Section 73. Indenture by poor officers. 74. Indenture by charitable corporation. 75. Penalty for failure of master or employer to per form provisions of indenture. 76. Assignment of indenture on death of master or em ployer. 77. Contract with apprentice in restraint of trade void. Section 70. Definitions; effect of article.-The instrument whereby a minor is bound out to serve as a clerk or servant in any trade, profession or employment, or is apprenticed to learn the art or mystery of any trade or craft, is an indenture. Every indenture made in pursuance of the laws repealed by this chapter shall be valid hereunder, but hereafter a minor shall not be bound out or apprenticed except in pursuance of this article. To entitle a master to recover from a stranger the value of work and services performed for and rendered to him by one alleged to be an apprentice, a valid contract of apprenticeship must be established by the plaintiff. Barton v. Ford, 35 Hun, 32. § 71. Consents to indenture.-Every indenture must contain: 1. The names of the parties; 2. The age of the minor as nearly as can be ascertained, which age on the filing of the indenture shall be taken prima facie to be the true age; 3. A statement of the nature of the service or employment to which the minor is bound or apprenticed; 4. The term of service or apprenticeship, stating the beginning and end thereof; 5. An agreement that the minor will not leave his master or employer during the term for which he is indentured; 6. An agreement that suitable and proper board, lodging and medical attendance for the minor during the continuance of the term shall be provided, either by the master or employer, or by the parent or guardian of the apprentice; 7. A statement of every sum of money paid or agreed to be paid in relation to the service; 8. If such minor is bound as an apprentice to learn the art or mystery of any trade or craft, an agreement on the part of the employer to teach, or to cause to be carefully and skillfully taught, to such apprentice, every branch of the business to which such apprentice is indentured, and that at the expiration of such apprenticeship he will give to such apprentice a certifi cate, in writing, that such apprentice has served at such trade. or craft a full term of apprenticeship specified in such indenture; 9. If a minor is indentured by the poor officers of a county, city or town, or by the authorities of an orphan asylum, penal or charitable institution, an agreement that the master or employer will cause such child to be instructed in reading, writing and the general rules of arithmetic, and that at the expiration of the term of service he will give to such minor a new Bible. Every such indenture shall be filed in the office of the county clerk of the county where the master or employer resides. (As amended by chapter 448 of the Laws of 1899.) § 72. Indenture by minor; by whom 'signed.-Any minor may, by the execution of the indenture provided by this article, bind himself or herself: 1. As an apprentice to learn the art or mystery of any trade or craft for a term of not less than three nor more than five years; or, 2. As a servant or clerk in any profession, trade or employ. ment for a term of service not longer than the minority of such minor, unless such indenture be made by a minor coming from a foreign country, for the purpose of paying his passage, when such indenture may be made for a term of one year although such term may extend beyond the time when such person will be of full age. An indenture made in pursuance of this section must be signed, 1. By the minor; 2. By the father of the minor unless he is legally incapable of giving consent or has abandoned his family; 3. By the mother of the minor unless she is legally incapable of giving consent; 4. By the guardian of the person of the minor, if any; 5. If there be neither parents or guardians of the minor legally capable of giving consent, by the county judge of the county or a justice of the supreme court of the district, in which the minor resides; whose consent shall be necessary to the binding out or apprenticing in pursuance of this section of a minor coming from a foreign country or of the child of an Indian woman, in addition to the other consents herein provided; 6. By the master or employer. § 73. Indenture by poor officers; by whom signed. The poor officers of a municipal corporation may, by an execution of the indenture provided by this article bind out or apprentice any minor whose support shall become chargeable to such municipal corporation. In such case the indenture shall be signed, 1. By the officer or officers binding out or apprenticing the minor; 2. By the master or employer; 3. By the county judge of the county, if the support of such child was chargeable to the county, by two justices of the peace, if chargeable to the town, or by the mayor and aldermen or any two of them, if chargeable to the city. The poor officers by whom a child is indentured and their successors in office, shall be guardians of every such child and shall inquire into the treatment thereof, and redress any griev ance as provided by law. The provision of the Revised Statutes (1 R. S. 617, § 15) declaring that a majority of the superintendents of the poor of a county "shall be at all times competent to transact business and to execute any powers vested in the board of superintendents" authorizes the majority to act, irrespective of and without consultation with the minority. The authority to bind minors as apprentices given to said superintendents (2 R. S. 134, § 5) may, therefore, be executed by a majority, without a meeting of or notice to all. Johnson v. Dodd, 56 N. Y. 76. The government has the right to require the services of its citizens, minors as well as adults, for the public defense. It may dissolve the relation of master and apprentice existing by force of municipal regu lations, and the obligation of service resulting from indentures executed under or sanctioned by local law. The relation is dissolved by the acceptance of the apprentice into the military service of the government, although his enlistment was his voluntary act, not compelled by the government, and without the consent of the master; and the wages due the former for his service in the army as well as bounty money belong to him, to the exclusion of any claim thereto by the latter. Id. A mother who has received temporary relief from the poor officers is not a person chargeable to the public, within the meaning of the statutes, allowing a child who, or whose parents, become chargeable, to be bound out. People ex rel. Heilbronner v. Hoster, 14 Abb. Pr. N. S. 414. Abandonment of a child by the father is the surrender of his parental right to the child's custody. People ex rel. Wehle v. Weissenbach, 60 N. Y. 385. § 74. Indenture by a charitable corporation; by whom signed. -Where an orphan asylum or charitable institution is authorized to bind out or apprentice dependent or indigent children committed to its charge, every such child shall, when practicable, be bound out or apprenticed to persons of the same religious faith as the parents of such child, and the indenture shall in such case be signed, 1. In the corporate name of such institution by the officer or officers thereof authorized by the directors to sign the corporate name to such instrument, and shall be sealed with the corporate seal; 2. By the master or employer; and 3. May be signed by the child, if over twelve years of age. § 75. Penalty for failure of master or employer to perform provisions of indenture.-If a master or employer to whom a minor has been indentured shall fail, during the term of service, to perform any provision of such indenture, on his part, such minor or any person in his behalf, may bring an action against the master or employer to recover damages for such failure; and if satisfied that there is sufficient cause, the court shall direct such indenture to be canceled, and may render judgment against such master or employer for not to exceed one thousand nor less than one hundred dollars, to be collected and paid over for the use and benefit of such minor to the corporation or officers indenturing such minor, if so indentured, and otherwise, to the parents or guardian of the child. § 76. Assignment of indenture on death of master or employer. On the death of a master or employer to whom a person is indentured by the poor officers of a municipal corporation, the personal representatives of the master or employer may, with the written and acknowledged consent of such person, assign such indenture and the assignee shall become vested with all the rights and subject to all the liabilities of his assignor; or if such consent be refused, the assignment may be made with like effect by the county judge of the county, on proof that fourteen days' notice of the application therefor has been given to the person indentured, to the officers by whom indentured, and to his parent or guardian, if in the country. § 77. Contracts with apprentices in restraint of trade void.No person shall accept from any apprentice any agreement or cause him to be bound by oath, that after his term of service expires, he will not exercise his trade, profession or employment in any particular place; nor shall any person exact from any apprentice, after his term of service expires, any money or other thing, for exercising his trade, profession or employment in any place. Any security given in violation of this section shall be void; and any money paid, or valuable thing delivered, for the consideration, in whole or in part, of any such agreement or exaction, may be recovered back by the person paying the same with interest; and every person accepting such agreement, causing such obligation to be entered into, or exacting money or other thing, is also liable to the apprentice in the penalty of one hundred dollars, which may be recovered in a civil suit. PLACING OUT CHILDREN. AN ACT to prevent evils and abuses in connection with the placing out of children. Chapter 264, Laws of 1898. Section 1. When used in this act the term destitute child means an orphan, abandoned or destitute minor, under the age of six |