to vary or modify any rule or regulation of the board, or the provisions of chapter 12 of the Greater New York Charter, or of any existing law or ordinance relating to the construction, alteration or removal of any building or structure erected or to be erected within his jurisdiction, pursuant to the provisions of section 650 of the Greater New York Charter. (Id., sec. 148.)

§ 149. Board of Examiners.- The Board of Examiners for the Boroughs of Manhattan and The Bronx shall be constituted as prescribed by section 649 of the Greater New York Charter. Each of said Examiners shall take the usual oath of office before entering upon his duties. No member of said Board shall pass upon any question in which he is pecuniarily interested. The said board shall meet as often as once in each week upon notice from the Commissioner of Buildings.

The members of said Board of Examiners, and the Clerk of said board, shall each be entitled to and shall receive ten dollars for each attendance at a meeting of said board, to be paid by the Comptroller from the annual appropriation to be made therefor upon the voucher of the Commissioner of Buildings for the Boroughs of Manhattan and The Bronx. (Id., sec. 149.)

Part 30.- Violations and Penalties. Courts Having Jurisdiction.

§ 150. Violations and Penalties.- The owner or owners of any building, structure or part thereof, or wall, or any platform, staging or flooring to be used for standing or seating purposes where any violation of this Code shall be placed, or shall exist, and any architect, builder, plumber, carpenter or mason who may be employed or assist in the commission of any such violation, and any and all persons who shall violate any of the provisions of this Code or fail to comply therewith, or any requirement thereof, or who shall violate or fail to comply with any detailed order' or regulation made thereunder, or who shall build in violation of any detailed statement of specifications or plans, submitted and approved thereunder, or of any certificate or permit issued thereunder, shall severally, for each and every such violation and non-compliance, respectively, forfeit and pay a penalty in the sum of fifty dollars. Except that any such person who shall violate any of the provisions of this Code, as to the construction of chimneys, fireplaces, flues, hot-air pipes and furnaces, or who shall violate any of the provisions of this Code, with reference to the framing or trimming of timbers, girders, beams, or other woodwork in proximity to chimney flues or fireplaces, shall forfeit and pay a penalty in the sum of $100. But if any said violation shall be removed or be in process of removal within ten days after the service of a notice as hereinafter prescribed, the liability of such a penalty shall cease, and the Corporation Counsel, on request of the Commissioner of

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Buildings having jurisdiction, shall discontinue any action pending to recover the same, upon such removal or the completion thereof within a reasonable time. Any and all of the aforementioned persons who having been served with a notice as hereinafter prescribed, to remove any violation, or comply with any requirement of this Code, or with any order or regulation made thereunder, shall fail to comply with said notice within ten days after such service or shall continue to violate any requirement of this Code in the respect named in said notice shall pay a penalty of $250. For the recovery of any said penalty or penalties an action may be brought in any municipal court, or court of record, in said city in the name of The City of New York; and whenever any judgment shall be rendered therefor, the same shall be collected and enforced, as prescribed and directed by the Code of Civil Procedure of the State of New York. The Commissioner of Buildings having jurisdiction, through the Corporation Counsel, is hereby authorized, in his discretion, good and sufficient cause being shown therefor, to remit any fine or fines, penalty or penalties, which any person or persons may have incurred, or may hereafter incur, under any of the provisions of this Code; but no fine or penalty shall be remitted for any such violation until the violation shall have been removed. Said remission shall also operate as the remission of the costs obtained in such action. (Id., sec. 150, rev. from L. 1882, ch. 410, § 505, as amend.)

An inspector of a department has no power to change the plans and specifications as fixed by the head of the department. Health Dept. vs. Hamm, 4 Misc. 602, 24 N. Y. Supp. 730. Nor will the approval of a minor official, as to a change, be a defense to an action to recover a penalty. Fire Department vs. Buhler, 35 N. Y. 177; Fire Department N. Y. vs. Buffum, 2 E. D. Smith, 511.

§ 151. Courts Having Jurisdiction.— All courts of civil jurisdiction in The City of New York shall have cognizance of and jurisdiction over any and all suits and proceedings by this Code authorized to be brought for the recovery of any penalty and the enforcement of any of the several provisions of this Code, and shall give preference to such suits and proceedings over all others, and no court shall lose jurisdiction of any action by reason of a plea that the title to real estate is involved, provided the object of the action is to recover a penalty for the violation of any of the provisions of this Code. The Corporation Counsel is authorized to institute any and all actions and proceedings, either legal or equitable that may be appropriate or necessary for the enforcement of the provisions of this Code, and all civil courts in said city are hereby invested with full legal and equitable jurisdiction to hear, try and determine all such actions and proceedings, and to make appropriate orders and render judgment therein according to law, so as to give force and effect to the provisions of this Code. Whenever the Commissioner of Buildings having jurisdiction is satisfied

or

that any building or structure, or any portion thereof, or any drainage or plumbing, the erection, construction alteration, execution or repair of which is regulated, permitted or forbidden by this Code, is being erected, constructed, altered or repaired, or has been erected, constructed, altered or repaired, in violation of, or not in compliance with, any of the provisions or requirements of this Code, or in violation of any detailed statement of specifications or plans submitted and approved thereunder, or of any certificate or permit issued thereunder, or that any provision or requirement of this Code, or any order or direction made thereunder has not been complied with, or that plans and specifications for plumbing and drainage have not been submitted or filed as required by this Code, the Commissioner of Buildings having jurisdiction may in his discretion, through the Corporation Counsel, institute any appropriate action or proceeding at law or in equity to restrain, correct or remove such violation, or the execution of any work thereon, or to restrain or correct the erection or alteration of, or to require the removal of, or to prevent the occupation or use of, the building or structure erected, constructed or altered, in violation of, or not in compliance with, any of the provisions of this Code, or with respect to which the requirements of this Code, or of any order or direction made pursuant to any provisions contained in this Code, shall not have been complied with. In any such action or proceeding The City of New York may, in the discretion of the Commissioner of Buildings having jurisdiction and on his affidavit setting forth the facts, apply to any court of record in said city or to a judge or justice thereof, for an order enjoining and restraining all persons from doing, or causing or permitting to be done, any work in or upon such building or structure, or in or upon such part thereof as may be designated in said affidavit for any purpose whatever, until the hearing structure, or such portion thereof as may be designated in said affidavit for any purpose whatever, until the hearing and determination of said action and the entry of final judgment therein. The court, or judge or justice thereof, to whom such application is made, is hereby authorized forthwith to make any or all of the orders above specified, as may be required in such application, with or without notice, and to make such other or further orders or directions as may be necessary to render the same effectual. No officer

of said Department of Buildings acting in good faith and without malice shall be liable for damages by reason of anything done in any such action or proceeding. No undertaking shall be required as a condition to the granting or ssuing of such injunction order, or by reason thereof. All ourts in which any suit or proceeding is instituted under this Code shall, upon the rendition of a verdict, report of a referee, or decision of a judge or justice, render judgment in accordance therewith; and the said judgment, so rendered,

shall be and become a lien upon the premises named in the complaint in any such action, to date from the time of filing in a County Clerk's office in The City of New York, where the property affected by such action, suit, or proceeding, is located, of a notice of lis pendens therein; which lien may be enforced against said property, in every respect, notwithstanding the same may be transferred subsequent to the filing of the said notice. Said notice of lis pendens shall consist of a copy of the notice issued by the Commissioner of Buildings having jurisdiction requiring the removal of the violation and a notice of the suit or proceedings instituted, or to be instituted thereon, and said notice of lis pendens may be filed at any time after the service of the notice issued by the Commissioner of Buildings as aforesaid, provided he may deem the same to be necessary, or is satisfied that the owner of the property is about to transfer the same to avoid responsibility for having violated the provisions of this Code or some one of its provisions. Any notice of lis pendens filed pursuant to the provisions of this Code may be vacated and cancelled of record; upon an order of a judge or justice of the court in which such suit or proceeding was instituted or is pending, or upon the consent in writing of the Corporation Counsel, and the clerk of the said county where such notice is filed, is hereby directed and required to mark any such notice of lis pendens and any record or docket thereof as vacated and cancelled of record, upon the presentation and filing of a certified copy of an order as aforesaid, or of the consent, in writing, of said Corporation Counsel. In no case shall the said Department of Buildings, or any officer thereof, or the corporation of The City of New York, or any defendant, be liable for costs in any action, suit or proceedings that may have been, or may hereafter be, instituted or commenced in pursuance of this Code, unless specially ordered and allowed against any defendant or defendants, by a court of justice, in the course of such action, suit or proceeding. (Id., sec. 151, rev. from L. 1882, ch. 410, § 506, as amend.)

A lien filed under this section does not affect the lien of a prior mortgage nor a sale thereunder. Mitchell vs. Smith, 53 N. Y. 413. § 152. Notice of Violations of Code; Service of Papers.All notices of the violation of any of the provisions of this Code, and all notices directing anything to be done, required by this Code, and all other notices that may be required or authorized to be issued thereunder, including notice that any building, structure, premises, or any part thereof, are deemed unsafe or dangerous, shall be issued by the Commissioner of Buildings having jurisdiction, and shall have his name affixed thereto and may be served by any officer or employee of the Department of Buildings or by any person authorized by the said department. All such notices, and any notice or order issued by any court in any proceeding instituted pursuant to this Code to restrain or remove any

violation, or to enforce compliance with any provision or requirement of this Code, may be served by delivering to and leaving a copy of the same with any person or persons violating, or who may be liable under any of the several provisions of this Code, or to whom the same may be addressed, and if such person or persons cannot be found i after diligent search shall have been made for him or them, then such notice or order may be served by posting the same in a conspicuous place upon the premises where such violation is alleged to have been placed or to exist, or to which such notice or order may refer, or which may be deemed unsafe or dangerous, which shall be equivalent to a personal service of said notice or order upon all parties for whom such search shall have been made. Such notice or order shall contain a description of the building, premises or property on which such violation shall have been put or may exist, or which may be deemed unsafe or dangerous, or to which such notice or order may refer. If the person or persons or any of them, to whom said notice or order is addressed, do not reside in the State of New York, and have no known place of business therein, the same may be served by delivering to and leaving with such person or persons, or either of them, a copy of said notice or order, or if said person or persons cannot be found within said State after diligent search, then by posting a copy of the same in manner as aforesaid and depositing a copy thereof in a post-office in The City of New York, inclosed in a sealed wrapper addressed to said person or persons at his or their last known place of residence, with the postage paid thereon; and said posting and mailing of a copy of said notice or order shall be equivalent to personal service of said notice or order. (Id., sec. 152, rev. from L. 1882, ch. 410, § 507, as amend.)

See Greenhaus vs. Alter, 30 App. Div. 585; Fire Dept. vs. Williamson, 1 Robt. 476.

Part 31.- Unsafe Buildings, Surveys, Court Proceedings.

§ 153. Unsafe Buildings.- Any building or buildings, part or parts of a building, staging or other structure in The City of New York, that from any cause may now be, or shall at any time hereafter become dangerous or unsafe, may be taken down and removed, or made safe and secure, in the manner following: Immediately upon such unsafe or dangerous building or buildings, or part or parts of a building, staging or structure being so reported by any of the officers of said Department of Buildings, the same shall be immediately entered upon a docket of unsafe buildings to be kept by the Commissioner of Buildings having jurisdiction; and the owner, or some one of the owners, executors, administrators, agents, lessees or any other person or persons who may have a vested or contingent interest in the same, may be served with a printed or written notice containing a