to do so, unless he 
 applies for a hearing within three days from the attempt 
 to serve him, his rights may be taken away, and possibly 
 great damage done to him, often by mistake, and without 
 his having even heard of the matter. It may be that this 
 
6o BEARING OF THE CHARTER 
 
 power will never be wrongfully used. But no such power 
 ought ever to be granted. 
 
 The situation is not bettered by the additional power 
 that if the order (which he may never have heard of) is 
 not complied with within five days, the Board of Health 
 can have it done, and all the expenses are to be a charge 
 against each of the owners or part owners of the building, 
 and each of the lessees and occupants, and a lien on all 
 rent due, or to grow due, for the use of any place, room, 
 building or premises ; and the Board of Health can assign 
 the bill, and its assignee can sue on and recover it. (Sec. 
 
 1176.) 
 
 I say this is an outrageous law to impose upon citizens 
 in a free country. And no man surpasses me in allegiance 
 to the laws, or in a desire to conform to and to uphold a 
 rigid enforcement of all sanitary rules for the benefit of 
 the community, and especially for the benefit of the poor, 
 or those whose means and industry do not leave them time 
 to protect themselves. But no such unfair powers ought 
 ever to be intrusted to any man or Board. 
 
 Delegation of Powers — The Board of Health may from 
 time to time delegate any portion of its powers to the Sani- 
 tary Superintendent, or to an Assistant Sanitary Superin- 
 tendent. (Sec. 1 182.) 
 
 Examinations and Surveys — The members of the 
 Board of Health, the Health Commissioners, the Sanitary 
 Superintendent, the Assistant Sanitary Superintendent, and 
 any of the Sanitary Inspectors, and such other officer or 
 
UPON REAL ESTATE INTERESTS. 6l 
 
 person as may, at any time, be authorized by the Board of 
 Health, may enter, examine and survey all grounds, erec- 
 tions, structures, apartments, buildings, and every part 
 thereof, all cellars, sewers, passages and excavations, and 
 inspect the sanitary condition thereof. (Sec. 1188.) 
 
 Duties of Owners, Lessees, and Occupants, in any 
 
 place, room, stall, apartment, and building, to keep and 
 preserve the same and every part of it, and the sewerage, 
 drainage, and ventilation in such condiiion that it shall 
 not be a nuisance, nor dangerous, nor prejudicial to 
 health. (Sec. 1201.) 
 
 Offensive Trades can not be lawfully carried on within 
 the Borough of Manhattan. It is all right to do so in the 
 other Boroughs. These trades are enumerated in Sec. 
 1212 as bone boiling, bone burning, bone grinding, horse 
 skinning, cow skinning, or skinning of dead animals, or the 
 boiling of offal, but not the slaughtering or dressing of 
 animals for sale in said City. 
 
 Filling in Lands — This cannot be done anywhere in 
 the new City with garbage, dead animals, decaying matter, 
 or any offensive and unwholesome material, or with dirt or 
 ashes mixed with any such thing. (Sec. 1213.) 
 
 Yards and Cellars — The Board of Health can pass 
 ordinances for the filling, draining and regulating of any 
 grounds, yards or cellars, and also sunken lots extending 
 into the rivers or Long Island Sound ; and for filling, alter- 
 ing and amending all sinks and privies, and for causing 
 
62 BEARING OF THE CHARTER 
 
 subterraneous drains to be made from the latter. (Sec. 
 1214.) 
 
 Right of Way. — The Board of Health can acquire rights 
 of way over, under or through lands, for drains other than 
 sewers. (Sec. 1216.) 
 
 The proceedings for acquiring such rights of way are sim- 
 ilar to those for acquiring the absolute ownership of land 
 for streets, but the details are laid down in sections 
 1217, 1218. 
 
 Punishment for Violating any Order of the Board of 
 Health is a fine not exceeding $250, or imprisonment not 
 exceeding six months, or both ; it being a misdemeanor. 
 
 Violation of any part of the Sanitary Code is also a 
 misdemeanor, and also a fine of $50. 
 
 Separate Receptacles for Ashes and Garbage shall be 
 required by the Board of Health, also for rubbish. And 
 they can only be put out on sidewalks at the times desig- 
 nated by the Commissioner of Street Cleaning, and for 
 any violations of these provisions of the sanitary code 
 both the oivners and the occupants of all houses in the city 
 shall be separately responsible and subject to the pen- 
 alties and prosecutions imposed by said code, and all other 
 provisions of the city ordinances relative to the cleanliness 
 of the streets. (Sec. 1223.) 
 
 Which is another outrageous law. 
 
 Service of Orders. — Quite in keeping with these unfair 
 provisions of this law is the fact that, under section 1224, 
 you can be sent to jail and fined for breach of an order, 
 
UPON REAL ESTATE INTERESTS. 63 
 
 quite likely unjust, and granted, or entered as a matter of 
 course by some employe of the Board, without due hearing, 
 and which order has been served on some one you employed 
 to collect your rents, and who has forgotten to report it to 
 you ; no matter, 7/^^/ service is enough to bind you and 
 everybody, as if made upon the owners, lessees, tenants, 
 and occupants of the building. 
 
 Public health ought to be preserved and cared for most 
 thoroughly, but not at such a cost of private rights and 
 liberties, without due process of law. The fact that such 
 a statute has been passed, does not make it " due process 
 of law." 
 
 A nuisance under this statute embraces not only what 
 is known as a public nuisance at common law, or in equity 
 jurisprudence, but also whatever is dangerous to human 
 life or detrimental to health ; whatever building or erec- 
 tion, or part or cellar thereof, is overcrowded with occu- 
 pants, or is not provided with adequate ingress and egress 
 to and from the same, or the apartments thereof, or is not 
 sufficiently supported, ventilated, sewered, drained, cleaned 
 or lighted, in reference to their or its intended or actual 
 use ; and whatever renders the air, or human food or 
 drink, unwholesome, are also, severally, in contemplation of 
 this act, nuisances ; and all such nuisances are declared 
 illegal. (Sec. 1229.) As they ought to be. 
 
 Overcrowding in Cars and Elevators But all this wilt 
 
 not prevent people being allowed to be jammed and packed 
 
 5 
 
64 BEARING OF THE CHARTER 
 
 together in elevated railroads and surface cars, and in ele- 
 vators, like so many sardines, only not so clean ; dumb, 
 driven cattle, buttock to face, male and female, in the most 
 disgusting manner, detrimental to health, comfort and 
 morals, a nuisance under that section 1229. This, how- 
 ever, is because there are so few real Americans in New 
 York City, people with respect for themselves and con- 
 sideration for others. You would expect it to be different. 
 But to see that it is not you have only to look daily at 
 what the citizens of New York both endure themselves and 
 force upon others in this regard. The remedy is to fine 
 every conductor who carries more than he has seats for, 
 and every person who insists upon forcing himself in where 
 there are no seats. Straps to hang upon ought to be abol- 
 ished. Ostensibly they were forced on the railroad com- 
 panies for the " safety " of passengers. What a trick of 
 those companies to make it lawful to carry additional pas- 
 sengers standing upon the feet of those sitting ! And every 
 person, man or woman, who attempts to stand in between 
 the seats of opeti cars ought forthwith to be arrested and 
 fined " ten dollars or ten days." If the various railroads 
 and traction companies do not or can not furnish enough 
 vehicles, take away their charters, or grant more charters 
 to more companies. 
 
 But whether it is because four out of five of all its citi- 
 zens were so unfortunate as to beborn abroad in monarchical 
 countries, (they or their immediate parents,) or whatever 
 the cause, the disappointing fact remains that the demo- 
 
UPON REA.L ESTATE INTERESTS. 65 
 
 •ratic, republican, citizens of this great city, are wanting 
 in self respect and in respect for the rights of others. 
 
 Boarding and Lodging House Keepers shall, whenever 
 required by the Department of Health, report in writing 
 the name of each person sick in their houses, within twelve 
 hours after each case of sickness occurs. (Sec. 1250.) 
 
 Every Owner, and Part Owner, and Person Inter- 
 ested, Lessee, Tenant and Occupant of, or in, any place, 
 water, ground, room, stall, apartment, building, erection, 
 vessel, vehicle, matter and thing in The City of New York, 
 and every person conducting or interested in business, is 
 bound to keep, place and preserve every building, plot of 
 ground, etc., subject to the ordinances of the Sanitary Code 
 and the orders of the Board of Health, and is both jointly 
 and separately liable personally for all the expenses the 
 Board of Health choose to incur in carrying out any order 
 of that Board. These expenses are also a lien on any and 
 all rent due to a landlord ; and the Board of Health can 
 assign each claim for any such expenses, and the assignee 
 can sue for them. (Sees. 1275, 1276, 1277.) 
 
 Ail tlie proceedings of tlie Healtli Department are 
 presumed to be just and legal. (Sec. 1261.) 
 
 Expenses of Board of Health shall be a lien on the 
 property, filed like a mechanic's lien, and ahead of all 
 mortgages and other liens, except taxes and assessments. 
 (Sec. 1278.) 
 
 Your tenant must pay a judgment against you and 
 
66 BEARING OF THE CHARTER 
 
 deduct it from his rent where it was obtained by the Board 
 of Health. (Sec. 1279, subdivision 4.) 
 
 As stated before (page 62), all this can happen, under 
 this despotic law, without your ever having heard of the 
 matter or knowing anything about it. 
 
 A judgment declaring a nuisance to exist, and order- 
 ing it abated or remedied, and for costs and expenses and 
 penalties therefor, is a lien on the real property to which 
 the nuisance related. (Sec. 1290.) 
 
 An injunction may be granted in any suit brought by 
 the Health Department to abate a nuisance, and in the 
 injunction order the court may require any building, erec- 
 tion or grounds to be put in condition that will not be dan- 
 gerous to life or health, before the same shall be leased, 
 rented or occupied, or before any rent shall be collected 
 for the use of the whole or any portion of the same ; and 
 the court can, in any such injunction order, require any 
 and all tenants, lessees, and occupants to pay their rent to 
 the Health Department, and the latter to pay it out on 
 account of expenses of putting the premises in good sani- 
 tary condition. (Sec. 1297.) 
 
 Tenement and Lodging Houses must conform in con- 
 struction, appurtenances, and premises to the requirements 
 of the charter. (Sees. 1304 to 1325.) 
 
 This tenement-house law goes into a great variety of 
 details which need not be fully repeated here, because any 
 one intending to build, or buy, will naturally read these 
 sections in the charter itself. 
 
UPON REAL ESTATE INTERESTS. 67 
 
 No property owner in The City of New York can here- 
 after get along safely without a copy of the charter itself ; 
 or what is better, a copy of Van Siclen's 
 
 ♦♦ Analytical Index to the Charter of The City of 
 New York," now going to press (December, 1897) ; this 
 form of Index contains every item of all the statute, briefly 
 and clearly stated. 
 
 The Sanitary Code of course applies to tenement 
 houses. 
 
 Halls. — If such a house is occupied by more than one 
 family on a floor, and if the halls do not open directly on 
 the external air, with suitable windows, without a room or 
 other obstruction at the end, it cannot be used nor rented 
 unless sufficient light and ventilation are provided for to 
 the satisfaction of the Department of Buildings and the 
 Department of Health. (Sec. 1302.) 
 
 A tenement=house is any house or building, or portion 
 thereof, which is let to be occupied as the home or resi- 
 dence of three families or more, living independently of 
 each other, and doing their cooking upon the premises ; 
 or by more than two families upon any floor, so living and 
 cooking, but having a common right in the halls, stair- 
 ways, yards, water-closets or privies, or some of them. 
 (Sec. 1305.) 
 
 A lodging house is any house or building, or portion 
 thereof, in which persons are harbored, or received, or 
 lodged, for hire for a single night, or for less than a week 
 
68 BEARING OF THE CHARTER 
 
 at one time, or any part of which is let for any person to 
 sleep in for any term less than a week. (Sec. 1305.) 
 
 A cellar is every basement or lower story of any build- 
 ing or house, of which one half or more of the height from 
 floor to the ceiling is below the level of the street adjoin- 
 ing. (Sec. 1305.) 
 
 Roofs must be kept in good repair. 
 
 Water from roof carried off ; no dripping. 
 
 Stairs must have proper banisters and railings, and be 
 kept in good repair. 
 
 A fire escape on every such house. (Sec. 1.306.) 
 
 Every sleeping room which does not communicate di- 
 rectly with the external air must have a transom over the 
 door into the next room which communicates with the ex- 
 ternal air, and another transom over the door into the hall. 
 
 A ventilator must be in the roof at the top of the hall. 
 (Sec. 1307.) 
 
 A water closet, ventilated, for every fifteen occupants. 
 
 Separate sewer connection for each tenement house, or 
 lodging house. 
 
 No privy, or vault or cesspool in, under, or connected 
 with any such house (except by special permit). 
 
 Where there is no sewer to connect with, the yard and 
 area must have a covered drain into the street gutter to 
 carry off surface water. (Sec. 1308.) 
 
 Cellars and Basements can not be constructed to be 
 occupied as dwellings, without a permit from the Depart- 
 
UPON REAL ESTATE tnTERESTS. 69 
 
 ment of Buildings, nor without conforming to many details 
 in section 1309. 
 
 Cellars and Vaults can not be used as sleeping rooms. 
 
 Wall paper must be removed every time, and walls and 
 ceiling cleansed, before any new wall paper can be put on. 
 
 Every part must be kept clean. 
 
 Owner must clean as often as Board of Health orders : 
 so must any lessee of any part. 
 
 Whitewash walls and ceilings at least once every year. 
 (Sec. 1310.) 
 
 Bakeries ; Transoms, Windows and Doors must be 
 solidly closed up between upper floors of tenement or lodg- 
 ing houses and the hall of the basement or first floor where 
 there is a bakery in which fat is boiled ; and such a tene- 
 ment must be fireproof, or the ceiling and side walls of 
 the bakery be fireproof. 
 
 Paint, Oil, Liquor and Drug stores, all their transoms 
 and windows opening into halls, must be closed solidly, or 
 glazed with wire glass, and all doors be fireproof, where 
 there is a tenement or lodging house above. (Sec. 131 1.) 
 
 Receptacles for garbage and other refuse must be sup- 
 plied. 
 
 No part can be used to store any combustible article. 
 
 No domestic animals can be kept (except dogs and cats). 
 (Sec. 1312.) 
 
 Address and name of every owner must be filed by 
 him with the Health Department, with a description of his 
 tenement house or lodging house. 
 
70 BEARING OF THE CHARTER 
 
 Upon selling a tenement house or lodging house both 
 buyer and seller must file a notice of the transfer with the 
 Health Department. 
 
 In case of a Will, the executor, and the devisee of such 
 a house, must both file notice of the new ownership of the 
 latter, within thirty days after probate of the will. 
 
 Heirs, where there is no will, must file notice of their 
 having become the owners. 
 
 Administrator must file such a notice, if there is no will, 
 and the heirs are under age, and have no guardian, within 
 thirty days after the death of the owner. 
 
 Notices to tenement house and lodging house owners are 
 served by not serving them, but by posting them up in some 
 conspicuous place in the house, five days ^before time for 
 doing the thing required. It is the duty of the Health De- 
 partment to also mail on the same day, a copy of such 
 notice to the address given by the owner ; but that post- 
 ing of notice in the house is declared by the law sufficient 
 service of the notice on the owner. (Sec. 1313.) 
 
 Inspection Twice a Year. 
 
 Free access to the house for all health officers. 
 
 The owner or keeper of any lodging house, and the 
 owner, agent and lessee of any tenement house or any part 
 of it, shall give notice at once to the Health Department 
 of any case of infectious disease, // information thereof has 
 been given to such owner, keeper, agent or lessee. (Sec. 1314-) 
 
 This section of the law is remarkable in that it does not 
 
UPON REAL ESTATE INTERESTS. 71 
 
 punish the owner with fine and imprisonment in case he has 
 not been informed of the misfortune that has befallen him. 
 
 infected and Uninhabitable Houses may be condemned 
 by the Board of Health, and all persons ordered to vacate, 
 until the building has been repaired and made habitable. 
 (Sec. 1315.) 
 
 Old or Infected House may be torn down after con- 
 demnation by Board of Health, and after due proceedings 
 in court, and in this case fair damages are to be awarded 
 to the owner on the basis laid down in section 13 16. 
 
 Houses hereafter erected must comply with all the re- 
 quirements of sections 1318 to 1325, in regard to space of 
 lot occupied, size of rooms, ventilation, chimneys, ash 
 receptacles, water, cellar floor, ceilings, gas, overcrowd- 
 ing, janitor, penalties for violations, etc. 
 
 Construction of tenement houses and space pre- 
 scribed for building the same. — Sec. 1,318. It shall not 
 be lawful, without a permit from the department of 
 buildings, to alter, erect or convert to the purposes of a 
 tenement or lodging house, a building on any lot where 
 there is another building on the same lot ; nor shall it be 
 lawful to build or to erect any building on any lot whereon 
 there is already a tenement or lodging house, unless there 
 is a clear open space exclusively belonging thereto, and 
 extending upward from the ground, of at least ten feet 
 between said buildings if they are one story high above 
 the level of the ground ; if they are two stories high the 
 distance between them shall not be less than fifteen feet ; 
 if they are three stories high the distance then shall not be 
 less than twenty feet ; if they are more than three stories 
 
7^ 
 
 BEARING OF THE CHARTER 
 
 high the distance between them shall not be less than 
 twenty-five feet, but when thorough ventilation of such 
 open spaces can be otherwise secured, such distances may 
 be lessened or modified in special cases by a permit from 
 the department of buildings. At the rear of every build- 
 ing hereafter erected for or converted to the purposes of a 
 tenement or lodging house on any lot, there shall be and 
 remain a clear open space of not less than ten feet between 
 it and the rear end of the lot. No one continuous build- 
 ing hereafter constructed shall be built or converted 
 to the purposes of a tenement or lodging house in 
 the city of New York, upon an ordinary city lot, and 
 no existing tenement or lodging house shall be enlarged 
 or altered, or its lot be diminished, so that it shall occupy 
 more than sixty-five per centum of the area of said lot, but 
 where the light and ventilation of such tenement or lodg- 
 ing house, are, in the opinion of the superintendent of 
 buildings, materially improved, he may permit such tene- 
 ment or lodging house to occupy an area not exceeding 
 seventy-five per centum of the said lot, and in the same 
 proportion if the lot be greater or less in size than twenty- 
 five by one hundred feet ; but this provision shall not 
 apply to corner lots, in which, however, no such building 
 hereafter constructed, above the first story, shall occupy 
 more than ninety-two per centum of the area of a lot, and 
 no such building shall come within five feet of the rear of 
 said lot, provided, further, that in all cases, both for 
 corner and interior lots, the interior courts or shafts shall 
 not be less than two feet four inches wide at their narrow- 
 est parts. In computing the amount of the lot covered by a 
 building, any shaft or court of less than twenty-five square 
 feet in area shall be considered as part of the building and 
 not as part of the free air space. No shaft or court, over 
 
UPON REAL ESTATE INTERESTS. 73 
 
 ten square feet in area, hereafter constructed in a tene- 
 ment house or lodging house, except elevator shafts or 
 staircase wells, shall be covered with a roof, skylight or 
 otherwise. In all tenement houses hereafter constructed, 
 or buildings hereafter converted to the purposes of a tene- 
 ment house, the stairway communicating between said 
 cellar or basement and the floor next above, when placed 
 within any such building, shall be inclosed with brick 
 walls, and such stairway shall be provided with fire-proof 
 doors at the top and bottom of said flight of stairs. An 
 open area shall be constructed from the level of the cellar 
 to the sidewalk in front and extending the full width of 
 such houses, with a staircase to give access to the cellar 
 from the street. Where stores are located on the first floor 
 the area may be covered with suitable vault lights or 
 gratings. In all tenement houses hereafter constructed, 
 or buildings hereafter converted to the purposes of a tene- 
 ment house, the openings to the elevators or lifts in the cel- 
 lar, and at every opening, on every story, shall be provided 
 with self-closing fire-proof doors. This provision, how- 
 ever, shall not apply to such elevators in tenement houses 
 as are operated by a conductor stationed within the car ; 
 but if such elevators run to the cellar, they must be in- 
 closed in the cellar with fire-proof walls, and the door to 
 the cellar, if any, must be fire-proof and self-closing. In 
 all tenement houses hereafter constructed, or buildings 
 hereafter converted to the purposes of a tenement house, 
 all staircases shall be fire-proof ; but this provision as to 
 staircases shall not apply to buildings which are not over 
 five stories high above the cellar, and which contain not 
 more than three suites of rooms on a floor. Every tene- 
 ment house hereafter constructed, or buildings hereafter 
 converted to the purpose of a tenement house, exceeding 
 
74 
 
 BEARING OF THE CHARTER 
 
 three stories in height, or having a basement with three 
 stories above the cellar, shall have the entrance hall and 
 entire stairwell and stairs, built of slow-burning construc- 
 tion or fire-proof material; no wainscoting shall be allowed 
 in the main halls except of cement, or other fire-proof 
 material ; at least one flight of such stairs shall extend to 
 the roof, and be inclosed in a bulkhead building of fire- 
 proof material. In all tenement houses hereafter con- 
 structed, and buildings hereafter converted to the purposes 
 of a tenement house, each room must have a separate win- 
 dow opening into the outer air ; each water-closet must 
 have a window opening into the outer air, and such water- 
 closet inclosure, if provided with a ventilating flue or 
 duct, may have the window opening on any court or shaft 
 containing at least twenty-five square feet in area ; the 
 floor of each water-closet must be made water-proof with 
 asphalt, cement, tile, metal or some other water-proof 
 material ; and such water-proofing must extend at least 
 sixteen inches above the floor, except at the door opening 
 so that said floor can be washed or flushed out without 
 leaking. The light and ventilation of all buildings here- 
 after erected for, or converted to the purpose of tenement 
 or lodging houses, must be provided in accordance with 
 the requirements of this title, and the conditions of a plan 
 and permit previously approved in writing by the depart- 
 ment of buildings, and no existing tenement or lodging 
 house shall be enlarged or altered, or its lot diminished 
 without a similar permit. The department of buildings is 
 hereby empowered, and directed to make rules and regula- 
 tions not inconsistent with the requirements of this title, 
 and which in addition to the requirements of this title, 
 shall be the conditions of approval of the plans and per- 
 mits ; these rules and regulations shall govern the ar- 
 
UPON REAL ESTATE INTERESTS. 
 
 75 
 
 rangement and distribution of the uncovered area, size, 
 lighting, location and arrangement of shafts, rooms, cel- 
 lars, and halls. No building or premises occupied for a 
 tenement house shall be used for a lodging house, private 
 school, stable, or for the storage and handling of rags, but 
 the department of health may, by a special permit, fixing 
 the conditions thereof in writing, and providing there be 
 the necessary cubic air space and ventilation, allow the 
 maintenance of a private school in such a house. In case 
 of any violation of the provisions of this section, or of any 
 failure to comply with, or of any violation of the terms 
 and conditions of the plan for such tenement or lodging 
 house approved by the department of buildings, or of the 
 conditions of the permits granted as hereinbefore pro- 
 vided, or for the air, light and ventilation of the said 
 house or premises, any court of record, or any judge or 
 justice thereof, shall have power, at any time after service 
 of notice of violation, or of non-compliance, upon the 
 owner, builder, or other person superintending the building 
 or converting any such house, upon proof by affidavit of 
 any violation or non-compliance as aforesaid, or that a 
 plan for light and ventilation of such house has not been 
 approved by the department of buildings, to restrain by 
 injunction order, in any action by the department of build- 
 ings, or by the board of health, the further progress of any 
 violation as aforesaid. No undertaking shall be required 
 as a condition of granting an injunction, or by reason 
 thereof. 
 
 Dimensions and ventilation of rooms. — Sec. 1,319. 
 In every such house hereafter erected or converted, every 
 habitable room, except rooms in the attic, shall be in 
 every part, not less than eight feet in height from the 
 floor to the ceiling; and every habitable room in the attic 
 
-jd BEARING OF THE CHARTER 
 
 of any such building shall be at least eight feet in height 
 from the floor to the ceiling, throughout not less than one- 
 half the area of such room. Every such room shall have at 
 least one window connecting with the external air, or over 
 the door a ventilator of perfect construction, connecting 
 it with a room or hall which has a connection with the ex- 
 ternal air, and so arranged as to produce a cross current 
 of air. The total area of window or windows in every 
 room communicating with the external air shall be at 
 least one-tenth of the superficial area of every such room; 
 and the top of one, at least, of such windows, shall not be 
 less than seven feet six inches above the floor, and the 
 upper half, at least, shall be made so as to open the full 
 width. Every habitable room of a less area than one hun= 
 dred superficial feet, if it does not communicate directly 
 with the external air, and is without an open fire-place, 
 shall be provided with special means of ventilation, by a 
 separate air shaft extending to the roof, or otherwise, as 
 the board of health may prescribe. 
 
 Chimneys, ash receptacles, water, cellar floor, ceil- 
 ings and gas in tenement houses Sec. 1,320. Every 
 
 such house erected after May fourteenth, eighteen hundred 
 and sixty-seven, or converted, shall have adequate chimney 
 for a stove, properly connected with one of said chimneys 
 for every family set of apartments. It shall have proper 
 conveniences and receptacles for ashes and rubbish. It 
 shall have water furnished in sufficient quantity at one or 
 more places on each floor, occupied or intended to be occu- 
 pied by one or more families; and all tenement house* 
 shall be provided with a like supply of water by the owners 
 thereof, whenever they shall be directed to do so by the 
 board of health. But a failure in the general supply of 
 water by the city authorities, shall not be construed to be 
 
UPON REAL ESTATE INTERESTS. -jy 
 
 a failure on the part of such owner, provided that proper 
 and suitable appliances to receive and distribute such water 
 are placed in said house. The board of health shall re- 
 quire all tenement houses to be so supplied. Every tene- 
 ment house shall have the floor of the cellar made water 
 tight; and the ceiling plastered, and when the house is 
 located over filled in ground, or over marshy ground, or 
 ground on which water lies, the cellar floor shall be covered 
 so as to effectually prevent evaporation or dampness. It 
 shall be the duty of the department of health to see that 
 the cellars of all tenement houses are so made or altered 
 as to comply with this section. Every such house erected 
 after May seventh, eighteen hundred and eighty-seven, or 
 converted, shall have the halls on each floor open directly 
 to the external air, with suitable windows, and shall have 
 no room or other obstruction at the end, unless sufficient 
 light or ventilation is otherwise provided for in said halls, 
 in a manner approved by the department of buildings. 
 The owner or lessee of every tenement or lodging house in 
 the city of New York shall keep a light burning in the hall- 
 way upon each floor of said house from sunset until lo P. 
 M. throughout the year. In every tenement house in the 
 said city in which there is a hallway or hallways with no 
 window opening from such hallway outside of said house, 
 a light shall be maintained by said owner or lessee in each 
 such hallway, between the hours of 8 A. M. and to P. M. 
 of each day, unless said hallway shall be otherwise suffi- 
 ciently lighted. The fire department of the city of New 
 York is hereby vested with authority to prescribe reason- 
 able regulations concerning such precautions as may be 
 necessary to prevent danger from fire arising from such 
 lights. 
 
 Overcrowding of tenement houses prohibited; house^ 
 
78 BEARING OF THE CHARTER 
 
 keeper in same required Sec. 1,321. Whenever it shall 
 
 be certified to the department of health by the sanitary- 
 superintendent or an assistant sanitary superintendent 
 that any tenement house or room therein, being with- 
 out sufficient ventilation, is so overcrowded that there 
 shall be afforded less than four hundred cubic feet of 
 air to each adult, and two hundred cubic feet of air to 
 each child under twelve years of age occupying such build- 
 ing or room, the said department shall issue an order re- 
 quiring the number of occupants of such building, or room, 
 to be reduced in accordance with this provision. When- 
 ever there shall be more than eight families living in any 
 tenement house, in which the owner thereof does not reside, 
 there shall be a janitor, housekeeper or some other respon- 
 sible person, who shall reside in the said house, and have 
 charge of the same, if the department of health shall so 
 require. Permits may be granted by the board of health 
 to the owners of lodging houses on compliance with the 
 rules and regulations of the sanitary code in the city of 
 New York, and the conditions of each permit which shall 
 be in writing. 
 
 The City Court of New York is continued in existence 
 by section 1345. This is the old "Marine Court," of New 
 York City, and is now continued only in the teiritory of the 
 old City, as it existed prior to June 6th, i895,)j;^j>a>^>8'\l,eiVV^ 
 tllfi..,goj;/»Hgii-of'MiHiti'a>M'atv)s. This omits all that was added 
 on 6th June, 1895, viz.: parts of the towns of Westchester, 
 Eastchester, Pelham ; that is, parts of the villages of 
 Wakefield, Eastchester, and Williamsbridge. These were 
 not under the jurisdiction of the City Court, and arc not 
 now. 
 
>JICIPAL COURT 
 DISTRICTS. 
 
 Borough of Bf 
 
UPON REAL ESTATE INTERESTS. 
 
 79 
 
 This seems to me a mistake. I think it would have been 
 better to have enlarged the territory of its jurisdiction, so 
 as to have covered all the Boroughs, the whole of the new 
 City. But there would be the inconveniences of travel to 
 overcome had that been done. 
 
 As far as real estate is concerned, the City Court never 
 had, and has not now, jurisdiction over that, except in 
 dispossess proceedings (the same as the district courts and 
 justices of the peace) and in causes in which title to land 
 comes in question (in the pleadings or in the course of the 
 trial) ; [in district courts and courts of justices of the 
 peace, when this happens — when a question of title arises 
 — the judge has to dismiss the suit. This is because they 
 
 use they Q 
 
 are not courts of record, and have no equity powerSj. 
 
 District Courts are abolisheck in the old City /f New // > 
 York, and so are justices of the peace in Brooklyn and i 
 
 Long island City. (Sec. 135^.) o/ 
 
 Justices of the Peace remain in Richmond County, and / 
 in the parts of Queens County included in the new City. 
 
 The riunicipal Court is the name of the new court 
 which takes the place of the old District Courts, etc. — 
 '* The Municipal Court of the City of New York." There 
 are to be twenty-three of these courts, or, rather, twenty- 
 three districts, in each of which sessions of this court are 
 to be held. 
 
 Borough of The Bronx — Sec. 1,359. ^"^ the borough of 
 The Bronx there shall be two districts, as follows: 
 
 I. The first district embracing the territory described in 
 
8o BEARING OF THE CHARTER 
 
 chapter 934 of the laws of 1895. That is the towns of West- 
 chester, Eastchester and Pelham, being parts of the villages 
 of Wakefield, Eastchester, and Williamsbridge. 
 
 2. The second district embracing the remainder of said 
 borough. 
 
 Borough of rianhattan — Sec. 1,360. In the borough of 
 Manhattan there shall be eleven districts, as follows: 
 
 1. The First district embraces the Third, Fifth and 
 Eighth wards of said borough of Manhattan, and all 
 that part of the First ward lying west of Broadway and 
 Whitehall street, including Nuttin or Governor's Island, 
 Bedloe's Island, Bucking or Ellis Island and the Oyster 
 islands. 
 
 2. The Second embraces the Second, Fourth, Sixth and 
 Fourteenth wards, and all that portion of the First ward 
 lying south and east of Broadway and Whitehall street. 
 
 3. The Third district embraces the Ninth and Fifteenth 
 wards. 
 
 4. The Fourth district embraces the Tenth and Seven- 
 teenth wards. 
 
 5. The Fifth district embraces the Seventh, Eleventh 
 and Thirteenth wards. 
 
 6. 'ihe Sixth district embraces the Eighteenth and 
 Twenty-first wards. 
 
 7. The Seventh district embraces the Nineteenth ward. 
 
 8. The Eighth district embraces the Sixteenth and 
 Twentieth wards, 
 
 9. The Ninth district embraces the Twelfth ward, except 
 that portion thereof which lies west of the center line of 
 Lenox or Sixth avenue and of the Harlem river north of 
 the terminus of Lenox avenue. 
 
 10. The Tenth district embraces the Twenty-second ward 
 and all that portion of the Twelfth ward which is bounded 
 
UPON REAL ESTATE INTERESTS. gl 
 
 on the north by the center line of One Hundred and Tenth 
 street, on the south by the center line of Eighty-sixth 
 street, on the east by the center line of Sixth avenue and 
 on the west by the North river, 
 
 II. The Eleventh district embraces that portion of the 
 Twelfth ward which lies north of the center line of West 
 One Hundred and Tenth street and west of the center line 
 of Lenox or Sixth avenue and of the Harlem river north of 
 the terminus of Lenox or Sixth avenue. 
 
 Borough of Brooklyn. — Sec. 1,361. In the borough of 
 Brooklyn there shall be five districts as follows: 
 
 1. The First district embraces the First, Second, Third, 
 Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Tenth and Twelfth wards. 
 
 2. The Second district embraces the Seventh, Eighth, 
 Ninth, Eleventh, Twentieth, Twenty-first, Twenty-second 
 and Twenty-third wards. 
 
 3. The Third district embraces the Thirteenth, Four- 
 teenth, Fifteenth, Sixteenth, Seventeenth, Eighteenth and 
 Nineteenth wards. 
 
 4. The Fourth district embrace? the Twenty-fourth 
 Twenty-fifth, Twenty-sixth, Twenty-seventh and Twenty- 
 eighth wards. 
 
 5. The Fifth district embraces the Twenty-ninth, Thir- 
 tieth, Thirty-first and Thirty-second wards. 
 
 Borough of Queens — Sec. 1,362. In the borough of 
 Queens there shall be three districts, as follows: 
 
 1. The First district embraces Ward One of said borough. 
 (Long Island City.) 
 
 2. The Second district embraces W^ards Two and Three 
 of said borough. (Newtown and Flushing.) 
 
 3. The Third district embraces Wards Four and Five of 
 said borough. (Jamaica and part of Hempstead.) 
 
82 BEARING OF THE CHARTER 
 
 Borough of Richmond. — Sec. 1,363. In the borough of 
 Richmond there shall be two districts, as follows: 
 
 1. The First district embraces Wards One and Three of 
 said borough. (Castleton and Northfield.) 
 
 2. The Second district embraces Wards, Two, Four and 
 Five of said borough. (Middletown, Southfield and West- 
 field.) 
 
 Dispossess or Summary Proceedings are to be brought 
 in these municipal courts, each case in the court within 
 whose district the real estate or a part of it is situated. 
 
 These Courts have jurisdiction in various other matters 
 also. (Sec. 1364.) 
 
 But they can not take cognizance of any civil action 
 where the title to real property comes in question (except 
 in dispossess proceedings aforesaid). (Sec. 1365.) And if 
 the question of title does not appear in the complaint, the 
 defendant can make an affidavit that it will come up in the 
 answer and can give a bond and remove it to the Supreme 
 Court. 
 
 These Courts are where the suits will be tried for the re- 
 covery of fines and penalties against you for breaking the 
 rules, known or unknown, of the Board of Health, and of 
 the Building Department, and of the Street Cleaning 
 Department, and for breaches of other ordinances and 
 rules. (Sec. 1370, Subdivision 5.) 
 
 The Location of each of these Municipal District Courts 
 is to be named by the Municipal Assembly within 30 days 
 after December 31st, 1897. (Sec. 1371.) 
 
UPON REAL ESTATE INTERESTS. 83 
 
 The rules of the Code of Civil Procedure relating to 
 contempt of Court apply to this Municipal Court, except 
 that a Judge of this Court can not be punished for con- 
 tempt for not proceeding with a suit. And a jury must 
 always be twelve men, not six. 
 
 Times and Places and Hours of holding these Munici- 
 pal District Courts are to be adopted by the board of all 
 the justices of these courts, before January 25th, and are 
 to be published in the City Record, and in one newspaper 
 published in each Borough, before February ist. (Sec. 1375.) 
 So you will know where to go for dispossess proceedings. 
 
 All suits pending in the District Courts and before 
 justices of the peace, on January 31st, 1898, are to be ad- 
 journed over to the Municipal District Court of their 
 respective districts, to February ist, 1898, or some day 
 following. (Sec. 1382.) 
 
 The Acquisition of Land for public purposes is gov- 
 erned by sections 1435 to 1448. As your interests in any 
 such proceedings require that you should retain a lawyer 
 to protect them, it is unnecessary to analyze all those 
 details in this hand-book intended for laymen. These 
 sections, 1435 ^o 1447, apply to acquisition of land by the 
 City for every purpose except for streets, avenues, parks, 
 water supply and wharves. (Sec. 1448.) 
 
 Maps or plans have to be prepared (and the agents of 
 the City are authorized to enter anywhere and everywhere 
 in the daytime to make surveys for such maps or plans) 
 Three Commissioners of Estimate have to be appointed in 
 
84 BEARING OF THE CHARTER 
 
 each case by the Supreme Court after ten days' notice pub- 
 lished in the City Record ; these commissioners have to 
 report to the court and the court can confirm it, or refer it 
 back again for modification, and thereafter confirm it. 
 
 The City at once becomes the owner, " seized in fee 
 simple absolute," on the final confirmation of the report. 
 
 The City may at once enter into possession of the 
 property, upon that final confirmation of the report, without 
 paying a ce?it. 
 
 All covenants, contracts or engagements between 
 landlords and tenants (or any other parties) relating to 
 that property shall, upon confirmation of such report, cease 
 and determine and be absolutely discharged according to law. 
 (Sec. 1438.) 
 
 Title may be vested in the City before confirmation 
 by the Court if the Department or Board that wants the 
 land feels in a hurry, and passes a resolution which states 
 that they want title to vest in the City four months from 
 the date of the filing of the oaths of the Commissioners of 
 Estimate. But in this case interest on the amount after- 
 wards awarded to the owners is to begin to run in their 
 favor from that date (four months after the filing of the 
 commissioner's oaths) ; and all leases and contracts about 
 that land cease and determine, and are discharged on that 
 date (when title vests in the City.) (Sec. 1439.) 
 
 These Commissioners of Estimate have to deposit their 
 report in the office of the Department or Board which is 
 conducting the proceeding, and give fifteen days' notice in 
 
UPON REAL ESTATE INTERESTS. 85 
 
 the ''City Record " of its presentation for confirmation, at 
 which time objections may be made to it. 
 
 The City shall pay for the land taken within ten 
 months after confirmation of the report, or from the day 
 the title vested if that was fixed by the department want- 
 ing it, under section 1438. Interest begins to run against 
 the City at the end of that ten months (in addition to the in- 
 terest allowed by section 1439, when the land has been 
 taken under section 1438.) (Sec. 1440.) 
 
 Owners who are Unknown, or who are Infants, or 
 of Unsound flind, are protected by the provisions of 
 section 1441. 
 
 Appeal may be taken within twenty days after notice 
 of the confirmation of the report, by any party who feels 
 aggrieved. (Sec. 1442.) But such an appeal will not stay 
 the proceedings, except only as to the particular piece of 
 property with which the appeal is concerned. 
 
 In case of death, resignation, insanity, disqualifica- 
 tion, refusal or neglect to act, or of removal of any such 
 commissioner, the Court can appoint a new one, under 
 section 1443. 
 
 The Powers of the Commissioners, and their Fees 
 and Expenses, are provided for by section 1444. 
 
 Amendments of Defects or informalities may be made 
 by the Court at any time, on such notice as it deems 
 proper. (Sec. 1445.) 
 
 A Commissioner may be removed by the Court, in 
 its judgment, at any time. (Sec. 1445.) 
 
86 BEARING OF THE CHARTER 
 
 The Corporation Counsel must appear and protect 
 the City in all such proceedings. (Sec. 1446.) 
 The Source of Payment of Awards and Expenses 
 
 is stated and detailed in section 1447. 
 
 The use of the streets by foot-passengers, vehicles and 
 animals is to be governed and regulated by ordinances to be 
 passed by the Municipal Assembly. And until new ordi- 
 nances are passed, the laws and ordinances now applicable 
 in the different parts of the new city are to govern. (Sec. 
 
 1,454.) 
 
 There are over 1,100 miles of paved streets and several 
 hundred more of unpaved streets in Greater New York. 
 
 Law of the Road is ''Keep to the right." Sec. 1,455. 
 And another rule of the road is that if you pass a vehicle 
 going the same way, you should pass it on the left side. 
 Friends in the rural districts can often tell a "Yorker" from 
 his disregard of this rule; he will so often try to drive past 
 another wagon on the right side instead of on the left as he 
 ought. This is also the correct rule for foot passengers 
 meeting, ''Keep to the right." It is noticeable, however, 
 that great numbers of people stick to the old English rule: 
 "The rule of the road is a paradox quite. 
 When you go right you go wrong, and when 
 you go left you go right." 
 
 Don't let your servant or employe throw any ashes, 
 garbage, dirt or paper in the street, or you'll be liable to 
 ten dollars or ten days. 
 
 So, too, if you or your employe should leave a wagon or 
 
UPON REAL ESTATE INTERESTS. 87 
 
 cart, unharnessed, upon any street, or any box or barrel or 
 bale of merchandise upon the sidewalk. Sec. 1,456. 
 
 License for Amusements or Public Exhibitions. If you 
 
 lease or let your building, or part of your building, to be 
 used for any theatrical performance, or amusement, or for 
 acrobats, etc., or if you consent to your tenant's using the 
 premises for any such purpose, without such license having 
 been previously obtained, you are liable to $100 fine. (Sec. 
 1,473.) Fortunately this does not apply to private theatri- 
 cals and the exhibitions given for charitable, religious, 
 masonic, or educational purposes. (Sec. 1,480.) 
 
 The **City Record," the official journal of the City of 
 New York, is to be published daily (Sundays and legal holi- 
 days excepted). It is to be controlled by a board com- 
 posed of the Mayor, Corporation Counsel, and Comptroller, 
 who appoint the manager called the Supervisor of the City 
 Record. (Sec. 1,526.) 
 
 Barber shops may be open on Sunday until one o'clock 
 in the afternoon hereafter, in all of the territory of the 
 City of New York as they have been permitted since 1895 
 in the old city. (Sec. 1,535.) 
 
 The Territory of Grants and Franchises is not extended 
 to cover the territory of the new City, however, where such 
 franchises and grants were given originally for the terri- 
 tory of the old city. (Sec. 1,538.) 
 
 Nor is the Price of Gas in Richmond and Queens coun- 
 ties affected by this Charter. 
 
 Dedication of Streets and Highways to the Public will 
 
88 BEARING OF THE CHARTER 
 
 not become effectual or binding hereafter until the map or 
 plot has been submitted by the owner and approved by the 
 Board of Public Improvements. But upon such approval 
 the title of the owners to all streets, avenues and public 
 places designated on such map or plot will immediately vest 
 in fee clear of all incumbrances in the City of New York, 
 in trust for the designated uses. (Sec. 1,540.) 
 
 A Quorum of a Board in any Departmentof the city gov- 
 ernment, and also of the Board or the Revision of Assess- 
 ments, is a majority of the membersof the Board. (Sec. 1541.) 
 
 Ail City Real Estate sold must be sold at auction 
 (except land under water). (Sec. 1553.) 
 
 The Wards of Brooklyn are to continue with the 
 boundaries and numbers to be the Wards of the Borough 
 of Brooklyn. (Sec. 1577.) 
 
 The Wards of old New York and North of the Harlem 
 River continue with their boundaries and numbers to be 
 the Wards of the Boroughs of Manhattan and The Bronx, 
 respectively. (Sec. 1578.) 
 
 Towns and Villages in Richmond County, the five towns 
 and all the villages, are abolished. (Sec. 1579.) 
 
 The Wards in the Borough of Richmond, are : One 
 (old town of Castleton), Two (old Middletown), Three 
 (old Northfield), Four (old Southfield), and Five (old 
 Westfield). (Sec. 1580.) 
 
 Towns and Villages in Queens County; the three 
 towns, and all the villages in the part added to Greater 
 New York, are abolished. (Sec. 1581.) 
 
UPON REAL ESTATE INTERESTS. 89 
 
 The Wards in the Borough of Queens, are: One (Long 
 Island City), Two (the former town of Newtown), Three 
 (the old town of Flushing), Four (the old town of Jamaica), 
 and Five (that part of the town of Hempstead included in 
 the new City, The City of New York.) 
 
 But the Supervisors of those towns in office January 
 ist, 1898, are to serve out their respective terms as super- 
 visors and as members of the Board of Supervisors of 
 Queens County. (Section 1581.) 
 
 Bear in mind that the old towns of Flushing, Newtown 
 and Jamaica are respectively larger than the old villages 
 of the same name. 
 
 Boundaries of the Wards may be changed, and new 
 Wards may be created hereafter by the Municipal Assem- 
 bly. (Sec. 1582.) 
 
 The Proportion of the Debts of Queens County and of 
 the Town of Hempstead that are to be assumed by the 
 new City, are to be determined under the provisions of 
 section 1588 and section 1589, respectively ; and the ap- 
 portionment of the amounts of State taxes and of the 
 school moneys, for each of the Counties consolidated, are 
 to be determined under sections 1593 to 1597. 
 
 Old Franchises and Grants are not affected by this 
 new charter, but the grants of franchises or properties or 
 rights of any nature, in, to or concerning property of any 
 character, or other grants made by the Nicoll's charter, 
 the Dongan charter, the Cornbury charter, the Montgom- 
 erie charter, by the Confirmation Act, passed October 14, 
 
90 UPON REAL ESTATE INTERESTS. 
 
 1732, or by any other Act or charter granted by the State 
 of New York, to the cities, municipalities and public cor- 
 porations consolidated by this new charter, are ratified, 
 granted, confirmed and extended to the City of New York, 
 as constituted by this Act. (Sec. 1617.) 
 
 A huge riachine — The careful study which I have 
 been obliged to give to this new Charter, in order to write 
 this monograph upon its Bearing upon Real Estate Inter- 
 ests, has impressed me with the comprehensive, broad, and 
 thorough manner in which the Charter has been drafted, 
 following a well-defined plan, and with an eye to every 
 detail, forgetting nothing necessary, deftly fitting all parts 
 together, it is a monument to the ability of the man who 
 drafted it, and of the men who may have amended it into 
 its final shape. 
 
 But it is an instrument of despotic power. As a citizen 
 whose family has been identified with the City since its 
 settlement, in A. D. 1623, as an American conscious of his 
 own rights, and with a regard for the rights of others, I 
 look forward to the effects and results of this one-man 
 power, wielding the power of an irresponsible majority, 
 with the gravest anxiety for individual rights and for civic 
 honor. This Charter will not work by the power of the 
 people governing the Mayor. Some party bound together 
 for spoils will elect the Mayor, and will perpetuate itself : 
 it is too much to expect anything else from human nature. 
 
 And Real Estate will foot the bills. 
 
 GEO. W. VAN SICLEN. 
 
ANALYTICAL INDEX 
 
 By GKO. W. van SICLEN. 
 
 Page. 
 ACCIDENT from open hoistway, not less than $1,000 
 
 damages 
 
 Accounts of Commissioners of Buildings 
 
 ACQUIRING lands, ordinances for, by Municipal Assembly, 
 title to land by Board of Public Improvements 
 
 Actions against City must be in Supreme Court 
 
 Additional waterworks 
 
 Address of tenement owner to be filed 
 
 Adjoining owner's consent for stand or booth 
 
 Administrative Departments 
 
 Administrators must file notice of tenement house or 
 lodging house going to heirs 
 
 Ad\ertisements along streets 
 
 Aldermen 
 
 All City real estate sold at auction 
 
 Alteration of buildings must conform to Sanitary Code... 
 
 Amusements, places of, regulated 
 
 Analytical Index to the Charter, Van Siclen's 
 
 Annual estimates of Commissioners of Buildings 
 
 Appeal in 20 days from condemnation of land 
 
 Appeals from decisions of Commissioners of Buildings.... 
 
 Applications, record of, to be kept by Commr's of Buildings. 
 
 APPOINTMENT of Commissioners of Buildings 
 
 of subordinates by Commr's of Buildings 
 
 Areas 
 
 ARREARS, Bureau for collection of Assessments and 
 
 fees for searches for 
 
 of Personal Taxes, Bureau for collection of 
 
 on June 1st, water rents and taxes become 
 
 Arhes, separate receptacle from garbage 
 
 Assent of Comptroller necessary to purchase of any real 
 
 estate by City 15 
 
 Assessed valuation, correction of 49 
 
 ASSESSMENT becomes a lien as soon as list is filed 16 
 
 for deepening water in docks 53 
 
 for local improvements, no suit can be brought to 
 
 vacate 53 
 
 for repairing, none inside of old New York 52 
 
 list, copy to be filed in Borough 16 
 
 lists to be filed in Comptroller's office 1(5 
 
 must have votes of three-fourths of all elected 6 
 
 notice of confirmation of 55 
 
 not to exceed more than half fair value 52 
 
 office in each Borough lt> 
 
 
 45 
 
 
 43 
 
 
 9 
 
 
 24 
 
 
 19 
 
 
 8 
 
 
 69 
 
 
 9 
 
 
 12 
 
 
 70 
 
 9, 
 
 25 
 
 
 7 
 
 
 88 
 
 
 58 
 
 10, 
 
 87 
 
 
 67 
 
 
 43 
 
 
 85 
 
 40, 
 
 41 
 
 
 44 
 
 
 36 
 
 
 39 
 
 10, 
 
 25 
 
 
 15 
 
 
 10 
 
 
 18 
 
 
 55 
 
 62, 69, 
 
 7«) 
 
92 
 
 ANALYTICAL INDEX. 
 
 Page. 
 
 ASSESSMENTS and Arrears, Bureau for collection of 15- 
 
 and taxes unpaid in Kings, Queens and Richmond prior 
 
 to January 1st, 1898 51 
 
 Board of Taxes and 14^ 
 
 Board of Revision of 5iS 
 
 Department of Taxes and 49 
 
 fees for searches for 10 
 
 for local improvements 26, 52 
 
 notice of completion of b'Z 
 
 unpaid, interest at seven per cent 55- 
 
 unpaid, sales for, after three years 55 
 
 Attempted service by Board of Health Is suflacient to 
 
 bind you 59 
 
 Auctioneers must get license and give bond &■ 
 
 Auditing Bureau 15 
 
 Award to bidder )iot the lowest 26 
 
 Avnings and awning posts 9, 25 
 
 Bakeries, transoms, windows, doors in (jJJ 
 
 Banners across streets 9 
 
 Barber shops open Sunday 87' 
 
 BATHS, floating 47 
 
 public 33 
 
 BOARD OF Aldermen 7 
 
 »i • ■ Buildings 14, 34 
 
 can make new rules 34 
 
 Docks 14 
 
 Education 14 
 
 Health 14, 57 
 
 can acquire right of way for drains tKi 
 
 can assign the bill against you for expenses it 
 
 incurred til) 
 
 * can cut in and collect your rent 59, 65, Gt> 
 
 can delegate its powers 60' 
 
 may repair buildings 57 
 
 Public Charities 14 
 
 Public Imxtrovements 23 
 
 must first approve of any and all public work 23 
 
 powers of 22, 24 
 
 to prepare ordinances 24 
 
 Revision of Assessments 52. 
 
 Taxes and Assessments 14 
 
 decisions reviewable by certiorari 51 
 
 Boarding house keepers must report sickness 65 
 
 Boards, Local 29 
 
 BOND of Collector of Assessments and Arrears is a lien 
 
 on real estate Itt 
 
 cf Receiver of Taxes is a lien on real estate 16 
 
 Bends for only .'?10 each to be issued by City 16 
 
 Bone boiling 10 
 
 Booths within stoop lines tf 
 
 BOROUGH Presidents 1» 
 
 rates of taxes different in each 60 
 
ANALYTICAL INDEX. 93 
 
 Page. 
 
 BOROUGHS 3 
 
 Boulevards, ordinances for, by Municipal Assembly 9 
 
 Boundaries of Wards may be changed ^ 
 
 BRIDGES, fare on 2i 
 
 ordinances for, by Municipal Assembly 9 
 
 BROOKLYN Bridge, fare on 25 
 
 1898 taxes levied in 1897 49 
 
 Justices of the Peace abolished 79 
 
 BUILDING Code to be provided 35, 38 
 
 Department 36 to 44 
 
 permits must also be filed with Tax Department 50 
 
 BUILDINGS, Board of 14, 34 
 
 Commissioners of 34, 36 
 
 erected or altered, governed by Sanitary Code 58 
 
 old, may be torn down 71 
 
 repair of, by Board of Health 57 
 
 BUREAU, Auditing 15 
 
 Chamberlain's 15 
 
 for collection of arrears of Personal Taxes 18 
 
 Assessments and Arrears 18 
 
 City Revenues and Markets 15 
 
 Taxes 15 
 
 Bureaus of the Finance Department 15 
 
 Buyer of tenement or lodging house must file notice of 
 
 transfer 70 
 
 Canal boat piers 47 
 
 Ceilings in tenement houses 76, 77 
 
 CELLAR defined 68 
 
 floor in tenement houses 76, 77 
 
 CELLARS and basements 68 
 
 and vaults 69 
 
 and yards 61 
 
 Certiorari to review decisions of Board of Taxes and Assess- 
 ments 51 
 
 Cesspool 68 
 
 CHAMBERLAIN 15 
 
 to pay Comptroller's warrants 15 
 
 Change of grade after 1st January, 1898, liability for 53 
 
 Charter takes effect when 2 
 
 Chemicals 46 
 
 Cb:mney afire 45 
 
 Chimneys in tenement houses 76 
 
 Cisterns 10, 25 
 
 City bonds for only $10 each to be issued 16 
 
 CITY CLERK appointed 8 
 
 his signature necessary 6 
 
 City Court of New York 78 
 
 CITY has ten months to pay for land taken 85 
 
 leases entered into by Comptroller 15 
 
 may agree with owners on cost, damages and benefit 
 
 without condemnation proceedings 54 
 
94 
 
 ANALYTICAL INDEX. 
 
 Page. 
 
 
 84 
 
 
 •J 
 
 54. 
 
 S4 
 
 
 16 
 
 
 88 
 
 . 5, 
 
 87 
 
 
 ly 
 
 
 25 
 
 
 21 
 
 
 58 
 
 
 15 
 
 
 15 
 
 
 10 
 
 
 69 
 
 
 46 
 
 
 85 
 
 31, 
 
 32 
 
 
 33 
 
 
 32 
 
 34, 
 
 36 
 
 may at once enter into possession of land condemned 
 
 without paying a cent 
 
 of New York, no longer 
 
 owns land at once, on filing report of Commissioners 
 
 in opening streets or parks 
 
 property, how sold or leased 
 
 real estate must be sold at auction 
 
 CITY RECORD 
 
 Claims against the City 
 
 Cleaning streets 
 
 Closing street to be recommended by Local Board 
 
 Code, Sanitary 
 
 COLLECTION OF Assessments and Arrears, Bureau of. . 
 
 Taxes, Bureau of 
 
 Ccllector of Assessments and Arrears, fees for searches... 
 
 COMBUSTIBLE articles not to be stored in tenements 
 
 vegetable products 
 
 COMMISSIONER OF Estimate may be removed by Court. . 
 
 Highways 
 
 Sewers 
 
 Street Improvements in 23d and 24th Wards abolished. . 
 
 COMMISSIONERS OF Buildings. 
 
 appointment and removal of subor- 
 dinates by 39 
 
 decisions of 40, 41 
 
 duties of 39 
 
 general powers under existing laws.. 37 
 
 power to vary the provisions of law 42 
 
 to keep record of all applications... 44 
 
 Deeds 10 
 
 Estimates for lands taken by the City 84 
 
 Committees' recommendations all to be published in City 
 
 Record 4 
 
 Completion of assessments, notice of 52 
 
 COMPTROLLER enters into all leases to the City 15 
 
 to pay contractors 2« 
 
 COMPTROLLER'S assent necessary to purchase of any real 
 
 estate by City 15 
 
 warrants to be paid by Chamberlain 15 
 
 Confirmation of assessment, notice of 55 
 
 Consent of adjoining owner for stands or booths l> 
 
 Constructing streets 24, 32 
 
 Construction of tenement houses 71 to 75 
 
 Contagious diseases must be reported 58 
 
 Continuation of existing Building Laws 38 
 
 Contractor can not be let off from a fine or penalty 26 
 
 Contractors, how paid by Comptroller 26 
 
 Contractor's time extended only by unanimous vote of 
 
 Board of Public Improvements 26 
 
 CONTRACTS between landlord and tenant cease when City 
 
 takes land 84 
 
ANALYTICAL INDEX. 
 
 95 
 
 •when City takes title 
 
 lor public work and supplies 
 
 Copy of assessment list to be filed in its Borough 
 
 "Corporeal hereditament" defined 
 
 CORPORATION COUNSEL 
 
 appears for City in appeals from condemnation pro- 
 ceedings 
 
 Correct name of the City 
 
 Correction of assessed valuation 
 
 Cotton, storage of 
 
 Council 
 
 Council Districts 
 
 COUNTY debts, no more 
 
 organizations not abolished 
 
 Court, City 
 
 Municipal 
 
 Court houses 
 
 Covenants between landlords and tenants cease when City 
 
 takes land 
 
 Crosswalks 
 
 Curbing sidewalks 
 
 Curbs 
 
 Dangerous buildings and places 
 
 DEATH from open hoistways, not less than $5,(X»0 damages. 
 
 or disability of Commissioner of Estimate 
 
 DEBTS of counties consolidated, no more 
 
 of municipal corporations consolidated, no more 
 
 DECISIONS of Board of Taxes and Assessments reviewed 
 by certiorari 
 
 of Commissioners of Buildings 
 
 Dedication of streets and highways to the public 
 
 Dteds belonging to City to be kept by City Clerk 
 
 Deepening water in docks, assessment for 
 
 Delegation of its powers by Board of Health 
 
 DEPARTMENT OP Buildings 
 
 Docks and Ferries 
 
 Highways 
 
 Street Cleaning 
 
 Taxes and Assessments 
 
 Water Supply 
 
 DEPARTMENTS, Administrative 
 
 all reports of, to be published in City Record 
 
 Heads of 
 
 main oflBces of, shall be in Manhattan 
 
 Developed or devolved? 
 
 Devisee of tenement or lodging house must file notice of 
 
 becoming owner 
 
 Different tax rates in each Borough 
 
 Digging down lots 
 
 Dimensions of rooms in tenement houses 
 
 DISPOSSESS PROCEEDINGS in City Court 
 
 in Municipal Court 
 
 7 
 
 Page. 
 OS 
 
 25 
 16 
 30 
 18 
 
 1 
 
 49 
 
 46 
 
 7 
 
 7 
 
 3 
 
 50 
 
 78 
 
 79 
 
 10, 82 
 
 84 
 
 9, 24, 26 
 
 21, 26, 32 
 
 9, 24 
 
 59 
 
 45 
 
 85 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 51 
 
 40, 41 
 
 87 
 
 6 
 
 53 
 
 60 
 
 36 to 44 
 
 46 
 
 82 
 
 28 
 
 12 
 
 5 
 
 13, 14, l.j 
 
 28 
 
 70 
 50 
 22, 32 
 75 
 79 
 82 
 
96 
 
 ANALYTICAL INDEX. 
 
 Page. 
 
 DISTRICT COURTS abolished 79 
 
 could not try title to land 79 
 
 suits pending in January 1st, 1898, to be adjourned to 
 
 Municipal District Courts 83 
 
 DISTRICTS OF Local Improvements 20 
 
 Municipal Court 79 
 
 in Brooklyn 81 
 
 in Manhattan 80, 81 
 
 in Queens 81 
 
 in Richmond 82 
 
 in The Bronx 79, 80 
 
 Dockage rates 48 
 
 DOCKS 46 
 
 and Ferries, Department of 46 
 
 and piers, private rights of owners of 12 
 
 Board of 14 
 
 deepening water in, assessment for 53 
 
 Fire Department 47 
 
 for Street Cleaning Department 46 
 
 ordinances for, by Municipal Assembly 9 
 
 set apart for garden produce 48 
 
 Domestic animals not to be kept in tenements or lodging 
 
 houses 69 
 
 Doors from bakeries closed 69 
 
 Double taxation, to prevent 50 
 
 Drainage plans are to be filed 27 
 
 Drinking hydrants 28 
 
 Driveways, ordinances for, by Municipal Assembly 9 
 
 Drug stores 69 
 
 DUTIES OF Commissioners of Buildings 39 
 
 owners, lessees and occupants 61 
 
 "Easement" defined 30 
 
 Education, Board of 14 
 
 1807, Taxes for 4 
 
 Electric wires, laying and inspecting 25 
 
 Electricity, inspecting, etc 25, 33, 34 
 
 Encroachments upon streets 25 
 
 "Equitable estate" defined 31 
 
 ERECTION OF any City building 15,25 
 
 new buildings, governed by Sanitary Code....'. 58 
 
 •'Estate" defined 30, 31 
 
 Every owner, part owner, person interested, lessee, ten- 
 ant, and occupant is personally liable for expenses 
 
 of Board of Health 65 
 
 Examinations by Board of Health 60 
 
 Excavations in streets for public purposes 24 
 
 Exclusive piers for canal boats 47 
 
 Executor must file notice of tenement or lodging house 
 
 left by will 70 
 
 Exempt from taxation, what is 50 
 
 Existing Building Laws, continuation and repeal of 38 
 
 Ex-Mayors belong to Council 7 
 
ANALYTICAL INDEX. 
 
 97 
 
 Page. 
 
 Expenditures of Commissioners of Buildings 43 
 
 EXPENSE OF LOCAL IMPROVEMENT, not to extend 
 
 beyond limits of district 22 
 
 to be assessed in proportion to benefit 22 
 
 EXPENSES INCURRED BY HEALTH DEPARTMENT 
 
 ARE A LIEN like an assessment 59, 65 
 
 on the rent due 60, 65 
 
 Explosives, storage of 46 
 
 EXTENDING street to be recommended by Local Board 21 
 
 waterworks 24 
 
 Fair value, not more than half to be assessed 52 
 
 Fare on Brooklyn Bridge and other bridges 25 
 
 Faf rendering 10 
 
 FEES FOR certificates of assessments and arrears 10 
 
 searches for assessments and arrears 10 
 
 Fences, partition 10 
 
 Fencing vacant lots 22, 32 
 
 FERRIES, Department of Docks and 46 
 
 ordinances for, by Muncipal Assembly y 
 
 Ferry franchises and leases 8 
 
 File your City Records 5 
 
 FILLING IN lands 61 
 
 sunken lots, by Local Board 22, 32 
 
 Fine of $250 for violating order of Board of Health 62 
 
 FIRE Commissioners may enter buildings 46 
 
 Department 44 
 
 piers an docks 47 
 
 escape 68 
 
 hydrants 28 
 
 to be kept clear of ice and snow by adjoining owner. 45 
 
 in chimney 45 
 
 Firemen, volunteer, retained as paid 45 
 
 Fireworks, storage of 46 
 
 Flagging sidewalks 21, 24, 32 
 
 Flags across streets 9 
 
 Floating baths 47 
 
 Form of rail for surface railroads 32 
 
 Former assessments 3 
 
 Fountains, public 10 
 
 FRANCHISE must be advertised twenty days 11 
 
 must have votes of three-fourths of all elected 6, 11 
 
 not for more than 25 years hereafter 10 
 
 FRANCHISES and grants are not affected by new charter. 89 
 
 for ferries 8 
 
 for street railways 8 
 
 only granted by ordinance 10 
 
 territory of, not extended so as to cover new City 87 
 
 Free access for officers to tenement and lodging houses ... 70 
 
 Fruit stands 9 
 
 FRYER'S "LAWS RELATING TO BUILDINGS" 35 
 
 GARBAGE 33 
 
 separate receptacle from ashes 62, 69 
 
98 
 
 ANALYTICAL INDEX. 
 
 Page. 
 
 Garden produce, docks set apart for 48 
 
 GAS, price in Richmond and Queens not affected by this 
 
 charter 87 
 
 inspecting, etc 25, 33, 34 
 
 in tenement houses 76, 77 
 
 pipes, laying 25 
 
 GENERAL powers of Commissioners of Buildings under 
 
 existing laws 37 
 
 School fund 56 
 
 Get a lawyer 54 
 
 GRADE, liability for change after 1st January, 1898 53 
 
 may be changed 27 
 
 of old street to follow old maps or plans 26 
 
 of street may be raised for proper drainage 27 
 
 used for 20 years is its surface 27 
 
 original new, after 1st January, 1898, no liability.... 53 
 
 Grading streets 21, 24, 26, 32 
 
 GRANTS and franchises not affected by new charter 89 
 
 territory of, not extended so as to cover new City 87 
 
 of City property signed by City Clerk 6 
 
 of land under water restricted 48 
 
 to City of lands under water 11 
 
 Guide to Buyers and Sellers of Raal Estate, Van Siclen's.. 31 
 
 Gunpowder, storage of 46 
 
 Gutters 9, 24, 26, 32, 33 
 
 Half fair value at most to be assessed 52 
 
 Halls , 67 
 
 Handbills along streets 9, 25 
 
 Harbor 46 
 
 HARLEM RIVER Improvement 17 
 
 time extended for improving lands adjacent to 48 
 
 Hatchways must be inclosed 58 
 
 Hay, storage of 46 
 
 Head of a Department may reject bids 26 
 
 Heads of Departments 8 
 
 Health, Board of 15, 57 
 
 Health Department's proceedings all presumed to be just 
 
 and legal 65 
 
 Heirs must file notice of tenement or lodging house be- 
 coming theirs 70 
 
 Height of buildings 8 
 
 Hempstead debt to be apportioned 89 
 
 Hereafter erected houses must comply with all re- 
 quirements 71 
 
 "Hereditament" defined 30 
 
 HIGHWAYS, Commissioner of 32 
 
 dedication of, to the public 87 
 
 Department of 32 
 
 Hoistways must be closed daily; $50 fine 45 
 
 Horse troughs 9, 25 
 
 Hours of holding Municipal DIctrict Courts 83 
 
 Housekeeper required in tenement house 78 
 
ANALYTICAL INDEX. 99 
 
 Page. 
 
 Houses hereafter erected 71 
 
 Ho-w Comptroller to pay contractors 26 
 
 How to bring about a local improrement 21 
 
 Huge machine, a 90 
 
 HYDRANTS 10, 25, 28 
 
 fire, to be kept clear of ice and snow by adjoining 
 
 owner 45 
 
 IMPROVEMENTS, assessments for local 52 
 
 Districts of Local 20 
 
 Improving lands adjacent to Harlem river, time for, 
 
 extended 48 
 
 Inalienable, the City's water front and property 10 
 
 ''Incorporeal hereditament" defined 30 
 
 Incumbrances, removal of 32 
 
 Index to the Charter, Van Siclen's Analytical 67 
 
 Infant owners of land taken by City 85 
 
 Infected house may be torn down 71 
 
 Infectious diseases, notice to be given 70 
 
 Information to be given of infectious disease 70 
 
 Inspecting gas, electricity, meters, wires 25 
 
 Inspection twice a year of tenement and lodging houses. .. 70 
 Intention to serve you by Board of Health is enough to 
 
 bind you if service only attempted 59 
 
 INTEREST at 7 per cent, on unpaid assessments 55 
 
 on land taken by City begins to run from confirmation 
 
 of report or taking title 84 
 
 Iron shutters must be closed daily; .$.50 fine 45 
 
 Job over .$1,000 must be by ordinance and advertised 26 
 
 Judgment declaring a nuisance is a lien on real estate.... 66 
 
 June 1st, water rents and taxes become arrears 55 
 
 Jurisdiction of Commissioners of Buildings 36 
 
 Just and legal, everything Health Board does is presumed 
 
 to be 65 
 
 Justices' court can not try title to land 79 
 
 JUSTICES OF THE PEACE abolished in Brooklyn and 
 
 Long Island City 79 
 
 remain in Richmond and Queens (except L. I. City) .... 79 
 
 Keep your City Record on file 5 
 
 Kings Co. unpaid taxes and assessments prior to 1st 
 
 January, 1898 51 
 
 LAND adjacent to wharf is "wharf property." 47 
 
 for public purposes, acquisition of 83, 84 
 
 und^r water, grants of, restricted 48 
 
 no patent of, except to City or adjoining owner 12 
 
 LANDS adjacent to Harlem river, time for improving 
 
 extended 48 
 
 ceded to U. S. Government 17 
 
 heretofore sold and bid in for taxes or assessments 
 
 by any village, town or city shall belong to the new 
 
 City 56 
 
 not to be filled in with garbage, etc 61 
 
lOO 
 
 ANALYTICAL INDEX. 
 
 under water, grants of to City 
 
 owned by the State 
 
 Lateral sewer, construction to be recommended by Local 
 
 Board 
 
 Law of the road 
 
 Lawyer, get a 
 
 LAYING crosswalks 
 
 gas pipes, electric wires, etc 
 
 sidewalks 
 
 surface railroad tracks 
 
 water pipes, ordinances for 
 
 Lease of any property of the City 
 
 LEASES cease when City takes title to condemned land. . 
 
 ferry 
 
 of any property to the City 
 
 of City property, signed by City Clerk 
 
 to the City 
 
 Legal and just, everything Health Department does is pre- 
 sumed to be 
 
 "Legal estate" defined 
 
 LESSEE liable personally for expenses of Board of Health 
 [so is owner] 
 
 must clean tenement as often as Board of Health orders. 
 
 Lessees' duties 
 
 License for amusements, etc 
 
 Licensing vaults under sidewalks 
 
 LIEN as soon as list is filed, assessment becomes 
 
 on real estate, bonds of Receiver of Taxes, and of 
 
 Collector of Assessments and Arrears 
 
 LIGHTING each Borough, separate contracts for 
 
 streets and public places 
 
 Liquor stores 
 
 LOCAL BOARD cannot incur expenditures 
 
 in each District 
 
 meetings 
 
 pow ers of 
 
 quorum 
 
 LOCAL IMPROVEMENT, assessments for 
 
 Districts 
 
 how to bring one about 
 
 LOCATION OF Municipal District Courts 
 
 old streets to follow old maps 
 
 LODGING HOUSE 
 
 keepers must report sickness 
 
 owner notified by posting notice on the house 
 
 to be inspected twice a year 
 
 transfer to be filed by both seller and buyer and by 
 
 devisee, executor, heirs, administrators 
 
 Long Island City Justices of the peace abolished 
 
 LOTS, digging down 
 
 fencing vacant 
 
 Piling in 
 
 Page. 
 11 
 40 
 
 21 
 
 86 
 54 
 
 22, 24 
 25 
 24 
 32 
 24 
 15 
 
 55, 84 
 
 8 
 
 15 
 
 6 
 
 17 
 
 31 
 
 65 
 
 16 
 
 
 16 
 
 
 34 
 
 
 25 
 
 
 69 
 
 
 22 
 
 
 20 
 
 
 21 
 
 20, 
 
 22 
 
 
 21 
 
 26, 
 
 52 
 
 
 20 
 
 
 21 
 
 
 82 
 
 
 26 
 
 66, 
 
 67 
 
 
 65 
 
 
 70 
 
 
 70 
 
 
 70 
 
 
 79 
 
 22, 
 
 32 
 
 22, 
 
 32 
 
 22, 
 
 32 
 
ANALYTICAL INDEX. loi 
 
 Page. 
 
 Lowest bidder to have job (but not always) 26 
 
 Machine, a huge 90 
 
 Made land adjacent to wharf is "wharf property" 47 
 
 Main oflBces of Departments shall be in Manhattan 28 
 
 Majority clause 51 
 
 Manufactories must burn their own smoke 58 
 
 MAP of Council Districts, to face page 14 
 
 of Local Improvement Districts, Brooklyn, to face page. 30 
 
 Manhattan and The Bronx, to face page 30 
 
 ot Municipal Court Districts, Brooklyn, to face page 78 
 
 Manhattan and The Bronx, to face page 78 
 
 MAP or plan of parts of City unmapped 24 
 
 to be completed by President of Board of Public Im- 
 provements 26 
 
 MAPS and plans are to be filed 27 
 
 ©r plans of old City, Brooklyn and Long Island City to 
 
 remain the maps of streets 26 
 
 Market property can only be sold or leased for markets. . 17 
 
 MARKETS 16,25,47 
 
 Bureau of City Revenue and 15 
 
 ordinances for, by Municipal Assembly 9 
 
 MAYOR 12 
 
 cannot be re-elected for uexi succeeding term 12 
 
 MAYOR'S messages all to be published in City Record... 4 
 
 veto 6 
 
 Meetings of Local Board 21 
 
 Members of Council 7 
 
 Messages of Mayor, all to be published in City Record... 4 
 
 Meters, inspecting gas and electric 25, 33 
 
 Minutes belonging to City to be kept by City Clerk 6 
 
 MODIFICATION OF existing ordinances, rules, regulations. 8 
 
 order of Board of Health 59 
 
 Mortgagees are to be notified of sales for taxes 56 
 
 MUNICIPAL ASSEMBLY 7 
 
 cannot enter directly into any contract whatever 23 
 
 must first approve of any and all public work 23 
 
 must meet once a month 6 
 
 Municipal corporations, consolidated, no more debts of the. . 4 
 
 Municipal Court 79 
 
 MUNICIPAL DISTRICT COURTS 79 to 82 
 
 location 82 
 
 suits to come January 1st, 1898, from old District 
 
 Courts 83 
 
 times, places, hours 83 
 
 Muniments of City to be kept by City Clerk 6 
 
 Name of every owner of tenement to be filed 69 
 
 Name of the City 1 
 
 Naming of streets 9 
 
 Necessary, City Clerk's signature 6 
 
 New building must conform to Sanitary Code 58 
 
 New school houses 56 
 
I02 ANALYTICAL INDEX. 
 
 Page. 
 
 Newspaper stands a 
 
 NEW YORK city (old city), 1897 Uxes levied in 1897 49 
 
 no assessments can be laid for repairing in 52 
 
 No assessment without written estimate, etc 23 
 
 No franchise hereafter for over 25 years 10 
 
 No liability to owners for originally establishing a grade 
 
 after 1st January, 1898 53 
 
 No more county debts 3 
 
 No more debts of municipal corporations consolidated.... 4 
 No patent of land under water except to City or adjoining 
 
 owner 12 
 
 No suit can be brought to vacate assessment for local im- 
 provement 53 
 
 Not accepted by old city of New York, charter 2 
 
 Not "City of New York" 2 
 
 Not "Greater New York" 1 
 
 Not less than .$1,(X)0 damages for injury from open 
 
 hoistway 45 
 
 Not less than $5,000 damages for death from open hoistway. 4R 
 
 Not more than half fair value ever to be assessed 52 
 
 NOTICE OF completion of assessments 52 
 
 confirmation of assessments 55 
 
 expiration of time to redeem from tax sale 56 
 
 Notices served on owners of tenement and lodging house 
 
 by posting them on house 70 
 
 Noxious business 10 
 
 NUISANCE 63 
 
 injunction may be granted in suit against 66 
 
 judgment declaring, is a lien on real estate 66 
 
 Numbering houses 9 
 
 Obstructions in streets 25 
 
 Occupant liable personally for expenses of Board of Health 
 
 [so is owner] 65 
 
 Occupants' duties 61 
 
 Offensive trades 61 
 
 OFFICES for receipt of taxes and assessments in each 
 
 Borough 16 
 
 of Departments, main, shall be in Manhattan 28 
 
 Officers, all reports of, to be published in City Record.... 5 
 
 Oil stores 69 
 
 Old City buildings may be sold 11 
 
 Old city of New York, no assessments can be laid for 
 
 repairing in 52 
 
 Old franchises and grants not affected by the new charter. 89 
 
 Old house may be torn down 71 
 
 Old ordinances continue until new ones adopted 86 
 
 Open to inspection, all City records and minutes 6 
 
 OPENING of street surfaces 9, 25 
 
 streets and parks 53 
 
 street to be recommended by Local Board 21 
 
 Order of Board of Health may be served on rent collector. 63 
 
ANALYTICAL INDEX. 103 
 
 Page. 
 
 ORDINANCES all tx) be published in City Record 4 
 
 in force in 1897 to remain in force until new ones 
 
 adopted 7,86 
 
 originate where 8 
 
 to be prepared by Board of Public Improvements.... 24 
 Original new grades established after 1st January, 1898, 
 
 no liability for 53 
 
 OVERCROWDING in cars and elevators 63.64 
 
 in tenement houses 77, 78 
 
 Over $1,000 job must be by ordinance and advertised 26 
 
 OWNER liable for violation of Sanitary Code by tenant. . . 58, 65 
 
 if tenant puts out garbage at wrong hour 62 
 
 to fine and imprisonment, though absent and 
 
 ignorant of tenants' neglect 59, 66 
 
 must clean tenement as often as Board of Health orders. 69 
 
 OWNERS, duties of 61 
 
 may agree with City on cost and damages and benefits, 
 
 without condemnation proceedings 54 
 
 may convey streets to City without condemnation pro- 
 ceedings 54 
 
 of shore property, private rights of 11 
 
 of tenements must file names and addresses 69 
 
 unknown, infant, or of unsound mind 85 
 
 Paint stores 69 
 
 Parcels of City's land not needed may be sold 11 
 
 Park Board 14 
 
 Park Commissioners 34 
 
 Parks, opened how 53 
 
 Parks and Parkways, ordinances by Municipal Assembly. 9 
 Part owner liable personally for expenses of Board of 
 
 Health 65 
 
 Partition fences and walls 10 
 
 Parts of undivided taxes 51 
 
 Patent of land under water 12 
 
 Patents to be kept by City Clerk 6 
 
 Pavements 9, 21, 24, 32 
 
 Payment of Comptroller's warrants 15 
 
 Periodicals, stands for sale of 9 
 
 Permit of Department of Highways necessary 32 
 
 Permits for buildings to be filed with Tax Department.... 50 
 
 Petroleum, storage of 46 
 
 PIERS 46 
 
 exclusive, for canal boats 47 
 
 Fire Department 47 
 
 ordinances for, by Municipal Assembly 9 
 
 recreation 47 
 
 Pipes, laying steam and gas 25 
 
 Placards across streets 9 
 
 PLACES of amusement to be protected from fire 45 
 
 of holding Municipal District Courts 83 
 
 of public amusement 10 
 
 Plan or map of any part of City unmapped 24 
 
[04 ANALYTICAL INDEX. 
 
 Page. 
 
 "Plant" may be bought by City 11 
 
 "Plant" of franchise may become property of City 10 
 
 Pneumatic power, transmission 34 
 
 Pneumatic tubes, laying 25 
 
 POLICE DEPARTMENT 19 
 
 to co-operate with Board of Health 19 
 
 Port and Waters 46, 48 
 
 POWERS of Commissioner of Buildings to vary the pro- 
 visions of law 42 
 
 under existing laws 87 
 
 of Local Boards 20, 21 
 
 Present laws relating to buildings continue in force 34 
 
 PRESIDENT of Board of Aldermen 8 
 
 of Council 7 
 
 of Borough 19 
 
 Presumed just and legal all the proceedings of Health De- 
 partment 65 
 
 Preventing double taxation 50 
 
 Price of gas in Richmond and Queens not affected by this 
 
 charter 87 
 
 Private rights of owners of shore property, docks and piers. 12 
 
 Private sewers 33 
 
 Privies 61,68 
 
 PROCEEDINGS, all to be published in City Record 4 
 
 of Health Department all presumed just and legal.... 65 
 
 to acquire real estate for water supply 28 
 
 Proportion of debts of Queens Co. and Hempstead to be 
 
 determined 89 
 
 Public amusement, places of 10, 87 
 
 Public baths and urinals 33 
 
 PUBLIC BUILDINGS and property 3 
 
 ordinances for, by Municipal Assembly 9 
 
 to be protected from fire 45 
 
 Public Charities, Board of 14 
 
 Public fountains 10 
 
 Public Improvements, Board of, powers 22, 23, 24 
 
 Public markets 25, 47 
 
 Public property 3 
 
 Public purposes, acquisition of land for 83, 84 
 
 Public roads , 32 
 
 PUBLIC Vv^ORK must first be approved by Board of 
 
 Public Improvements and Municipal Assembly 23 
 
 or supplies, contrrcts for 25 
 
 Public worship, building for, when exempt from taxation. 50 
 
 Published in City Record, everything 5 
 
 Pulling down buildings to prevent spread of fire 45 
 
 Pimps 10, 25 
 
 Punishment for violating order of Board of Health 62 
 
 Purchase of any real estate by City needs Comptroller's 
 
 assent 15 
 
 Purity of water 25 
 
 Qualifications of Commissioners of Buildings 36 
 
ANALYTICAL INDEX. 105 
 
 Page. 
 
 QUEENS COUNTY debt to be apportioned 8» 
 
 1898 taxes levied in 1897 49 
 
 Supervisors continued in office 88 
 
 unpaid taxes and assessments prior to January Ist, 1898. 51 
 
 QUORUM of a Board in any Department 88 
 
 of Local Board 21 
 
 Rail, form of, for surface railroad 32 
 
 Railway franchises, street 8 
 
 Rates of fare on bridges 25 
 
 Rates of taxes different in the different Boroughs 60 
 
 "Real Estate" defined 2!) 
 
 REAL ESTATE RECORD AND GUIDE 6, 31, 53 
 
 Real Estate will foot the bills 90 
 
 REAL PROPERTY LAW OF NEW YORK, VAN SICLEN'S. 31 
 
 Re-assessment 53 
 
 Receiver of Taxes 15 
 
 Receptacles must be provided for ashes and garbage 58, 69 
 
 Recommendations of Committees all to be published in 
 
 City Record 4 
 
 RECORD AND GUIDE 6, 31, 53 
 
 Record of applications to be kept by Commissioners of 
 
 Buildings 44 
 
 RECORDS and minutes open to inspection 6 
 
 to be kept by City Clerk 6 
 
 Recreation piers 47 
 
 Recurbing sidewalks 21, 32 
 
 Redemption from sale for taxes 56 
 
 Reflagging sidewalk 21, 32 
 
 Regrading street 21, 24 
 
 Regulating uses of streets, ordinances for 9, 24, 25, 26, 32 
 
 RI^GULATIONS, of Department of Buildings 36, 37 
 
 originate where 8 
 
 Relaying crosswalks, pavements, surface railroad tracks.... 21, 32 
 
 REMOVAL of incumbrances 32 
 
 of obstructions in streets 25 
 
 of subordinates by Commissioners of Buildings 39 
 
 Rendering of fat 10 
 
 Rent of your house can be collected by Health Department. 59, 65, 66 
 
 Repair of any City building 15, 25 
 
 Repairing, no assessment for, inside of old New York.... 52 
 
 Repairing street 21, 24, 32 
 
 Repairs of buildings by Board of Health 57 
 
 Repaying street 21, 24, 32 
 
 REPEAL of existing Building Laws 38 
 
 of rules, power is in Municipal Assembly 9 
 
 Reports of departments and officers all to be published 
 
 in City Record 5 
 
 Resetting lamps 21 
 
 Resolutions all to be published in City Record 4 
 
 Restricted, grants of land under water are 48 
 
 Resurfacing streets 32 
 
 Revenue, Bureau of City 16 
 
 Revision of Assessments, Board of » 52 
 
I06 ANALYTICAL INDEX. 
 
 Page. 
 
 RICHMOND COUNTY, 1898 taxes levied in 1897 49 
 
 unpaid taxes and assessments prior to January 1st, 1898. 51 
 
 Right of way to Board of Health 62 
 
 Right of Fire Commissioners to enter buildings 46 
 
 Rights, powers, obligations, duties of new City 2 
 
 Roofs 68 
 
 Rooms in tenement houses 75 
 
 Rule of the road 86 
 
 Rules and regulations of Department of Buildings 36, 37 
 
 Rules originate, where 8 
 
 Salaries of Commissioners of Buildings 36 
 
 SALES FOR taxes 56 
 
 unpaid taxes and assessments three years after they 
 
 were due 55 
 
 unpaid water rents four years after they were due.... 55 
 
 SANITARY CODE 58, 67 
 
 governs alterations of old buildings, and erection of 
 
 new buildings 58 
 
 violation is a misdemeanor, $50 fine 62 
 
 School buildings and lots not needed may be sold 17 
 
 School buildings. Superintendent of 57 
 
 School districts can become indebted no more 4 
 
 School fund, special and general 56 
 
 SCHOOL HOUSES, new 56 
 
 ordinances for by Municipal Assembly 9 
 
 when exempt from taxation 50 
 
 School taxes 56 
 
 Seal of City kept by City Clerk 6 
 
 Searches for assessments and arrears, fees for 10 
 
 Seller of tenement or lodging house must file notice of 
 
 transfer 70 
 
 Seminary, when exempt from taxation 50 
 
 Separate contracts for lighting each Borough 34 
 
 Separate receptacles for ashes and garbage 62 
 
 Separate sewer connection to each house 68 
 
 Service of orders of Board of Health 62 
 
 Setting lamps to be recommended by Local Board 21 
 
 SEVEN PER CENT. INTEREST on arrears of water rents 
 
 and taxes 55 
 
 on unpaid assessments 55 
 
 Sewer connection, separate to each house 68 
 
 SEWERS 10 
 
 Commissioner of 33 
 
 private 33 
 
 Sheds on piers or bulkheads 47 
 
 Short title of charter 2 
 
 SIDEWALKS, kept clear of ice, snow and obstructions... 58 
 
 ordinances for use of 9, 24, 25, 26, 33 
 
 Signature of City Clerk necessary 6 
 
 Signs and sign posts 9, 25 
 
 SINKING FUND 17 
 
 may be made good by additional taxes 18 
 
ANALYTICAL INDEX. 107 
 
 Page. 
 Sinks and privies 01 
 
 Sites for buildings, etc., ordinances for, by Municipal 
 
 Assembly 9 
 
 Six months' imprisonment for violating order of Board of 
 
 Health «2 
 
 Sleeping rooms 08 
 
 Soda water stands 9 
 
 Soil pipes must be ventilated 50 
 
 Space prescribed for tenement houses , . . , 71 to 75 
 
 Special school fund 56 
 
 Sprinkling streets 25 
 
 Stands within stoop lines 9 
 
 Stairs 68 
 
 Stay of order of Board of Health 59 
 
 STEAM boilers, inspected 19 
 
 meters « 33, 34 
 
 pipes, laying 25, 34 
 
 STREET CLEANING DEPARTMENT S3 
 
 docks 47 
 
 "Street" includes what 28 
 
 Street openings. City may agree with owners on cost, 
 
 damages and benefit, without condemnation pro- 
 ceedings 
 
 Street railway franchises 
 
 Street surfaces, opening of 
 
 Street used for 20 years, its surface is its "grade" 
 
 STREETS and highways, dedicated to the public 
 
 opened how 
 
 ordinances for use of 
 
 Subscribe to Real Estate Record and Guide 
 
 Subterranean drains from privies 
 
 Suit cannot be brought to vacate assessment for local 
 
 improvement A 
 
 Suits pending in old District CourtsAst January, 1898, to 
 
 be adjourned over to Municipal Dl'strict Courts 
 
 Summary Proceedings in Municipal Court 
 
 SUNKEN LOTS, filling in 
 
 must be kept clean and fenced 
 
 Superintendent of school buildings 
 
 Supervisors of Queens Co 
 
 Supplies, contracts for public 
 
 Supreme Court has jurisdiction of all actions against 
 
 the City 
 
 Surface of street used for 20 years is "on grade" 
 
 Surface railroads 
 
 Surfaces of streets, opening of 
 
 Surveys by Board of Health 
 
 Sweepings 
 
 Takes effect, when Charter 
 
 Taking care of City's money. Chamberlain 
 
 Tax office in each Borough 
 
 Tax rates different in different Boroughs 
 
io8 ANALYTICAL INDEX. 
 
 Page. 
 
 Taxation, double, prevented 50 
 
 TAXES AND ASSESSMENTS, Board of 14 
 
 Department of 49 
 
 decision of board reviewable by certiorari 51 
 
 unpaid in Kings, Queens and Richmond prior to 1st 
 
 January, 1898 51 
 
 Taxes are levied and raised under Sections 247 to 249 18 
 
 Taxes become arrears on June 1st, and bear 7 per cent. 
 
 interest 55 
 
 Taxes, Bureau for collection of 15 
 
 TAXES due and payable at the Borough offices 51 
 
 for 1897 4 
 
 for 1897 in old New York city 49 
 
 for 1898 in Brooklyn, Queens and Richmond 49 
 
 for school purposes 56 
 
 may be increased to pay bonds falling due 18 
 
 Receiver of 15 
 
 undivided parts of 51 
 
 unpaid, sales for, three years after due 55 
 
 Telegraph posts 9, 25 
 
 Temporary use of sidewalks and streets 9, 25 
 
 Ten dollar bonds to be issued by City 1(5 
 
 TENANT can be made to pay the rent to Board of Health. 59, 65, 66 
 
 liable personally for expenses of Board of Health 6.5 
 
 Tenement and lodging houses 66 
 
 TENEMENT HOUSE, ash receptacles 76 
 
 cellar floor; ceilings 76, 77 
 
 chimneys 76 
 
 construction and space 71 to 7r> 
 
 defined 67 
 
 dimensions and ventilation of rooms 75 
 
 gas 76, 77 
 
 housekeeper required 77, 78 
 
 must be cleaned as often as Board of Health orders. . . 69 
 
 overcrowding 77,78 
 
 owner notified by posting notice on the house 70 
 
 owner's name and address to be filed 69 
 
 to be inspected twice a year 70 
 
 transfer to be filed both by buyer and seller, and by 
 
 devisee, executor, heirs, administrator 70 
 
 water 76,77 
 
 "Term for years" defined 31 
 
 Territory of grants and franchises not extended to cover 
 
 new City 87 
 
 Testing gas, gas meters, electric meters and lights, and 
 
 steam meters 33, 34 
 
 THE 1 
 
 Theatres to be protected from fire 45 
 
 "TAc City of Now York" is correct name 1 
 
 owns lands heretofore sold and bid in for taxes and 
 assessments by any village, town or city con- 
 solidated 56 
 
ANALYTICAL INDEX. 109 
 
 Page. 
 Thirty days' notice to Comptroller of award to pay for 
 
 real estate 15 
 
 Three-fourths of all elected must vote for an assessment, 
 
 and for a franchise 6 
 
 Three per cent, added to taxes "for deficiencies" 18 
 
 Time for improving lands adjacent to Harlem River 
 
 extended 48 
 
 Time to redeem from tax sale, notice to be published 56 
 
 Times of holding Municipal District Courts 83 
 
 Title of land condemned may be vested in the City before 
 
 confirmation of report 84 
 
 To prevent double taxation 50 
 
 Towns and villages of Queens and Richmond abolished... . 88 
 
 Towns can become indebted no more 4 
 
 Tracks of surface railroads 32 
 
 Trades, offensive 61 
 
 Transoms from bakeries closed 69 
 
 Trap-doors must be closed daily, $.50 flue 45 
 
 Tubes, pneumatic, laying 2.5 
 
 Tunnels under streams only, ordinances for, by Municipal 
 
 Assembly 
 
 .t;250 fine for violating order of Board of Health 62 
 
 Two-thirds of all elected needed to pass over Mayor's veto. 6 
 Unanimous consent needed to pass resolution or ordinance 
 
 affecting property at same session when offered.... 5 
 
 Undivided parts of taxes 51 
 
 Unknown owners of land taken by City 85 
 
 Uninhabitable house to be condemned 71 
 
 Unpaid assessments bear 7 per cent, interest 55 
 
 Unpaid Kings, Queens and Richmond taxes and assessments 
 
 prior to 1st January, 1898 51 
 
 Unsound mind, owners of land taken by City 85 
 
 Upland adjacent to wharf is "wharf property" 47 
 
 Urinals 9,25,33 
 
 Use of streets, ordinances for 9, 24, 25, 86 
 
 Vacant lots, fencing 22, 32 
 
 Vacate assessment for local improvement, no suit can be 
 
 brought to 53 
 
 Valuation, correction of assessed 49 
 
 Value, not more than half of, to be assessed 52 
 
 VAN SICLEN'S ANALYTICAL INDEX TO THE 
 
 CHARTER 67 
 
 VAN SICLEN'S GUIDE TO BUYERS AND SELLERS OP 
 
 REAL ESTATE, AND N. Y. REAL PROPERTY 
 
 LAW 31 
 
 Vary the provisions of law, power of Commissioners of 
 
 Buildings to 42 
 
 Vaults 10,25,32 
 
 Vaults and cellars 69 
 
 Vegetable products that are combustible 46 
 
 VENTILATORS in halls 68 
 
 in rooms in tenement houses 75 
 
no ANALYTICAL INDEX. 
 
 Pa8e> 
 
 VILLAGES can become indebted no more 4 
 
 of Queens and Richmond abolished 88 
 
 Violating order of Board of Health a misdemeanor, $250 
 
 fine or 6 months' imprisonment 62 
 
 Violation of Sanitary Code a misdemeanor, $50 fine 62 
 
 Volunteer firemen to be retained in paid Department 45 
 
 Votes on an assessment, and on a franchise 6 
 
 Wallpaper 69 
 
 Walls, partition 10 
 
 WARDS 88,89 
 
 boundaries may be changed 89 
 
 Warrants of Comptroller paid by Chamberlain 16 
 
 Waste pipes must be ventilated 5& 
 
 Water closets 68 
 
 WATER from roof 68 
 
 in docks, assessment for deepening 53 
 
 in tenement houses 76, 77 
 
 is sometimes real estate 28, 29 
 
 meters 28 
 
 pipes, laying 24 
 
 rates become Arrears on 1st June and bear 7 per cent. 
 
 interest 55 
 
 rents 24 
 
 fixed by Municipal Assembly 28 
 
 in same bill with taxes hereafter 55 
 
 unpaid, sales for, after four years 55 
 
 supply 28 
 
 proceedings to acquire real estate for 28 
 
 to private companies 24 
 
 WATERS 46 
 
 included in port of New York 48 
 
 WATERWORKS, additional 8,24 
 
 preservation of 25 
 
 WELL-HOLES must be closed daily, $50 fine 45 
 
 must be inclosed 58 
 
 Wharf property defined 47 
 
 Wharfage rates 48 
 
 WHARVES, ordinances for, by Municipal Assembly 9 
 
 public 47 
 
 What waters included in port of New York '48 
 
 Where ordinances, rules and regulations originate 8 
 
 Whitewash walls and ceilings of tenements once a year. . 69 
 
 Widening street to be recommended by Local Board 21 
 
 Width of old streets to follow old maps 26 
 
 Width of sidewalks 24 
 
 Windows from bakeries closed 69 
 
 Wires, electric, laying and inspecting 25 
 
 WORK, contracts for public 25 
 
 for over $1,000 must be by ordinance and advertised. . 26 
 
 Writings belonging to the City to be kept by City Clerk. . 6 
 
 Written estimate before any assessment 23 
 
 Yards and cellars 61 
 
GUIDE TO BUYERS AND SELLERS 
 OF REAL ESTATE 
 
 HOW TO DRAW A CONTRACT 
 
 GEO. W. VAN SICLEN 
 
 Counsellor at Law. 
 
 TOGETHER WITH 
 
 THE REAL PROPERTY LAW 
 
 Of the State of New York of October i, 1896, 
 
 INDEXED. 
 
 REAL ESTATE RECORD AND GUIDE, 
 
 PUBLISHERS, 
 
 14-16 Vesey St., New York. 
 65 pages. Price, $1.00 in cloth; 75 cents in paper. 
 
THE STANDARD AUTHORITY. 
 
 Laws Relating to Building 
 
 IN NEW YORK CITY, 
 
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 WILLIAM J. FRYER, 
 
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 A volume of 450 pages, containing all the laws that have 
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 Architects, etc., etc. 
 
 Price, in doth, - = $2.50. 
 
 Record and Guide, 14-16 Vesey Street, 
 New York City. 
 
THE INVESTOR'S PAPER. 
 
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 A WEEKLY JOURNAL THAT WILL 
 
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 Telephone Call 
 
 , 4786 Cortlandt. 
 
 
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 36 Nassau Street, New York. 
 
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 TELEPHONE: BROOKLYN OFFICE, 
 
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 TITLES EXAMINED AND GUARANTEED. 
 
 MONEY LOANED ON BOND AND MORTGAGE. 
 
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 CHARLES UNANGST, Counsel. 
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■^