1. Plumbing and gas fitting.

2. Steam heating, hot water and ventilating apparatus.

Such specifications must be so drawn as to permit separate and independent bidding upon each of such classes of work enumerated in the above subdivisions. All contracts hereafter awarded by the state, or a department, board, commission, commissioner or officer thereof, for the erection, construction or alteration of buildings or any part thereof, shall award the respective work specified in the above subdivisions separately to responsible and reliable persons, firms or corporations. Nothing in this section shall be construed to prevent the authorities in charge of any state building from performing any such branches of work by or through their regular employees, or in the case of public institutions, by the inmates thereof.

(Added by chapter 514 of the Laws of 1912.)

POOR LAW.

AN ACT in relation to the poor, constituting chapter 42 of the Consolidated Laws.

Chapter 46, Laws of 1909, as amended by chapters 347, 380 and 429, Laws of 1909, chapter 102 of the Laws of 1910, chapters 75, 306, 309 and 351 of the Laws of 1912, chapters 251, 594 and 595 of the Laws of 1913, chapter 135 of the Laws of 1914, and chapters 120, 147, 445 and 563 of the Laws of 1915. Article 1. Short title; definitions (§§ 1, 2).

2. County superintendents of the poor (§§ 3-14).

3. Overseers of the poor (§§ 20-30).

4. Settlement and place of relief of poor persons (§§ 40-57).

5. Support of bastards (§§ 60–75).

6. Soldiers, sailors and marines (§§ 80-85).

7. State poor (§§ 90-104).

8. Duties of state board of charities; powers of state charities aid association (§§ 115–121).

9. Miscellaneous provisions (§§ 130-148).

10. Laws repealed; when to take effect (§§ 160, 161).

ARTICLE 1

Short Title: Definitions

Section 1. Short title.

2. Definitions.

§ 1. Short title. This chapter shall be known as the "Poor Law."

§ 2. Definitions. A "poor person" is one unable to maintain himself, and such person shall be maintained by the town, city, county or state, according to the provisions of this chapter. In counties having but one superintendent of the poor, the term "superintendents" or "superintendents of the poor," when used in this chapter, means such superintendent; and in towns or cities having but one overseer of the poor, the term overseers" or overseers of the poor," when used in this chapter, means a town or city overseer of the poor. An alms-house is a place where the poor are maintained at the public expense.

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The popular meaning of the word "almshouse" is, of course, well understood, but the revisers and the legislature have not confined us to the popular meaning. They have given to the word a much wider and more comprehensive definition than it has in popular usage. That may properly be termed the statutory definition which is found in the second section of the Poor Law. It is there defined as a 66 'place where the poor are main

tained at the public expense." It is not necessary that it should be a public building or that there should be but one place. Court of Appeals, May, 1899, The People ex rel. John B. French, as Overseer of the Poor of the City of Ithaca, Respondent, v. James S. Lyke, as Superintendent of the Poor of the County of Tompkins, Appellant, 159 N. Y. 149.

The town poor are such persons as are required by law to be relieved or supported at the expense of the town or city; the county poor are such persons as are required by law to be relieved or supported at the expense of the county; and the state poor are such persons as are required by law to be relieved or supported at the expense of the state.

ARTICLE 2

County Superintendents of the Poor

Section 3. County superintendents of the poor.

4. Appointment of superintendent as keeper of almshouse.

5. When they may direct overseers of the poor to take charge of county poor.

6. Idiots and lunatics.

7. Pestilence in alms-house.

8. Accounts of county treasurer with towns.

Section 9. Annual apportionment of town expenses.

10. Tax levy on towns.

11. Expense of county poor.

12. Superintendents' report to the state board of charities.

13. Supervisors and members of town boards may direct as to temporary or out-door relief to the poor.

14. Penalty for neglect or false report.

§ 3. County superintendents of the poor. The county superintendents of the poor shall :

1. Have the general superintendence and care of poor persons who may be in their respective counties.

2. Provide and keep in repair suitable alms-houses when directed by the board of supervisors of their county.

3. Establish rules and by-laws for the government and good order of such alms-houses, and for the employment, relief, management and government of the poor therein; but such rules and regulations shall not be valid until approved by the county judge of the county, in writing.

4. Unless a keeper be appointed by the board of supervisors, as provided by section four of this article, employ suitable persons to be keepers of such houses, and physicians, matrons and all other necessary officers and servants, and vest such power in them for the government of such houses, and the poor therein, as shall be necessary, reserving to such poor persons who may be placed. under the care of such keepers, matrons, officers or servants, the right of appeal to the superintendents.

Superintendents of the poor may employ suitable person as keeper of almshouse; authorized also to employ matron, physician, and other officers and servants, as may be necessary for the proper management and maintenance thereof, unless otherwise provided by the board of supervisors.

STATE OF NEW YORK,

ATTORNEY-GENERAL'S OFFICE,
ALBANY, October 28, 1903.

HON. ROBERT W. HEBBERD, Secretary, State Board of Charities, Capitol, Albany, N. Y.

DEAR SIR.I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your favor of the 26th instant, stating that Mr. L. W. Brown, superintendent of the poor of Lewis county, has written to the State Board of Charities, desiring to know whether, in view of the amendment to subdivision 4 of section 3 of the Poor

Law, passed by the Legislature of 1903, he now has the right to appoint a keeper, matron and other help at the Lewis county almshouse.

It appears from your communication that the board of supervisors of Lewis county in the year 1903 adopted the following resolution, pursuant to which the present keeper is employed:

"Whereas the board of supervisors has the appointing of the keeper of the county house; and

"Whereas we believe the keeper should be appointed by the board, instead of by the superintendent of the poor as heretofore, therefore be it

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Resolved, That this Board appoints Frank Gerardin, of Croghan, to take possession January 1, 1903, his salary to be the same as that paid heretofore." Prior to the amendment of 1903, section 3 of the Poor Law, so far as here material, read as follows:

"The county superintendents of the poor shall, unless a keeper be appointed by the board of supervisors, employ suitable persons to be keepers of such houses (almshouses) and physicians, matrons and all other necessary officers and servants."

Section 4 of the Poor Law confers upon the board of supervisors of any county power to

"appoint as keeper of its county almshouse one of the superintendents of the poor of such county, who shall hold such office until the expiration of his term as superintendent or until the board of supervisors, by resolution, shall determine that he shall no longer act in such capacity.” Section 4 and subdivision 4 of section 3 of this statute must be read together. So read, the power granted to the board of supervisors to appoint a keeper of the almshouse is limited and restricted to the appointment as such keeper of one of the superintendents of the poor of the county, as prescribed in section 4.

By chapter 340 of the Laws of 1903, subdivision 4 of section 3 of the Poor Law was amended so as to confer power upon the superintendents of the poor to employ suitable persons to be keepers of such houses, "unless a keeper be appointed by the board of supervisors, as provided by section 4 of

this article."

By this amendment the Legislature has made clear its intention to restrict the power of the board of supervisors to appoint a county almshouse keeper to the one case provided for by section 4 of the Poor Law, viz., the case of the appointment of one of the superintendents of the poor as such keeper. But, as I view the statute, that was the only conclusion that could be reached before the amendment, under well-recognized principles of construction.

In the event of the failure of the board of supervisors to designate the superintendent of the poor, himself, as keeper of the almshouse, I am of the opinion that the superintendent of the poor has the right to employ a suitable person as keeper and also to employ a matron, physician and such other offi cers and servants as may be necessary for the proper management and maintenance thereof.

Very respectfully,

JOHN CUNNEEN,
Attorney-General,

5. Purchase all necessary furniture, implements, food and materials for the maintenance of the poor in such houses, and for their employment in labor, and use, sell and dispose of the proceeds of such labor as they shall deem expedient.

Superintendents of the poor and other municipal officers must purchase prison-made goods.- Prison Law, section 182. Penal Law, sections 29, 1866 and 1937. General Municipal Law, section 51. Convict-made goods. Penalties for purchase made without certificate.

It is the duty of officers of political divisions of the State to make requisition on the State Commission of Prisons for such articles used in the municipalities as are manufactured in the State prisons. If such articles are bought elsewhere, without the certificate of the State Commission of Prisons showing inability to furnish the goods required, the officers making such purchase or auditing claims therefor are criminally and civilly liable for

their acts.

INQUIRY.

Certain sheriffs and superintendents of the poor have purchased articles of the kind manufactured in the State prisons through the open market without first having received a certificate from the State Commission of Prisons showing inability by the Commission to furnish the goods required. Are the officers purchasing such goods or who audit the bills therefor liable in any way for their acts?

OPINION.

The general provisions relating to the sale of convict-made goods to municipalities are found in sections 182, 183 and 184 of the Prison Law. These sections, so far as pertinent to this inquiry, provide that no article manufactured in the prisons shall be purchased from any other source for the State, the public institutions of the State or political subdivisions thereof unless the State Commission of Prisons shall certify that the articles cannot be furnished and no claim therefor shall be audited or paid without such certificate. Estimates of the articles required are to be furnished to the Commission and the prices are to be fixed by a board of classification. In the statutes referred to no penalty for failure to comply with the regulations made is provided. There is the simple prohibition that no goods shall be purchased or a claim therefor audited or paid without a certificate.

In my opinion, however, there are penalties for disregard of this mandatory statute. One is found in section 29 of the Penal Law which fixes a criminal liability for acts of the nature referred to. This statute provides:

Where the performance of any act is prohibited by a statute and no penalty for the violation of such statute is imposed in any statute, the doing of such act is a misdemeanor."

Section 1937 of the Penal Law supplements this and provides:

"A person convicted of a crime declared to be a misdemeanor for which no other punishment is especially prescribed by this chapter, or by any other statutory provision in force at the time of the conviction and sentence, is punishable by imprisonment in a penitentiary or county jail for not more than one year or by a fine of not more than five hundred dollars, or by both."

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