LAWS OF NEW YORK. 
( HAP. 74. 
AN ACT to Create a Metropolitan Sanitary District and Board 
of Health Therein, for the Preservation of Life and Health, and 
to Prevent the Spread of Disease. Passed February 26, 1866, 
three-fifths being present. 
Ihe People of the State of Ne w York, represented in Senate and 
Assembly, do enact as follows: 
Section- 1. So much of the territory of the State of New 
York, and of the cities, villages and towns thereof, as now com- 
poses the Metropolitan police district of the State of New York, 
shall constitute, and is hereby declared a district to be known 
as "The Metropolitan Sanitary District'of the State of New 
York." 
§ 2. Within fifteen days after the passage of this act the Gov- 
ernor shall nominate, and, by and with the consent of the Senate, 
shall appoint four suitable persons, residents of said district three 
of whom must be physicians, and one of whom shall be a resident 
of the city of Brooklyn, who, with the Health Officer of the port 
of New York for the time being, shall be Sanitary Commissioners 
in and for said district; and the said Sanitary Commissioners, 
together with the Commissioners, for any time being, of Metro- 
politan police (not exceeding four, and being the present four and 
their successors) shall constitute a board of health for the said ■ 
Metropolitan sanitary district, and said board shall be denomi- 
nated "The Metropolitan Board of Health any five members of 
which, at any regularly called or adjourned meeting, shall organ- 
The Board. 2 
ize and constitute a quorum for the transaction of business; and 
the phrase " said board," or 11 the board," when used herein, un- 
less clearly referring to some other body, shall be construed to 
mean said " The Metropolitan Board of Healthand the phrase 
" said district," or "the district," unless the same clearly refers 
to some other district, shall be construed to refer to said " The 
Metropolitan Sanitary District of the State of New York." And 
the term " sanitary commissioners" shall refer to the members of 
said board who are not also members of the Board of Police, and 
whenever the words "police," "board of police," or " police 
commissioners" arc used in this act, they shall be taken and con- 
strued to mean the" Board of Metropolitan Police Commissioners 
of the Metropolitan police district of the State of New York. 
And whenever the words "place, matter or thing," or either two 
of said words, are used in this act, they shall, unless the sense 
plainly requires a different construction, be construed to include 
whatever is embraced in the enumeration with which they are 
connected in either and both clauses of the fourteenth section of 
this act. 
§ 3. The said four persons so appointed shall hold office as 
such Sanitary Commissioners respectively for the terms following, 
namely: One for one year,one for two years, one for three years, 
and one for four years, and until their successors are appointed 
and qualified. Immediately after the appointment of said four 
persons as aforesaid, they shall meet in the office of the Secretary 
of State, and shall proceed, under his direction, to determine by 
lot which of them shall hold, for the respective terms of one, two, 
three and four years, the said office of Sanitary Commissioner. 
Immediately, and before entering upon the duties of the office, 
they shall take the oath prescribed for State officers by the con- 
stitution of the State, and shall file the same in the office of the 
Secretary of State, who, upon receiving the said oath of office, 
shall issue to each of said commissioners a certificate of appoint- 
Deflnitions. 
Official Term 
Oatb. 3 
• ment for his respective term of office so determined as aforesaid ; 
upon receiving which they shall severally be and become Sani- 
tary Commissioners, and shall possess and exercise the powers 
and perform the duties of said board as defined in this act. 
§ 4. The term of office of each of the said Sanitary Commis- 
sioners, after the expiration of the terms aforesaid, shall be four 
years, and they shall be appointed upon the nomination of the 
Governor, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. 
Any vacancies that may occur by reason of death, resignation, 
removal from office or otherwise, shall be filled in like manner. 
But if any vacancy shall occur during the recess of the Senate, 
the Governor may fill such vacancy by appointment, and the per- 
son so appointed shall hold office until twenty days after the next 
meeting of the Senate. 
§ 5. Immediately after the four appointed Sanitary Commis- 
sioners- shall have taken the oath of office as above provided, they 
shall meet with the Commissioners of the Metropolitan Police, 
and the Commissioners of Metropolitan Police with them and the 
Health Officer of the port of New York, and organize as a Board 
of Health by electing one of said Board to be President, and one 
of said board to be Treasurer thereof, and by appointing a proper 
person to be Secretary of said Board. And the successive Presi- 
dents of said board of Health shall be annually elected by the 
said board from the members thereof, and the successive Trea- 
surers shall be members of said Board; but the Secretary shall 
not be a member of the Board. The Treasurer and Secretary 
shall respectively continue in office as such until removed by the 
election of a successor or otherwise. The said Sanitary Com- 
missioners shall each receive a salary of two thousand five hun- 
dred dollars a year; and each Police Commissioner who may be 
a member of said Board of Health, and the Health officer, shall 
as such receive a salary of five hundred dollars a year; and the 
member of said Board of Health who acts as Treasurer, shall re- 
Vacancies. 
Organize. 
Treasurer. 
Secretary. 
Salaries. 4 
ceive an additional compensation of five hundred dollars a year 
for his services as Treasurer. All salaries allowed under this law 
shall be payable as the Board shall provide. But for every regu- 
[ lar or special meeting of said Board which any Sanitary Com- 
missioner or the Secretary shall fail to attend, there shall be de- 
ducted from the salary of the person so failing the sum of ten 
dollars ; and for every failure of a Police Commissioner or of said 
Health officer to attend any such meeting, there shall be deducted 
from hissaid salary the sum of two dollars; and it shall be the 
duty of the Treasurer to see that all such deductions arc made 
before payments of said salaries. The Board may appoint a Cor- 
responding Secretary at an annual salary not exceeding one thou- 
sand dollars. 
§ 6. The President of the said Board shall preside and preserve 
order at the meetings of the Board ; and in case of the absence 
or inability of the regular Secretary to attend, he shall appoint a 
Secretary pro tem;, who, for the time being, may perform any 
duty of the Secretary. The President shall have all the power 
and authority given to the "City Inspector" in the six hundred 
and forty-sixth chapter of the laws of eighteen hundred and sixty- 
five (passed May first, eighteen hundred and sixty-five), in res- 
pect to the making, awarding or executing of a contract or con- 
tracts for street cleaning, or any matter thereto pertaining. But 
nothing herein contained shall be construed as affecting in any 
maimer the validity of any contract heretofore made by virtue of 
said act. And the Board at any time, in the absence of the Pre- 
sident or Secretary, may elect a President or Secretary pro tern. 
from their number, who shall exercise the powers of such officers 
respectively. The Secretary shall, subject to the direction of 
said Board, keep and authenticate its acts, records, papers and 
proceedings, preserve its books and papers, conduct its corres- 
pondence, and aid in accomplishing the purposes of this law, as 
the Board may direct: and said officer (as well as the other offi- 
Failure to attend 
meetings. 
President. 
Street Cleaning. 
Old contracts. 
Offieers. pro tem. 5 
cers and agents appointed by said Board) shall be subject to re- 
moval by the Board for cause to be entered in its minutes, and 
said Board may appoint his or their successor ; and his salary, to 
be fixed from time to time by the Board, shall not exceed three 
thousand five hundred dollars annually. Said Board may design 
and adopt a seal, and use the same in the authentication of its 
orders and proceedings, commissioning its officers and agents, 
and otherwise, as the rules of the Board may provide. 
§ 7. The Treasurer of said Board shall be the fiscal officer 
of the Board, he shall hold, and, on check and voucher, 
duly disburse, as said Board may order, and for the purposes of 
and in conformity to this act, the moneys he may receive, or be- 
longing to the fund herein provided; and shall deposit the same 
when paid to him by the Treasurer of the State of New York, or 
otherwise, and pending the regular disbursement thereof, in a 
bank or banks in the city of New York designated by such last 
named officer. He shall execute a bond, with not less than two 
sureties, conditioned in a penalty of thirty thousand dollars, to 
the people of the State of New York, for the faithful discharge of 
his duties as such Treasurer. The sureties, not less than two in 
number, shall justify before a Justice of the Supreme Court, in 
the aggregate in a sum not less than twice the last named 
amount; but before the said Treasurer shall enter upon his duties 
the said bond shall be approved by and tiled with the Comptroller 
of the State. The Treasurer sjiall keep, or cause to be kept, 
books showing all his receipts and payments, and shall preserve , 
his vouchers therefor ; and should any collections ever be made' 
on such bond, or in suits or proceedings, or otherwise, by said 
Board, the amount thereof shall be received and accounted for 
by the Treasurer, or in case of collection on his bond, by the re- 
cipient thereof, to the State Treasurer, and be deposited in the 
bank or banks aforesaid, applied for the legitimate uses of said 
Board, or as herein elsewhere provided. 
Salaries. 
• 4 
Treasurer. 
Treasurer's ac- 
counts. 6 
§ 8. Any sanitary commissioner of said Board who shall ac- 
cept or hold any political or municipal office during his term of of- 
fice, or shall be publicly nominated for any office elective by the 
people, and shall not, within ten days succeeding his knowledge 
thereof, publicly decline the said nomination, shall, in either case, 
be deemed thereby to have vacated his membership of said Board, 
and the vacancy so created shall be filled as is provided as to other 
vacancies ; but membership of this Board shall notaftect member- 
ship in the Board of Police or the office of Health Officer. 
§ 9. Any member of the said Board may at any time, be re- 
moved from office by the Governor, under the provisions of the laws 
relative to the removal of sheriffs from office, which provisions are 
hereby extended so as to relate to the members of said Board; but 
before such removal, such member shall be served with specific 
charges, stating the dereliction of duty complained of, and shall 
be afforded adequate opportunity to publicly answer the same 
and make his defence thereto, upon reasonable notice to be given 
him ; and on the application of the Governor, or the party charg- 
ed, any judge of the Supreme Court shall have as full power and 
authority to compel the attendance and examination of witnesses, 
touching such charges or defence, and the production of books 
and papers relating thereto, at the place and time where the afore, 
said proceedings or hearing may take place, as is given herein in 
respect to the examination of witnesses, or the production of pa- 
pers, on the application ofsaitl Board, in the fourteenth section of 
this act. And it shall be the duty of such judge (and of any 
other judge named in said section) to exercise such authority, 
and to take or supervise the taking of such examination to be 
used on the hearing of such charges or defence. And if, by re- 
movals or other cause, the members of the Board shall be less 
than five (but not less than three,) the existing members shall 
still constitute a Board, competent, by unanimous action, to exer- 
cise the powers delegated by this act. 
Hold no other 
office. 
Removal of 
Commissioners. 7 
§10. Said Board shall have power to create a chief executive 
office, and appoint a suitable person to fill such office, who shall 
be an experienced and skillful physician, resident in said district, 
whose full name of office shall be, '' The Sanitary Superintendent , 
of the Metropolitan Sanitary district of the State of New York," 1 
but he may be designated as " Sanitary Superintendent." It 
shall be the duty of said officer, as he may be directed, to exe- 
cute, or cause to be executed, the orders of said Board, and gen- 
erally, according to its instruction, to exercise a practical super- 
vision in respect to the inspectors, agents and other persons 
(other than the Secretary, Treasurer and members of the Board, 
or the members of the police force,) who may exercise any 
authority under this act; and said officer shall devote his services 
to the aforesaid purposes as the Board may from time to time 
direct. He shall be entitled to receive a salary, to be fixed by 
the Board, which shall not exceed five thousand dollars annually. 
Such Superintendent shall make reports weekly, or oftener, if di- 
rected by the Board, in writing, stating generally his own action 
and that of his surbordi nates, and the condition of the public 
health in said district, andanv causes endangering life or health 
that have come to his knowledge during said period. And said 
Board may appoint two "Assistant Sanitary Superintendents," 
one of whom shall be a resident of the city of Brooklyn, and shall 
principally perform his duties in that city, whose duties shall be of 
the same nature as those of the last named officer; and their salaries, 
not to exceed thirty five hundred dollars a year each, shall be fix- 
ed by the Board. 
§ 11. Said Board may appoint and commission such number 
of " sanitary inspectors " as the Board may deem needful, not 
exceeding fifteen, and, from time to time prescribe the duties and 
salaries of each of said inspectors and the place of their perfor- 
mance (and of all other persons exercising any authority under 
said Board except as herein specially provided;) but at least ten 
of such inspectors shall be physicians of skill and of practical 
Sanitary Super- 
intendent. 
Assistant Super- 
intendents 
Sanitary inspec- 
tors. . . ; 8 
professional experience in said district, and the residue thereof 
shall be selected with reference to their practical knowledge of 
scientific or sanitary matters, which may especially qualify them 
for such inspectors. Each of such inspectors shall, twice in each 
week, make a written report to said Board, stating what duties 
he has performed and where he has performed them, and also 
such facts as have come to his knowledge, connected with the 
purpose of this act, as arc by him deemed worthy the at- 
tention of said Board, or as its regulations may require of him ; and 
such, and the other reports herein elsewhere mentioned, shall be 
preserved among the records ot said Board. The Board may 
also employ such number of clerks and servants, and fix their 
salaries, and take such legal advice and employ such attorneys, 
as may be necessary to the efficient, safe and economical dis- 
charge of the duties by this act devolved on said board. And 
may also rent, lease, fit up and furnish such offices as the convenience 
of the Board, its officers, agents and employees, and the prudent 
and proper discharge of the duties of the Board may require: 
and make such incidental and additional expenditures, having 
due regard to economy, as the purposes and provisions of this 
act and the dangers to life and public health may justify or re- 
quire: and may provide that any failure of any officer, agent or 
employee of the Board to duly fulfill his engagements or discharge 
his duty, shall cause a forfeiture of the whole or any less portion 
of the salary or compensation of such officer, agent or employee, 
as the rules or practice of the Board may provide. And the 
Board of Police is authorized to allow the Board of Health to 
occupy a portion of its premises. 
§ 12. The authority, duty and powers, whether given by any 
law, or by any ordinance made thereunder heretofore (for the 
purpose of preserving or prolecting life or health, or preventing 
disease) conferred npon or now belonging to, or being exercised 
by the Board of Health, or the Board of Public Health of or in 
the city of New York, or of or in the city of Brooklyn, or else- 
Clerk*. 
Officers and 
Agents. 
Powers of Board. 9 
where in said district, the mayor and common council of either 
of said cities, the mayor of the city of New York, by and with 
the advice and consent of the board of aidermen, the president 
of the board of aidermen, the president of the board of assistant 
aidermen (or councilmen,) the resident physician, the health 
commissioner, the mayor and the commissioners of health, the 
commissioners of health, the city inspector (or the city inspect- 
or's department) of either of said cities; or conferred upon or 
now belonging to any two or more of the said bodies or officers, 
or last named boards or departments, or to any board of health 
or health officer or agent in said district, or exercised by any of- 
ficer or person appointed by or deriving authority from any one 
or more of the bodies, officers, departments or last named boards 
(so far as said powers and authority can be exercised and such 
duty performed by the board hereby created, without interfer- 
ence with the proper discharge of the duties,, other than the sani- 
tary duties, heretofore imposed upon the Board of Metropolitan 
Police,) are hereby exclusively conferred upon, and shall here- 
after be exclusively exercised by the aforesaid " The Metropoli- 
tan Board of Healththe members and officers thereof, as here- 
in provided; and the same are to be exercised as herein set forth 
(and to such an extent and in such a place and manner as said 
Board may provide,) for the greater protection and security of 
health and life in said district, and the appropriate parts 
thereof; and after this act goes into effect, no salary or compen- 
sation shall be paid to any officer, board or agent, or in respect 
to any service, expenditure or employment under the authority 
of any health law, ordinance, regulation or appointment of or in 
said cities or any part of said district, unless such salary, expen- 
diture or employment shall be authorized by the Board hereby 
created and contemplated by the provisions of this act. And 
the aforesaid power, duty and authority hereby transferred to 
and conferred upon said Board shall be held to include all the 
Cities to pay no 
salaries. 
Old Health Ordi- 
nances. 10 
power, duty and authority given, or conferred or purporting to 
be given or to be conferred to or upon any person, officer or 
board, in or by any ordinance contained or purported to be con- 
tained in the first ten chapters of ordinances, being numbered 
from one to ten inclusive in a compilation of " Laws and Ordi- 
nances relative to the Preservation of the Public Health in the 
city of New York," and purporting to be published under the 
authority and by the direction of the Mayor and the Commis- 
sioner of Health of said city, in the year one thousand eight hun- 
dred and sixty, and by any existing amendments and additions 
thereto. But no fees of any kind shall be charged for the perfor- 
mance of any duties imposed by said ordinances. And said board 
shall also possess (and may exercise by its own agents, or by or- 
der to be executed by said board of police), throughout said dis- 
trict, all the power and authority for the protection of life or 
health, or the care or preservation of health, or persons diseased 
or threatened therewith, conferred by any law or ordinance re- 
lating to any part of said district, and especially by the act of the 
seventeenth of April, eighteen hundred and fifty-four (being the 
three hundred and eighty-fourth chapter of the laws of eighteen 
hundred and fifty-four), upon the Mayor, Common Council, Board 
of Health, or the Health Officers, (or upon any two or more of 
them, or other officers) in said act mentioned. But the powers 
and authority in this section given shall not be held to interfere 
with the powers and duties of the Croton Aqueduct Board, Street 
Commissioner, Superintendent of Unsafe Buildings, Comptroller 
of New York city, or the board authorized to tontract for street 
cleaning (under the law of eighteen hundred and sixty-five); nor 
shall anything in the aforesaid laws or ordinances contained be 
construed as a limitation of any power in this bill elsewhere given 
to the said board, or to limit the penalties and expenses it may 
enforce or collect; and all the power recited or given by said or- 
dinances shall belong wholly to said board, who may exercise 
the same without the advice, assent or co-operation of any muni- 
No fees. 
Law of April 
17,1854. 
What not to be 
affected. 
M unici pal au- 
thority not to 
interfere. ' 11 
cipal board or officer, and in any manner not inconsistent with 
the other sections of this law, without being limited to the means 
or by the procedure in said ordinances stated. And no municipal 
body or other authority in said district shall hereafter create or 
employ any officer or agent, or incur any expense, under any of 
said (or other) health laws or ordinances, or in any respect of 
any matter concerning which said board is by this act given con- 
trol or jurisdiction. All the aforesaid powers are to be pos- 
sessed and exercised as fully as if herein repeated and separate- 
ly conferred upon said board. 
§ 13. Said Board shall possess all the authority and be charged 
with all the duties conferred or imposed upon the City Inspector 
of the city of New York, by the act passed upon the second day. 
of April, one thousand eight hundred and fifty three, or by any 
and all acts relative to births, deaths or marriages; and the duty 
of all persons and officers in any such (or any aforesaid) acts 
mentioned shall hereafter be the same, in respect to said Board, 
as if said law or laws had contained the name of said Board in- 
stead of that of the City Inspector of the city of New York (or 
other officer), and said acts are hereby extended throughout said 
district; but the powers now possessed by the City Inspector 
with reference to the inspection of weights and measures, are 
hereby conferred upon the Mayor of the city of New York. And 
it shall be the duty of said Inspector, and of whoever may have 
possession or cont rol thereof, to transfer and deliver to said Board 
all public books, records, statistics and papers in his or their pos- 
session, or under his or their official or personal control, and to 
give such information to said Board as he or his department may 
possess relative to any matter in this section, or in either of said 
last mentioned laws referred to, and his authority and duty under 
said laws shall cease when this act goes into effect, and the Jus- 
tices of the Supreme Court shall have jurisdiction to enforce this 
provision by mandamus. And said Board shall perform all the 
duties by this section imposed, as a part of its regular duties, and 
Births, deaths 
and marriages. 
Weights and 
Measures. 
City Inspector to 
deliver books, 
&c. 12 
no fees shall be demanded or received by reason thereof or any- 
thing in said act or acts contained. It shall be the duty of the 
next of kin of any person deceased, and of each person being 
with such deceased person at his or her death, and of the person 
occupying or living in any house or premises in or on which any 
person may die, and of the parents of any child born in said dis- 
trict, (and if there be no parent alive that has made such report, 
then of the next of kin of such child born), and of every person 
present at such birth, within live days after such birth or death, 
to report to said Board in writing, so far as known, the date, 
ward and street number of said birth, and the sex and color of 
such child born, and the names of the parents, and the age, color, 
nativity, last occupation and cause of death of such deceased per- 
son, and the ward and street, the place of such person's death 
and last residence. And for every omission of any person to 
make and keep the registry required by the acts referred to in 
this section, and for every omission to report a written copy of 
the same to said Board within ten days after any birth or mar- 
riage provided to be registered, and for every omission by any 
person to make the report of any death or birth, with the partic- 
ulars as herein required, any person guilty of such omission shall 
be liable to pay a fine of ten dollars, which may be sued for and 
recovered in the name of said Board, for the benefit of said Board. 
But no person shall be liable for such fine for not making the re- 
port herein required, if he or she shall prove that such report had 
been made to the Board by some other person before suit brought 
for such penalty, or that he or she was ignorant of such birth or 
death. 
§ 14. First.-Whenever any building, erection, excavation, 
premises, business pursuit, matter or thing, or the sewerage, 
drainage or ventilation thereof, in said district, shall, in the opin- 
ion of said Board (whether as a whole or in any particular), be 
in a condition or in effect dangerous to life or health, said Board 
may take and file among its records what it shall regard as suffi- 
Duty to report 
birth* and 
death*. 
What Board 
may order done. 13 
cient proof to authorize its declaration that the same, to the ex- 
tent it may specify, is a public nuisance, or dangerous to life or 
health; and said Board may thereupon enter in its records the 
same as a nuisance, and order the same to be removed, abated, 
suspended, altered or otherwise improved or purified, as said or- 
der shall specify; and shall cause said order, before its execution, 
to be served on the owner, occupant or tenant thereof, or some 
of them, which to said Board, may appear most directly interest- 
ed in its execution, provided said- parties, or any of them, are in 
said district and can be found, and such service can be conve- 
niently made, and if any party so served, (or intended to be ac- 
cording to this law), shall, before its execution is commenced, or 
within three days after such service or attempted service, apply 
to said Board, or the President thereof, to have said order or its 
execution stayed or modified, it shall then be the duty of said 
Board to temporarily suspend or modify said order or the exe- 
cution thereof, (save in cases of imminent danger from impending 
pestilence, when said Board may exercise extraordinary powers, 
as herein elsewhere specified), and to give such party or parties 
together, as the case in the opinion of the Board may require, a 
reasonable and fair opportunity to be heard before said Board, 
and to present facts and proofs, (according to the rules or direc- 
tions of said Board) against said declaration and the execution of 
said order, or in favor of its modification, according to the regu- 
lations of the Board ; and the Board shall enter in its minutes 
such facts and proof as it may receive, and its proceedings on 
such hearing, and any other proof it may take; and thereafter 
may rescind, modify or reaffirm its said declaration and order, and 
require execution of said original, or of a new or modified order 
to be made, in such form and effect as it may finally determine. 
Second.-Said Board may order or cause any excavation, erec- 
tion, vehicle, vessel, water craft, room, building, place, sewer, pipe, 
passage, premises, ground, matter or thing (in said district or adja- 
cent waters) regarded by said Board as in a condition dangerous or 
Declare nui- 
sance. 
Service of orders. 
Impending pes- 
tilence. 
What Board 
may order done. 14 
detrimental to life or health, to be purified, cleaned, disinfected, 
altered or improved ; and may also order any substance, matter 
or thing, being or left in any street, alley, water, excavation, 
building, erection, place or grounds (whether such place wherje 
the same may be, be public or private), and which said board 
may regard as dangerous or detrimental to life or health, to be 
speedily removed to some proper place; and may designate or 
provide a place to which the same shall be removed, when no 
such adequate or proper place, in the judgment of said board, is 
already provided. The said board may require the board of po- 
lice to execute any of the orders referred to in this act. It 
shall be the duty of the board of police to execute the 
orders of the said board of health, and the said board of 
police may employ the necessary persons and means about 
such execution. Or the said Board of Health, if it shall con- 
sider the public health or interests so to require, may execute 
such orders through its own officers or persons, and means to be 
engaged by the said Board of Health; and about the execution 
of the said orders, both the said Board of Police and the said 
Board of Health shall have, each as well as the authority confer- 
red by this act as all the power and authority conferred by the 
fifty-third and fifty-fourth sections of the Metropolitan Police act, 
passed on the twenty-fifth day of April, eighteen hundred and 
sixty-four, and of any amendments made to said act or to be made 
enlarging such authority; and all powers and authority possessed 
and exercised by said Board of Police under said act pertaining 
to sanitary matters, or in conflict with the objects and purposes 
of this act, shall hereafter be enjoyed, possessed and exercised by 
said Board of Health, and the orders of the kind in this section 
secondly mentioned shall, if the proper person or persons are 
known to the Board, and can be conveniently found in said dis- 
trict, on whom to make the service, be served upon one or more 
of the owners, occupants, lessees or tenants of the subject matter 
to which said order relates, or upon one or more of the persons 
_ „ , 
cuto orders. 
cuteits™wnCXe" 
orders. 
sssand &4 of Act 
i8^thAp"1 15 
whose duty it was to have done what is therein required to be 
done, as the case may render just and proper in the opinion of 
said Board ; and if said order is not complied with, or as far 
complied with as the Board may regard as reasonable, within five 
days after such service or attempted service, or within any shorter 
time which, in case of pestilence, the Board may have designated, 
or is not thereafter speedily and fully executed, then any such or- 
der may be executed as herein elsewhere provided in regard to 
any of the orders of said Board. And if personal service of any 
aforesaid order cannot be made under this section by reason of 
absence from said district, or inability to find such persons therein, 
to be shown by the offic:al certificate of the officer having such 
order to serve, then service may be made through the mail, or by 
a copy left at the residence or place of business of the person 
sought to be served, with a person of suitable age and discretion, 
and the expenses attending the execution of any and all of such 
orders respectively shall be a several and joint personal charge 
against each of the owners or part owners, and each of the les- 
sees and occupants of the building, business, place, property, 
matter or thing to which said order relates, and in respect of 
which said expenses were incurred ; and also against every per- 
son or body who was by law or contract bound to do that in re- 
gard to such business, place, street, property, matter or thing 
which said order requires, and said expenses shall also be a lien 
on all rent and compensation due, or to grow due, for the use of 
any place, room, building, premises, matter or thing to which said 
order relates, and in respect of which said expenses were incur- 
red ; and also from the time of tiling, as aforesaid ; a lien on all 
compensation due or to grow due for the cleaning of any street, 
place, ground or thing, or for the cleansing (or removal) of any 
matter, thing or place, the failing to do which by the party bound 
so to do, or the doing of the same in whole or in part by order 
of said Board, was the cause or occasion of any such order or ex- 
pense. Said Board of Health, its assignee, or the party who has 
Service of order. 
Jenses a 
Expenses a lien. 16 
Action by as- 
signee. 
under its order, or that of the Board of Police acting thereunder, 
incurred said expense, or has rendered service for which payment 
is due, and as the rules of said Board of Health may provide, 
may institute and maintain a suit against any one herein declared 
liable for expenses as aforesaid, or against any person, firm or cor- 
poration owing, or who may owe such rent or compensation, and 
may recover the expenses so incurred under any order aforesaid. 
And only one or more of such parties liable or interested may be 
made parties to such action as the Board may elect; but the par- 
ties made responsible as aforesaid for such expenses shall be liable 
to contribute or to make payment as between themselves, in res- 
pect of such expenses and of any sum recovered for such expenses 
qr compensation, or by any party paid on account thereof, accor. 
ding to the legal or equitable obligation existing between them. 
And it is hereby declared to be the duty of every owner and part 
owner and person interested, and of every lessee, tenant and oc- 
cupant of, or in any place, water, ground, room, stall, apartment, 
building, erection, vessel, vehicle, matter and thing in said dis- 
trict, and of every person conducting or interested in business 
therein or thereat, and of every person who has undertaken to 
clean any place, ground or street therein, and of every person, 
public officer and board having charge of any ground, place, 
building or erection therein, to keep, place a fid preserve the same, 
and every part, and the sewerage, drainage and ventilation thereof, 
in such condition, and to conduct the same in such manner that 
it shall not be dangerous or prejudicial to life or health. And in 
any suit in this action, or elsewhere in this act, authorized to be 
brought, the right of said Board or the Board of Police to make 
any order or cause the execution thereof, shall be presumed. Any 
member of the police force, and every inspector or officer of said 
Board of Health, as the regulations of either of said boards may 
respectively provide relative to its own subordinates, may arrest 
any person who shall, in view of such member or officer, violate, 
or do or be engaged in doing, or committing in said district any 
Parties to suit. 
Every body's 
duty to cleanse. 
Authority of 
Board to be pre- 
sumed. 
Arrests by In- 
spectors, &c. 17 
act or thing forbidden by this act, or by any law or ordinance, 
the authority conferred by which is given to said Board of Health, 
or who shall, in such presence, resist, or be engaged in resisting 
the enforcement of any of said orders of said Board, or of the 
Board of Police pursuant thereto. And any person so arrested 
shall be thereafter treated and disposed of as any other person 
duly arrested for a misdemeanor. And said Board of Health, 
having first entered on its minutes, or filed in its records, what 
it may regard as adequate proof of a violation or resistance by 
any person in said district, of any such law, ordinance or order, 
may order (by its warrant, under its seal and attested by the sig- 
nature of its president and secretary, and indicating, as far as 
conveniently practicable, the time, place and nature of the offence 
committed) the arrest of any such person, and such order of ar- 
rest shall be of the same effect and shall be executed as a warrant 
from a justice or judge, duly issued; and the party arrested shall 
be taken before a magistrate, and thereupon and thereafter shall 
by all officers, be treated as beingand have the rights andliability 
of a party under arrest by order of the proper officer or tribunal, 
for a misdemeanor of the nature indicated in the said order of 
arrest. Proofs, affidavits and examinations as to any matter 
under this act may be taken by or before one or more members 
of the Board, or other person, as the board shall authorize ; and 
the secretary, the sanitary and assistant superintendents and any 
member of said board shall, severally, have authority to adminis- 
ter oaths in such matters, and any person guilty of wilfully testi- 
fying falsely shall incur all the pains and penalties of perjury. 
Any Judge of the Supreme Court of any judicial district, wholly 
or partly within said sanitary district, or who is holding court or 
chambers therein, upon the written application of said board or 
its president, to be made by or through its attorney or counsel, 
may issue his order by him subscribed, for the examination with- 
out unreasonable delay by or before such justice, of any person 
or persons, and the production of books and papers, or the inspec- 
Arrests ordered 
by Board. 
Proof, by whom 
taken. 
Administer 
oaths. 
Attorney and 
counsel. 
Order of exami- 
nation, &c., by 
Judge. 18 
tion and taking of copies of the whole or parts thereof, at a time 
and place within said district, and in said order to be named ; 
and it shall be the duty of such justice to take or superintend such 
examination, which shall be under oath, and shall be signed by 
the party or parties examined and be certified by said Judge, and 
with any copies of books or papers be delivered to said board or 
its secretary, for the use of said board. And such examination, 
and any proceeding connected therewith or under said order, 
may wholly or in part be had, conducted or continued by or be- 
fore any other of said judges, as well as that one thereof who 
made said order; and in and about the same, every such judge 
shall have as full power and authority to punish for contempt, 
and enforce obedience to his said or other order or directions res- 
pecting the matter aforesaid (or that of any other judge), as any 
such judge of the Supreme Court may now have or shall possess 
to enforce obedience or punish contempt in any case or matter 
whatever. Such application shall name or describe the person or 
persons whose examination is sought (and so far as possible the 
books or papers desired to be inspected), and the matters or 
points effecting life or health in said district as to which said 
board requests the same to take place, and the judge shall, on the 
proceedings, decide what questions are pertinent and allowable 
in respect thereto, and shall require the same to be properly an- 
swered ; but no answer of any person so examined shall be used 
in any criminal proceeding. Service of any order of any such 
judge may be made, and the same proved in the same manner as 
the service of either an injunction or of a subpoena may now be 
made or proved. And it shall be the duty of all said judges to 
facilitate the early determination of the aforesaid proceedings. 
§ 15. It shall be the duty of said Board to give all information 
that may be reasonably required concerning any threatened dan. 
ger to the public health, to the Health Officer of the port of New 
York, and to the commissioners of Quarantine of said port; who 
shall give the like information to said Board; and said Board 
Board to give 
and receive in 
formation. 19 
and said Officer and said Quarantine Commissioners shall, so far 
p,s legal and practicable, co-operate together to prevent the 
spread of disease, and for the protection of life, and for the pro- 
motion of health, within the sphere of their respective duties; 
and the authority and power of said Health Officer and Quaran- 
tine Commissioners is not by this act affected, save as last afore- 
said, anything herein elsewhere to the contrary notwithstanding. 
§ 16. And said Board shall use all reasonable means for ascer- 
taining the existence and cause of disease or peril to life or 
health, and for averting the same throughout said district; and 
shall promptly cause all proper information in possession of said 
Board to be sent to the local health authorities of any city, vil- 
lage or town in this State which may request the same, and shall 
add thereto such useful suggestions as the experience of said 
Board may supply. And it is hereby made the duty of said 
health authorities to supply the like information and suggestions 
to said Metropolitan Board of Health. And said Board may 
take measures, and supply agents, and afford inducements and 
facilities for general and gratuitous vaccination and disinfection, 
and may afford medical relief to and among the poor of said di# 
trict, as in its opinion the protection of the public health may re- 
quire, and may remove or cause to be removed to a proper place 
within said district, to be by them designated, any person sick 
with smallpox or other contagious disease. And in the presence 
of great and imminent peril to the public health in said district, 
by reason of impending pestilence, it shall be the duty of said 
Board to take such measures and to do and order, and cause to 
be done, such acts and make such expenditures (beyond those du- 
ly estimated for or provided) for the preservation of the public 
health (though not herein elsewhere or otherwise authorized) as 
it may in good faith declare the public safety and health to de- 
mand, and the Governor of the State shall also in writing approve. 
But the exercise of this extraordinary power shall also, so far as 
it involves such excessive expenditures, require the written as- 
All Health 
Boards to give 
and receive in- 
formation . 
Impending pes- 
tilence. 20 
sent of at least six members of the Board. And such peril shall not 
be deemed to exist except when, and for such period of time, as the 
Governor of the State, together with said Board, shall declare 
by proclamation the same to exist or continue. 
§ 17. It shall be the duty of said Metropolitan Police Board (and 
of its officers and men, as the last named Board shall direct) to 
promptly advise said Metropolitan Board of Health of all threaten- 
ed danger to human life or health, and of all matters thought to de- 
mand its attention, and to regularly report to said Board of Health 
all violations of its rules and of said ordinancesand of the health 
laws, and all useful sanitary information. And said last named 
Boards shall, so far as practicable and appropriate, co-operate for 
the promotion of public health and the safety of human life in said 
district. And it shall be the duty said Metropolitan Police Board, by 
and through its proper officers, agents and men, to faithfully and at 
the proper time enforce and execute the sanitary rules, and regu- 
lations and the orders of said Board of Health (made pursuant to 
the power of said Board of Health,) upon the same being re- 
ceived in writing and duly authenticated, assaid Board of Health 
?nay direct. And said Police Board is authorized to employ and 
use the appropriate persons and means, and to make the neces- 
sary and appropriate expenditures for the execution and enforce- 
ment of said rules, orders and regulations, and such expendi- 
tures, so far as the same may not be refunded or compensated by 
the means herein elsewhere provided, shall be paid as the other 
expenses of said Board of Health arc paid. And in and about 
the execution of any order of the Board of Health or of the 
Board of Police made pursuant thereto, police officers and po- 
licemen shall have as ample power and authority as when obey- 
ing any order of or law applicable to the Police Board, or as if 
acting under a special warrant of a justice or judge, duly issued ; 
but for their conduct they shall be responsible to the Board of 
Police and not to the Board of Health. 
§ 18. It shall be the duty of said Board, so far as it may be 
Police to report 
danger to health 
Police to execute 
orders. 
Authority as un- 
der special war- 
rant 
Facts as to 
births, &c. 21 
able without serious expense, to gather and preserve such infor- 
mation and facts relating to deaths, disease and health, from oth- 
er parts of this State, but especially in said .district, as may be 
useful in the discharge of its duties, and contribute to the promo- 
tion of the health or the security of life in the State of New York. 
And it shall be the duty of all health officers and boards of health 
in the State to communicate to said Metropolitan Board of Health 
copies of their reports, and also such sanitary information as may 
be useful in said district. And said Board shall keep records of 
its acts and proceedings as a Board, and of the execution of its 
orders, so far as reasonably practicable. 
§19. It shall be the duty of said Board, on or before the first 
Monday of December in each year, to make a report in writing 
to the Governor of this State, upon the sanitary condition and 
prospects of said district; and such report shall set forth gene- 
rally the statistics of births, deaths and marriages, the action of 
said Board and of its officers and agents, and the names thereof, 
for the past year, and may contain other useful information, and 
shall suggest any further legislative action or precautions deemed 
proper for the better protection of life and health, as well in other 
parts of the State as especially in said district. Such annual re- 
port may contain the sanitary rules and by-laws adopted by the 
Board hereby created. And the annual report of said Board 
shall also contain a detailed statement under the oath of the 
treasurer, of all money received and paid out by said Board, or 
its treasurer, and a detailed statement of the manner of expendi- 
ture during the year last past, and of the funds on hand. Said 
Board may annually have not exceeding one thousand copies of 
said report printed in an economical form, at the expense of said 
Board, and may distribute the same as shall be best adapted to 
promote the purposes of this law ; but a copy of said report shall 
be sent to each duly organized Board of Health in the State of 
New York which may have requested such copy, and shall have 
furnished said Board with a copy of its own annual report. 
Sanitary reports 
Annual report. 22 
By-Laws. 
§ 20. Said Board may enact such bydaws, rules and regulations 
as it may deem advisable, in harmony with the provisions and 
purposes of this act, and not inconsistent with the constitution or 
laws of this State, for the regulation of the action of said Board, 
its officers and agents, in the discharge of its and their duties, 
and for the protection of life and public health; and, from time to 
time, may alter, annul or amend the same. And said Board shall 
in like manner, before said rules and ordinances take effect, and 
for more fully carrying into effect the intents and purposes of this 
act, annually, on or before the tenth day of May, in any year, 
make and publish the same twice a week for three successive weeks 
next thereafter, in two daily newspapers published in the city of 
New York, and in one daily newspaper published in the city of 
Brooklyn, a "code of health ordinances" for the protection of the 
public health in said district, to take effect on and after the first 
day of June next thereafter following, and to remain in full vir- 
tue, force and effect within said district for the term of one year, 
unless annulled; and all courts and tribunals, or any judge or 
justice thereof, shall take cognizance of and give effect to said 
ordinances and the several parts thereof, and may enforce such 
ordinances by a penalty not exceeding fifty dollars for each of- 
fence, recoverable in any justice's or district court, with costs; 
but nothing in this section contained shall be construed as in any 
manner limiting any power herein elsewhere contained. 
§ 21. Said Board shall cause to be kept a general complaint 
book, or several such books, in which may be entered by any per- 
son, in good faith, any complaint of a sanitary nature which such 
person thinks may be useful, with the name and residence of the 
complainant, and may give the name of the person or persons 
complained of, and the date of the entry of the complaint, and 
such suggestions of any remedy as may in good faith be thought 
appropriate, and said books shall be open to all reasonable public 
examination as the Board may authorize; and the Board shall 
Publish By- 
Laws. 
Code of health 
Penalty. 
Complaint book. 23 
cause the facts in regard to such complaints to be investigated, 
and the appropriate remedy to be applied. 
§ 22. Said Board may, from time to time, engage a suitable 
person or persons to render sanitary engineering service, and to 
make or supervise practical and scientific sanitary investigations 
and examinations in said district requiring engineering skill, and 
to prepare plans and reports relative thereto. And it is hereby 
made the duty of all boards, officers and agents having the control, 
charge or custody of any public structure, work, ground or erec- 
tion, or of any plan, description, outline, drawing or charts there- 
of, or relating thereto, made, kept or controlled under any public 
authority, to permit and facilitate the examination and inspection, 
and the making of copies of the same by any officer or person 
thereto by said Board authorized; and the members of said Board, 
the sanitary superintendent or assistant aforesaid, any of the 
aforesaid sanitary inspectors, and such other officer or person as 
may at any time be by said Board authorized, may, without fee 
or hindrance, enter, examine and survey all grounds, erections, 
vehicles, structures, apartments, buildings and places in said dis- 
trict, including vessels of all kinds in the adjacent waters, and all 
cellars, sewers, passages and excavations of every sort, and inspect 
the safety and sanitary condition and make plans, drawings and 
descriptions thereof, according to the order or regulations of said 
Board. Said Board may make and publish a report of the sani- 
tary condition, and the result of the inspection of any place, mat- 
ter or thing in said district so inspected, or otherwise as afore- 
said, so far as, in the opinion of said Board, such publication may 
be useful. And said Board may provide a badge of metal, with 
a suitable inscription thereon, and direct and require it to be 
worn, in a position to be designated, by any person or officer 
under the authority of said Board, at such time and under 
such circumstances as the rules or by-laws of said Board shall 
direct. It shall be a misdemeanor, punishable by imprisonment 
in the county jail, or in the city and county of New York, in the 
EnglneeHng ser. 
Charts &c 
be 
condition public, 
Badge. 24 
penitentiary, for not less than one year nor exceeding two years, 
or by a fine of not less than two hundred and fifty dollars, for 
any person, not an officer under this act, to falsely represent him- 
self as such, with a fraudulent'design upon persons or property, • 
or to have, use,.wear or display, without authority, any shield, or 
other insignia or emblem such as is worn by such officer. But no 
more than five thousand dollars in any one year shall be expended 
for sanitary engineering service. 
§ 23. Said Board shall hold regular and special meetings as 
frequently as the proper and efficient discharge of its duties shall 
require; the same to be held (unless it shall be impracticable so 
to do, or shall be for good reasons, otherwise ordered,) at the 
regular office of said Board in the city of New York; and the 
rules or by-laws shall provide for the giving of proper notice of 
all such meetings to the members of the Board. And all meet- 
ings shall in every suit and proceeding be taken to have been 
duly called and regularly held, and all orders and proceedings to 
have been duly authorized, unless the contrary be proved. 
§ 24. It shall be the duty of said Board of Health to aid in the 
enforcement of, and so far as practicable, to enforce all laws of 
this State, applicable in said district, to the preservation of human 
life, or to the care, promotion, or protection of health; and said 
board may exercise the authority given by said laws to enable it 
to discharge the duty hereby imposed; and this section is intended 
to include all laws relative to cleanliness, and to the use or sale 
of poisonous, unwholesome, deleterious or adulterated drugs, med- 
icine or food. And said Board is authorized to require reports 
and information (at such times and of such facts, and generally 
of such nature and extent, relating to the safety of life and pro- 
motion of health as its by-laws and rules may provide) from all 
public dispensaries, hospitals, asylums, infirmaries, prisons and 
schools, and from the managers, principals and officers thereof; 
and from all other public institutions, their officers and managers, 
and from the proprietors, managers, lessees and occupants of all 
Regular and 
special meetings. 
Board to enforce 
Health Laws. 
Boards may re- 
quire reports, &c. 
Theatres, &c. 25 
theatres and other places of public resort or amusements 
in said district; but such reports and information shall only 
be required concerning matters or particulars in respect of 
which it may, in its opinion, need information for the better 
discharge of its duties in said district. And it is hereby 
made the duty of the officers, institutions and persons so called on, 
or referred to, to promptly give such reports, verbally or in wri- 
ting, as may be required by said boards. And it is hereby fur- 
ther made the duty of all persons, officers and boards to make 
to said Board of Health the reports and returns, and to give the 
information and afford to said Board the aid and facilities which 
by law or ordinance they or any of them were required to make, 
afford or give to any person, officer or board, when any powers 
hereby conferred on said Board of Health were exercised by any 
other officer or board. 
§ 25..Such board shall not be required to make any return or 
report, or give any information or advice, or do any act which, 
under the former administration of the health laws in said dis- 
trict, was made necessary or appropriate by reason of the various 
officers, boards or agents by or through which said laws were 
executed or administered, or the powers hereby conferred were 
exercised; and said Board may establish reasonable regulations 
as to the publicity of its records and proceedings; and may pub- 
lish such information as may, in its opinion, be useful, concerning 
births, deaths, marriages, sickness and the general sanitary con- 
dition of said district on any matter, place or thing therein. 
§ 26. The department known as the " City Inspector's Depart- 
ment" and every bureau thereof, and so much of the twenty-sev- 
enth section of the four hundred and forty-sixth chapter of the 
laws of eighteen hundred and fifty-seven as relate thereto, and 
each and every office in the said district relating to public health, 
or the duties of which are conferred on said board, except the 
Health Officer of the port of New York and the Board of Quar- 
antine Commissioners and its officers, are hereby abolished. 
Board to be 
Returns not re- 
quired of Boards 
Publicity of pro- 
ceedings, &c. 
City Inspector's 
Department, 26 
And no salary or compensation shall be due or paid by any offi- 
cer or board whatever, to any officer or agent or board in said 
district for services to be rendered after this act goes into effect, 
under any law or ordinance concerning life or public health, ex- 
cept under this act and as authorized by the board hereby created. 
And all other boards and officers now existing in said district 
under or by virtue of any law or ordinance relating to public 
health, are hereby also abolished ; and no compensation shall be 
paid to or in respect of the same for any service rendered after 
this law shall go into effect, save as said Board of Health shall 
authorize. 
§ 27. All the sums of money provided or raised for meeting the 
expenses, compensations and payments provided by this act, or 
that may be authorized by said Board (except penalties and other 
sums received and amounts collected by suit as herein provided) 
shall be paid into the treasury of the State, and shall constitute a 
fund to be, so far as needed, used by said Board in the perform- 
ance of its duties and discharge of its obligations; and may and 
shall be paid therefrom, on the order of the treasurer of said 
Board, as said Board may direct, and shall be applied and paid 
by the treasurer of said Board only as this act and the regulations 
of said Board may authorize. And unless this Board shall other- 
wise specially provide, all salaries and compensation for services 
and expense shall, so far as practicable, be paid quarterly. And 
any member or officer of said Board may, if a judge shall so order, 
be summarily examined upon an order (to be made on application 
and written affidavit on the oath of three freeholders of said dis- 
trict,) requiring such examination, and signed by any justice of 
the supreme court of the first judicial district, and directing such 
examination to be publicly made, at the chambers of said justice, 
at a day and hour to be named, not less than forty eight hours 
after personal service of said order, and such examination shall 
be confined to an inquiry into any alleged wrongful diversion or 
misapplication of any of said moneys or fund, or any other delin- 
Salaries of 
Health Officers 
not to be paid. 
Fund of Board. 
Salaries when 
payable. 
Commissioners 
may be examin- 
ed. 27 
quency charged in said affidavit, touching their office or the dis- 
charge or neglect of duty of which it is alleged, in the application 
for said order, that such member of said board or said officer has 
knowledge or information. And such member or officer shall an- 
swer such pertinent questions relative thereto as the Judge shall 
direct, and the examination may be continued from time to time 
as such Judge may order, but the answers of the party charged 
shall not be used against him on any criminal proceeding. The 
proceedings may be continued before any other Judge in said 
district, and other witnesses, as well as the parties making such 
application, may, in the discretion of such judge, be compelled to 
attend and be examined touching such alleged delinquency; and 
such Judge may punish any refusal to attend such examination or 
to answer any questions pursuant to his order as for and being a 
contempt of court. And such examination, affidavit and orders 
shall be filed in the office of the County Court of the county of 
New York. And in regard to this last examination and matters 
therewith connected, any such Judge shall have all the powers 
and authority conferred in respect to the examination or pro- 
ceedings mentioned in the fourteenth section hereof, as if herein 
repeated. 
§ 28. The Mayor and Comptroller of the city of New York, and 
the Mayor and Comptroller of the city of Brooklyn, together with 
the members of the said Board, created by this act, shall, on rea- 
sonable notice from said Board, convene at the office of the said 
Board of Health as a Board of Estimate, a majority of whom 
shall form a quorum, and shall annually, on or before the first day 
of August, make up a financial estimate and statement, including 
all sums and expenses in arrear, and also any sum borrowed, as 
herein elsewhere provided for, of the sums required for the year, 
commencing on the first day of January ensuing, annually (above 
any sums on hand,) for the expenses and proper support, and for 
the discharge of the duties of said Board, including the proper 
expenses and disbursements of said Board, and of the members or 
Board of Esti- 
mate. 28 
officers thereof in the discharge of their official duties, and for 
such other general or incidental expenses as may from time to 
time, in the judgment of such Board of Estimate, become neces- 
sary, with the enumeration thereof. But the sums raised for the 
expenses of any year shall not exceed one hundred thousand dol- 
lars in amount, independently of such sums as may have been ex- 
pended in the presence of great and imminent peril to the public 
health in said district by reason of impending pestilence and inde- 
pendently of the sums herein elsewhere provided, to be paid by and 
recovered back from any person or corporation. And the expenses 
for the remainder of the current year after the passage of this act, 
to be reckoned at the said rate of one hundred thousand dollars 
a year, independently of said extraordinary expenses and of said 
sums to be paid or recovered back, shall be estimated and appor- 
tioned to the several cities, counties and towns in said district as 
hereinafter provided, and collected in the next annual tax levies. 
Such estimate shall be accompanied by a written apportionment, 
made by said board of estimate, of the proportions of expenses 
applicable to and to be paid by each county, city and town in 
said district. And in apportioning the salaries of the members 
of the board, its officers, agents and employees, the following 
rules shall be observed: 
1. The salaries and compensations of all members of the board 
appointed to this board, other than the health officer, from any 
county, and of all officers, agents and employees thereof, whose 
principal sphere of duty shall be in any county, shall be appor- 
tioned against and paid by such county. 
2. The salary of the Health Officer, and all general, office, 
contingent and other expenses of the board, not 'included in the 
first class aforesaid, shall be apportioned against and paid by the 
respective counties and towns (or counties to which they belong), 
in the ratio of the taxable property, real and personal, of each, 
in said district, according to the assessment under which the last 
preceding taxes therein were respectively levied. 
1100,000. 
Mode of appor- 
tionment. 29 
3. But no apportionment against any county (or town therein), 
other than the counties of New York and Kings, shall be made 
under the two foregoing clauses, unless as follows, that is to say: 
Each other county (and each of said towns) shall have appor- 
tioned against it and shall pay all disbursements and expenses 
arising, caused or ordered therein, to or by said Board, or for 
salaries, and services, or portions thereof, earned or rendered 
therein, as the regulations of said Board may provide; but such 
salaries and services will not include any portion of the salaries 
of the members of the board or of its general officers. 
4. It is further provided, in respect of each of said counties, 
that all the expenses caused by any act or any order of said 
board, or the execution thereof in or for any particular county or 
part thereof, shall be apportioned to and be paid by said county 
or part thereof; and any sums collected in either shall be credited 
to such county or part thereof, unless the same was on account 
of expenses incurred in some other county, city or town, and in 
that event it shall be credited thereto. The said estimate and 
statement shall, at least ten days before the first day of Septem- 
ber in each year, be submitted to the committee of revision, com- 
posed of the presidents of the boards of supervisors of the coun- 
ties of New York, Kings, Westchester and Richmond, and of 
the presidents of the board of aidermen of the city of Brook- 
lyn, and of the supervisors of the respective towns of Newtown, 
Flushing and Jamaica, in the county of Queens, who may meet, 
by a majority thereof, and consider and act upon the said esti- 
mate and enumeration on or before the first Monday of Septem- 
ber in each year. If the said committee of revision on or before 
the second Monday of said September, shall object in writing to 
such estimate or apportionment, or any portion thereof, and so 
in writing, by said date, notify, or cause to be notified, the said 
board of estimate, it shall be the duty of the latter to imme- 
diately and carefully revise the same, and consider the same ob- 
jections. If such committee shall fail to meet, or if said board 
Committee of re- 
vision. 30 
of estimate shall adhere to their original action and estimate, or 
if they shall modify the same, but they shall got increase the 
same, then their final determination, apportionment and action 
shall be binding and conclusive upon all concerned. And the 
Board of Supervisors of the counties of New York, Kings, 
Richmond and Queens (the expenses in the last named county to 
be charged and collected in, and in respect of the property of 
the towns of Newtown, Flushing and Jamaica), respectively, 
are empowered and directed, annually, to order and cause to be 
raised and collected, by tax upon the estates, real and personal, 
subject to taxation according to law, within the said respectix e 
counties and towns, their respective proportions of the sums of 
money as aforesaid, annually estimated and as apportioned and 
finally determined upon, as said total expenses. and estimate 
aforesaid. The sums of money so respectively raised, as pro- 
vided for in this act, shall be, by the proper officers, immediately 
and without deduction, paid into the Treasury of the State, and 
shall constitute the separate fund herein elsewhere mentioned and 
provided, and be used only for the purposes of said Board, and 
shall be paid from the State Treasury, under such appropriate 
regulations as shall be agreed upon between the Comptroller of 
the State, the State Treasurer, and the Treasurer of said Board. 
§29. The said Board may borrow on the credit of this act, 
and of the funds to be raised thereunder, such amounts (the bor- 
rowing of the same respectively to be first approved in writing 
by the Governor of the State) as may, in the opinion of said 
Board, be reasonably necessary and proper to enable it to dis- 
charge its duties and defray its expenses hereby authorized, upto 
the time when the requisite funds can be realized for said Board 
and purposes from the taxation and sources herein provided for 
and authorized ; and such moneys so borrowed, with legal inter- 
est, shall be a charge upon and shall be repaid by the said coun- 
ties and cities and towns in the proportion hereinbefore provided, 
and the amounts thereof shall, in addition to the requisite annual 
M oney to be 
raised. 
Treasury of 
State, &c. 
Board may bor- 
row. 31 
expense to secure a future annual fund, be included or allowed 
in the next or first annual estimate of the sums required and ex- 
penses as aforesaid, and shall, with interest, be included, and the 
amount, with interest, collected in and with the tax in this act 
provided for, and the same shall go into the said fund, and shall 
from thence, by the Treasurer of the Board, be paid to or in 
favor of the parties entitled. And said Board may issue its cer- 
tificates to those of whom it borrows money as herein authorized, 
under its seal, and signed by its President and Secretary, and 
bearing interest at the rate of not more than seven per cent., and 
payable at a time not more than eighteen months from the date 
at which any sum may have been borrowed. 
§ 30. Whoever shall violate any provisions of this act, or any 
order of said Board, made under the authority of the same, or 
of any by-law or ordinance therein referred to, or shall obstruct 
or interfere with any person in the execution of any order of 
said Board, or any order of the Board of Police, in pursuance or 
execution of the order of the Board of Health, or wilfully omit 
to obey any such order, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and 
be liable to be indicted and punished for such offence; and in 
cases where it was made a misdemeanor to do or omit any act 
or thing, when any power or authority hereby conferred upon 
this Board were exercised by any other board or officer or offi- 
cers, the omission or doing of such, or a corresponding act or 
thing, which this act requires, or contemplates to be done or for- 
bids, shall in like manner be a misdemeanor, and the offender 
shall be liable to indictment and punishment for the same. A 
wilful omission or refusal of any individual, corporation or body 
to conform to any sanitary regulation of said Board duly made 
for the protection of life, or the care, promotion or preservation 
of health, pursuant to its power or authority, shall be a misde- 
meanor, and the person or officers guilty thereof shall be liable 
to indictment and punishment as for a misdemeanor. And all 
prosecutions and proceedings against any person for a misde- 
meanor under this act may be had or tried before any judge or 
tribunal having jurisdiction of any misdemeanor within said dis- 
trict, or within the town, city or village within which any such 
misdemeanor under this act was committed. And any person, 
corporation or body which may have wilfully done or omitted 
any act or thing which is in this act, or any law or ordinance 
Certificates. 
Penalty for vio- 
lations. &c. 
Misdemeanor. 
Pecuniary liabil- 
ity of delinquent. 32 
therein referred to, declared to be, or to subject the party guilty 
thereof to punishment for a misdemeanor, shall, in addition 
thereto, be subject to a penalty of two hundred and fifty dollars, 
to be sued for and recovered by said Board in any civil tribunal 
in said district, except that in the marine, or justice, or county, 
courts, no greater amount can be recovered than the extent of 
the jurisdiction in other civil suits. And any such suits may be 
against one or more, or each or all of those who participate in the 
act, refusals or omissions complained of. and the recovery may be 
against one or more of those joined in the action, as the justice or 
court shall direct. And the provisions of this section as to juris- 
diction of tribunals and costs shall apply to all suits by said Board 
or its assignees, or the assignees of the Police Board under this 
act. 
§ 31. Copies of the records of the proceedings of said Board 
of its rules, regulations, by-laws and books and papers constituting 
part of its archives, when authenticated by its secretary or secre- 
tary pro tem., shall be presumptive evidence, and the authentica- 
tion be taken as presumptively correct in any court of justice or 
judicial proceeding, when they may be relevant to the point or 
matter in controversy, of the facts, statements and recitals therein 
contained; and the action, proceedings, authority and orders of 
said Board shall at all times be regarded as in their nature judi- 
cial, and be treated prima facie just and legal. 
§ 32. It shall be the duty of all prosecuting officers of criminal 
courts and police justices to act promptly upon all complaints and 
in all suits or proceedings for any violation of this act, and in all 
proceedings approved or promoted by said Board, and to bring 
the same to a speedy hearing or termination, and to render judg- 
ment and direct execution therein without delay. 
§ 33. This act, so far as it relates to the appointment of the 
Sanitary Commissioners provided for therein, shall take effect im- 
mediately, and shall, in other respects, go fully into effect on the 
first day of March, eighteen hundred and sixty-six. 
State of New York, ) 
Office of the Secretary of State. ( 
I have compared the preceding with the original law on file in this office, and do hereby 
certify that the same is a correct transcript therefrom and of the whole of said original law. 
FRANCIS C. BARLOW, 
Secretary of State. 
Records as evi- 
dence. 
Prosecutions to 
be prompt