Page images
PDF
EPUB

barge or pile-driver, or for the purpose of selling or offering the same for sale to the owner of any boat, vessel, barge or pile-driver, without first having obtained permission in writing from the said Commissioner, under penalty of twenty-five dollars for each offense, to be recovered against such person or persons or such owner or owners of any such boat, vessel, barge or pile-driver in an action to be prosecuted by the Corporation Counsel. (Id., sec. 162, with verbal changes.)

or

§ 291. No person other than an employee of the Department of Water Supply, Gas and Electricity, or of the Fire Department, shall be permitted to use the large or double fire hydrants placed throughout the city for the use of the Fire Department, and any street sprinkler, sweeper cleaner or other person or persons not connected with either the Department of Water Supply, Gas and Electricity or the Fire Department, found tampering with or using any of said hydrants, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and on conviction thereof shall be fined the sum of twenty-five dollars, and in default of payment thereof shall be punished by imprisonment for a period not exceeding ten days. (Id., sec. 163, with verbal changes, as amend. by ord. app. Nov. 23, 1906.)

§ 292. The Commissioner of Water Supply, Gas and Electricity is instructed to cause the hydrants to be kept closed, and report all violations of the laws to the Corporation Counsel. (Id., sec. 164.)

§ 293. The Commissioner of Water Supply, Gas and Electricity shall at all times when the general supply of water is not thereby endangered, permit the hydrants to be used for cleaning the streets, under the regulation of said Commissioner. (Id., sec. 165.)

§ 294. No person or persons shall use the Croton water for washing streets, sidewalks, steps or buildings from May 1 to November 1 following in each year, after 8 a. m., and from November 1 to May 1 following after 9 a. m., under the penalty of five dollars for each offense. (Id., sec. 166.) § 295. Any person or persons who shall obstruct the access to the different stop-cocks connected with the water pipes by placing thereon stone, brick, lumber, dirt, or any other materials, or who shall permit any such materials to be placed thereon by those in his or their employ, shall be subject to the penalty of fifty dollars for each offense, with an additional sum of twenty-five dollars for each day the same shall be continued after notice of removal shall have been served. (Id., sec. 167.)

§ 296. The penalties prescribed in this article shall be imposed on the offender in like manner as above provided in respect to the penalty for bathing in the Croton aqueduct; and in default of the payment the offender shall be subject to like punishment by imprisonment, as in the said section prescribed. (Id., sec. 168.)

Article V.- Lamps.

§ 297. No person, without permission of the Commissioner of Water Supply, Gas and Electricity, shall take up, remove or carry away any public lamp-post in The City of New York, under the penalty of ten dollars for each offense. (Id., sec. 173, with verbal changes.)

§ 298. No person shall remove, or cause or permit to be removed, any public lamp-post now or hereafter to be placed in front of their premises for the purpose of constructing a vault or otherwise without the permission of the President of the Borough; and the owner or owners of such vault shall cause the lamp-posts so removed to be reset at their own expense immediately upon the completion of the vault, under the penalty of twenty-five dollars for each offense. (Id., sec. 174, with verbal changes.)

§ 299. No ornamental lamp-post shall hereafter be erected in any of the streets, avenues or public places in The City of New York, which shall exceed in dimensions at the base more than eighteen inches in diameter, if circular in form, and if upon a square base, no side thereof shall exceed eighteen inches. (Id., sec. 175.)

CHAPTER 7.

TITLE I.- BUREAU OF LICENSES.

§ 300. There shall be a Bureau of Licenses in and for The City of New York attached to the Mayor's office, with a principal office in the City Hall in the Borough of Manhattan, and a branch office in such other boroughs as may be deemed necessary and be designated by the Mayor of said city, for the purpose of issuing and recording all licenses authorized by resolution or ordinance of the Board of Aldermen or now in force in any part of said city. (Ord. app. Feb. 8, 1898, sec. 1, with verbal changes.)

This Bureau is the successor by various enactments of the old "Bureau of Permits," sec. 1 of ord. app. Feb. 2, 1886, as limited by chap. 412, Laws of 1895. The tendency has been to make laws uniform throughout the entire city, and to concentrate into one bureau the issuing of all licenses. By the City Ordinances, 1859, all licenses were issued by the Mayor and separate chapters cover the different subject-matters, such as Coaches and Cabs, Pawnbrokers, Dealers in Second-Hand Articles and Keepers of Junk When the Shops, etc., which are now included in one chapter. ordinances were revised in 1880 a Bureau of Permits was established. (R. O. 1880, art. XXX.) The general powers were further extended by L. 1887, chap. 417, and L. 1888, chap. 115, and L. 1896, chap. 36, where the Board of Aldermen, although forbidden to allow obstructions in the streets or sidewalks, was expressly allowed to grant permits for "stands within the stoop-lines certain purposes. See sec. 50, Greater New York Charter, and notes under sec. 361, infra.

for

§ 301. The Bureau of Licenses shall consist of a Chief of said Bureau, with such deputies and assistants as may be found necessary for properly carrying on the work of the Bureau, to be appointed and removed at pleasure by the

Mayor of said city, and paid such compensation as shall be fixed and established by said Mayor. (Id., sec. 2.)

§ 302. All licenses issued by the Bureau of Licenses shall be according to an established form, printed with corresponding stub and regularly numbered, with suitable blank spaces for writing in the name and residence of the licensee, kind and class of license, location and privileges allowed, and amount of fee paid, all properly bound in book form. All such licenses shall be duly classified and recorded in suitable registers and fully indexed. (Id., sec. 3.)

§ 303. All licenses issued by the Bureau of Licenses shall be granted by the Mayor and duly issued upon regular application to the Bureau of Licenses. The registers of licenses shall be public records, and extracts may be certified by the Chief of the Bureau or the deputy or assistant in charge of a branch office, for use as evidence. (Id., sec. 4.) § 304. There shall be kept in the principal office of said Bureau and each and every branch office thereof a book recording consecutively each license as issued, showing its kind and class, whether new or renewed, name of licensee, regular number of blank form, and amount of fee received, day by day. A daily report showing all of above details shall be made by each branch office to the principal office. All moneys received each day shall be duly deposited in a designated city depository the following day. There shall also be kept in the principal office of said Bureau a book showing a statement of all licenses issued and fees received by said Bureau and its branches, tabulated by days, months and quarters of the year, and compiled annually. (Id., sec. 5.) TITLE II.- THE GRANTING AND REGULATION OF LICENSES.

Article I.- Business Requiring a License.

§ 305. The following businesses must be duly licensed as herein provided, namely, public cartmen, truckmen, hackmen, cabmen, expressmen, drivers, junk dealers, dealers in second-hand articles, hawkers, peddlers, venders, ticket speculators, coal scalpers, common shows, shooting galleries, bowling alleys, billiard tables, dirt carts, exterior hoists and stands within stoop-lines and under the stairs of the elevated railroad stations. (Ord. app. May 22, 1899, sec. 1.)

This ordinance covered the entire field of licenses and revised the whole subject. The power to require licenses is given the Board of Aldermen in section 51 of the Greater New York Charter, L. 1901, chap. 466. At the time the ordinance was passed, 1899, pawnbrokers were licensed under the State law. See L. 1883, chap. 339, as amended by chap. 363, L. 1884; chap. 240, L. 1890, and chap. 538, L. 1893, and keepers of intelligence offices also by chap. 410, L. 1888, as amended by chap. 330, L. 1891. They are now enumerated in section 51 of the Charter as among the businesses that may be licensed by the city. Stands within stoop-lines may be authorized under section 50 of the Charter. The decisions construing the general subjects in this chapter are given under the sections relating to specific business. Penalties for all violations of this and the subsequent sections to No. 379, inclusive, are regulated by section 379. See also section 329.

§ 306. No person shall engage in or carry on any such business without a license therefor under a penalty of not less than two dollars, nor more than twenty-five dollars for each offense, and for the purposes of this ordinance the term person shall include any human being or lawful association of such. (Id., sec. 2.)

There can be no doubt of the general power of a municipal corporation to regulate and control the occupations referred to. The courts have even gone so far as to hold that where a license is required of a business, one who engages in that business without a license may not recover the value of goods sold or services rendered. Ferdon vs. Cunningham, 20 How. Pr. 154; Best VS. Bauder, 29 How. Pr. 489; but, see Miller vs. Burke, 6 Daly, 171, affd. 68 N. Y. 615; see cases under specific subjects, infra.

Article II.- Licenses and License Fees.

§ 307. All licenses shall be granted by authority of the Mayor and issued by the Bureau of Licenses for a term of one year from the date thereof, unless sooner suspended or revoked by the Mayor, and no person shall be licensed except a citizen of the United States or one who has regularly declared intention to become a citizen.

The Mayor shall have power to suspend or revoke any license or permit issued under the provisions of this ordinance. The Mayor shall also have power to impose a fine of not more than five dollars or less than one dollar for any violation of the regulations herein provided, and to suspend the license pending payment of such fine, which, when collected, shall be paid into the sinking fund for the redemption of the city debt. (Id., sec. 3.)

§ 308. The annual license enumerated:

For each public cart or truck...
For each public hack coach.
For each public hack cab...
For each special hack coach.
For each special hack cab.

For each express wagon....

For each junk shop or dealer..

fees shall be as below

For each dealer in second-hand articles.

For each junk cart or boat................

For each peddler using horse and wagon.
For each peddler using push cart..
For each peddler carrying merchandise.
For each ticket speculator.
For each coal scalper..

$2.00

3.00

2.00

5 00

3 00

5.09

20.00

25 00

5.00

8.00

4 00 2.00 50 00 250 00

For each common show.

25.00

[blocks in formation]

For each fruit or soda water stand, or both.......
For each newspaper or periodical stand, or both, and
in addition also fruit or soda water, or both.....
For each movable newspaper stand...
For each newspaper and periodical stand, or both..
For each chair of a bootblack stand...

For each stand under elevated railroad stations.
For each driver of any licensed vehicle.

(Id., sec. 4.)

10 CO

15 00

1 00

5 00

5 00 10 00 50

§ 309. Any license, before its expiration or within thirty days thereafter, may be renewed for another term, upon payment of one-half the license fee above designated therefor.

All licenses in force when this ordinance takes effect for any business enumerated above may be renewed under the foregoing provisions regulating renewals of licenses hereunder issued. (Id., sec. 5.)

Article III.- Special Regulations and Rates.

I. Public Carts and Cartmen.

§ 310. Every vehicle, of whatever construction, drawn by animal power or propelled by other motive power, which shall be kept for hire or used to carry merchandise, household furniture or other bulky articles within The City of New York for pay, shall be deemed a public cart, and the owner thereof shall be deemed a public cartman. (Id., sec. 6.) An ordinance requiring a license to be taken out where_trucks are used for hire was held valid in City of Brooklyn vs. Breslin, 57 N. Y. 591. And it has been held that where a license was required, unless one was taken out, the driver or owner of carts and trucks used for public hire could not recover for services actually rendered. Ferdon vs. Cunningham, 20 How. Pr. 154.

§ 311. Every public cart shall show on each outside thereof the words "Public Cart" or the letters "P. C.," together with the figures of its official number. (Id., sec. 7.)

312. The amount to be charged for loading, transporting or transmitting and unloading, may be agreed upon in advance, and such a contract shall regulate and control the employment. (Id., sec. 8.)

§ 313. The legal rates for moving household furniture, unless otherwise mutually agreed, shall be as follows: For a single truck load, within two miles...... For every additional truck load, within two miles.... For loading, unloading and housing to ground floor, For each flight of stairs, up or down... For a double truck load, within two miles. For every additional mile or part thereof..

$2 00

3 00

1 00

For loading, unloading and housing to ground floor,
For every flight of stairs, up or down..

[ocr errors]

50

50

50

(Id., sec. 9.)

« PreviousContinue »