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independent departments, constituting the board of public improvements. Aside from these important provisions, and some minor departures, the scheme of the Charter follows in the main the lines of the New York City Consolidation Act, passed in 1882. The plan, therefore, pursued in the present work is that adopted by the author in his edition of the Consolidation Act, published in 1891, which received the approval of the profession.

The commission which prepared the Charter, neither in its report to the legislature accompanying the same, nor in the Jeport of its sub-committee on draft, indicated the statutory sources of its various provisions. The different sections have been carefully examined and compared, and the derivatory statutes noted, wherever possible. To avoid confusion, in cases in which the provisions of the Charter were simply re-enactments of the Consolidation Act, the sections of the latter have been given, without referring to prior statutes revised in the Consolidation Act. However, for the convenience of those desiring to trace these sections to their earlier sources, the author has reprinted from his edition of the Consolidation Act the table showing what acts were included in the same.

The annotations of judicial decisions under the various sections have not been confined merely to authorities construing former statutes revised in the Charter, but the same include cases upon analogous provisions found in the charters of other municipalities in this State. All the authorities to and including the 151 N. Y., 15 Appellate Division, 19 Miscellaneous and 44 N. Y. Supp., have been examined and cited.

The Charter, unlike the Consolidation Act, is not complete in itself. It extends many of the provisions of the Consolidation Act and other statutes of a general and permanent character to the new city, either specifically or by general language. The limitations of this work forbid the reprinting of all the statutes thus continued in force by the Charter. But the most important of these acts have either been inserted in the appropriate places in the text, under the sections, in full, or referred to, or,

where this was not practicable, the matter has been placed in a series of appendixes.

A brief reference to the matter contained in these appendixes may facilitate easy reference to the volume.

In Appendix I., as a necessary complement to the Charter, will be found the supplementary legislation recommended by the commission, amending the general election law in important particulars necessary in connection with future elections within the territory consolidated; the act providing for election of city officers in Greater New York at the general election in November, 1897; the statute providing for boards of supervisors in counties wholly within the limits of a city, but not comprising the whole of such city; the act providing for the removal of the City Court of New York from its present quarters in the City Hall, and authorizing the fitting up, in the latter, of suitable accommodations for the new municipal assembly; and, finally, the proposed constitutional amendments concerning the transfer of duties of boards of supervisors in cities which include an entire county, to the municipal assembly, and as to limitation of indebtedness of counties wholly included within the limits of a city.

The various regulations relating to the construction and alteration of buildings in the territory consolidated continued in effect by section 647 of the Charter, are to be found, with all the amendments thereto, to and including the year 1897, and with notes of judicial decisions, in Appendix V.

The wards of the former cities of New York and Brooklyn, continued by sections 1577 and 1578 of the Charter, and designated as the wards of the boroughs of Manhattan, Bronx and Brooklyn, are reproduced in full in Appendix IV.

The sections of the Consolidation Act made applicable to the City Court and the new Municipal Courts, replacing the former District Courts, are reprinted in Appendixes VI

and VII.

The provisions of law relating to city marshals and coroners, continued by sections 1428 and 1571 of the Charter, respectively, are given in Appendixes VIII and IX.

2.)

By section 1585 of the Charter, the public administrator is made a county officer, and the present statutes governing his powers and duties are declared to remain unaffected. These regulations are set out at length, with annotations of cases, in Appendix XI.

The sections of the Consolidation Act governing liens upon municipal contracts, which remain in force by section 1610 of the Charter, are placed in Appendix X.

The basis of representation in the board of aldermen, and the council, constituting the municipal assembly, being the assembly districts included within the Greater New York, the apportionment of these assembly districts made in 1895, pursuant to constitutional requirement, has been reprinted in Appendix III.

In view of the many provisions of the State Constitution concerning the government of cities, limitation of their indebtedness, and restrictions upon local legislation, city officials, civil service, and the like, the author has collated all the pertinent sections covering the subject in Appendix II. In connection with this branch of the work, especial care has been taken to give full notes of the cases interpreting these constitutional limitations.

For the purpose of local improvements and the creation of governing boards thereof, the territory of the city has been divided by the Charter into twenty-two districts, co-extensive with the senatorial districts provided by the Constitution, which districts will also be found in Appendix II.

The Royal English Colonial Charters have been reprinted in Appendix XII, for reference as to the continued vested rights of the city.

As before stated, the Consolidation Act, and all acts of the legislature affecting the local government of The City of New York not inconsistent with the Charter or revised therein, being continued in force, the author has prepared a table of all the sections of the Consolidation Act, showing which have been revised in the Charter, which repealed or superseded, and those still in force or unaffected, with references to the sections

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reprinted in the appendixes. In addition, the statutes relating to The City of New York passed by the legislature from January 1, 1882 (when the Consolidation Act was deemed enacted), to and including the session of 1897, and which are not repealed or temporary, have been collated by their titles and subject-matter in a table, divided, for convenience of reference, under the same chapter and title headings as those of the Charter.

The exhaustive index includes full references to the matter in the appendixes.

The author has been most efficiently assisted in the preparation of this work by his brother, William Ash, of this bar, to whom this acknowledgment is gratefully made. To Mr. John B. Uhle, of this bar, acknowledgment is also due for his labors in preparing the index. MARK ASH.

NEW YORK, June 10, 1897.

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