OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. [L. 1902, Chap. 580, as amended.] AN ACT in relation to the municipal court of the city of New York, its officers and marshals. The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows: Title I. Jurisdiction and general powers. (§§ 1-20.) III. Provisional remedies. Action to foreclose a (§§ 55-142.) Article I. Order of arrest. (§§ 55-70.) II. Attachment. ($$ 73-92.) III. Replevin. (§§ 95-131.) lien on a chattel. IV. Action to foreclose a lien on a chattel. (§§ 137-142.) IV. Pleadings. ($8 145-147.) V. Proceedings between joinder of issue and trial. (§§ 193-226.) (88 193-200.) II. Commissions and depositions. (§§ 205-226.) VI. Trial; trial jurors. ($$ 230-243.) VII. Judgment and execution. (§§ 248-277.) II. Execution. (88 260-277.) VIII. Clerks and officers. (§§ 282-306.) Sec. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Article I. Clerks and officers. (§ 282-289.) II. Marshals. (§§ 293-306.) IX. Appeals. ($$ 310-327.) X. Costs and fees. (§§ 330-356.) XI. Definitions; effect of act; laws repealed. (§§ 360-368.) 7. Preceding three sections limited. 8. Contempts punishable civilly. Sa. In view of court; how punished. Sb. In other cases, order to show cause. Sc. Return of order to show cause; fine or imprisonment; warrant of commitment. • Sd. Actual loss or injury; payment of fine. 8e. Omission to perform duty in power of offender; fine or imprison. ment for; warrant of commitment. 8f. When offender discharged from imprisonment. 8g. Misconduct; when punishable. 9. Process; where service may be made. 10. Justice to administer oaths. Concurrence of majority. Actions may be continued before another justice. 11. Board of justices. 12. Board to make rules. 13. Parts of court; how held. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. Seals. 19. 20. Death or removal of justice not to impair proceedings, et cetera. Access to court-houses. Code; rules of supreme court applicable; when. ·§ 1. (Am'd, 1905, 1908, 1910.] Jurisdiction. Except as provided in the next section the municipal court of the city of New York has jurisdiction in the following civil actions and proceedings: 1. An action to recover damages upon or for breach of contract, express or implied, other than a promise to marry, where the sum claimed does not exceed five hundred dollars, exclusive of interest and costs. 2. An action upon a bond conditioned for the payment of money where the sum claimed to be due does not exceed five hundred dollars, exclusive of interest and costs, the judgment to be rendered for the sum actually due. Where the sum secured by the bond is to be paid in installments, an action may be brought for each installment as it becomes due. 3. An action upon a surety bond or undertaking taken in any court where the amount claimed in the summons does not exceed the sum of five hundred dollars, exclusive of interest and costs. 4. An action in behalf of the people of the state or of the city of New York, brought by the direction of a commissioner of publie charities or an overseer of the poor upon a bastardy or abandonment bond in a case where it is prescribed by law that such an action can be maintained. 5. An action upon the bond of a marshal of the city of New York, as prescribed in this act. 6. An action upon a judgment rendered in any court not being a court of record. 7. An action for a fine or penalty not exceeding five hundred dollars, including an action to recover a penalty given by the charter of the city of New York or any by-law or ordinance thereof or by any statute of the state. 8. An action to recover damages for an escape from the jail liberties of any county within the city of New York, where the sum claimed does not exceed five hundred dollars and costs. 9. An action to recover one or more chattels with or without damages for the taking, withholding or detention thereof, where the value of the chattel or of all the chattels as stated in the affidavit made on the part of the plaintiff does not exceed five hundred dollars. 10. An action to foreclose a lien upon a chattel for a sum of money, in any case where such a lien exists at the commencement of the action and where the amount of the lien does not exceed five hundred dollars, exclusive of interest and costs. 11. An action to enforce a mechanic's lien on real property in which the court shall have power to render judgment for the sum due, with interest thereon from the date of the filing of the lieu, costs of the action and all prospective fees, and to declare t amount a valid lien against the interest of the defendant in the property described in the complaint, at the time of the filing of the lien, where the amount does not exceed five hundred dollars, exclusive of interest and costs, but said court cannot render judgment for the foreclosure and sale of the property. 12. A summary proceeding under title two of chapter seventeen of the code of civil procedure to recover possession of real property which, or a portion of which, is situated within the district wherein the application for such recovery is made. Such proceeding may be tried with or without a jury, which may be demanded by any party thereto. The court in either case has power upon application, to allow the petition or answer to be amended, at any time, if substantial justice will be promoted thereby and the rights of the parties have not been impaired by reason of the defective pleading, to direct or set aside a verdict, and to grant or deny a motion for a new trial, and an appeal may be taken therefrom. It shall not be necessary for the court to sign the warrant, but it shall be signed by the clerk in the same manner in which he now issues executions on money judgments. 13. An action for damages for fraud or deceit where the damages claimed do not exceed five hundred dollars. 14. An action to recover damages for a personal injury, or for loss of services or for medical or other necessary expenses occasioned thereby, or an injury to property, where the sum claimed does not exceed five hundred dollars, and costs, excepting however, actions to recover damages for an assault, battery, malicious prosecution, false imprisonment, libel, slander, criminal conversation, seduction, or loss of society of husband or wife. 15. To issue or vacate a requisition to replevy, a warrant of attachment, or an order of arrest; or grant or vacate a stay of execution, or of proceedings, within the limitations provided in this act. But such stay shall not exceed five days. 16. To render judgment in an action or make a final order in summary proceedings upon confession or upon the consent of both parties. 17. Other civil actions or proceedings of which district courts in the city of New York, or justices of the peace had jurisdiction on the thirty-first day of December, eighteen hundred and ninetyseven, except such as shall be expressly excluded by this act. 18. The jurisdiction extends to actions against the city of New York, domestic corporation, or a foreign corporation having an office in the city of New York, an administrator or executor as such, where the amount claimed does not exceed five hundred dollars, exclusive of interest and costs. 19. In an action or a summary proceeding, to direct or set aside a verdict, vacate, amend or modify a judgment or final order, rendered, or made on consent, confession, inquest or trial, grant a new trial, open a default, or in a proper case grant a new trial on the ground of fraud or newly discovered evidence. L. 1882, ch. 410, § 1285; L. 1901, ch. 416, § 1364; L. 1905, ch. 513; L. 1908, ch. 495; L. 1910, ch. 538. In effect Sept. 1, 1910. § 2. No jurisdiction in certain cases. The said municipal court cannot take cognizance' of any civil actions in either of the following cases: 1. Where the title to real property comes in question as prescribed in title four of this act. But in an action brought in said court, the surety upon the defendants undertaking is liable in the case specified in section one hundred and eighty of this act, to any amount for which judgment might have been rendered by said court if the answer and undertaking had not been delivered. to 2. Said court shall not have any equity jurisdiction, except however that this subdivision shall not be so construed as prevent a person to or against whom a precept is issued as provided in title two of chapter seventeen of the code of civil procedure, from setting up an equitable defence in summary proceedings. L. 1901, ch. 466, § 1365. $3. [Repealed by L. 1904, ch. 598; L. 1907, ch. 267.] An Ineffectual attempt to repeal this section was made by L. 1904, ch. 598. The repeal of such section shall not affect the prosecution of any action heretofore removed from any municipai court of the city of New York pursuant to the provisions of such section. § 4. Contempt of court; criminal. The said court has power to purish for a criminal contempt, a person guilty of either of the following acts and no others: 1. Disorderly, contemptuous or insolent behavior, committed during its sitting, in its immediate view and presence, and directly tending to interrupt its proceedings, or to impair the respect due to its authority. 2. Breach of the peace, noise or other disturbance directly tending to interrupt its proceedings. 3. Wilful disobedience to its lawful mandates. 4. Resistance wilfully offered to its lawful mandates. 5. Contumacious and unlawful refusal to be sworn as a wit ness, or after being sworn, to answer any legal and proper interrogatory. 6. Publication of a false or grossly inaccurate report of its proceedings. But a court cannot punish as a contempt, the publication of a true, full and fair report of a trial, argument, decision or other proceeding thereon. C. C. P., § 8; L. 1882, ch. 410, § 1288; L. 1901, ch. 466, § 1369. § 5. Punishment. Punishment for a contempt, specified in the last section, may be by fine, not exceeding two hundred and fifty dollars, or by imprisonment not exceeding thirty days, in the jail of the county where the court is sitting, or both, in the discretion of the court. Where a person is committed to jail, for the non-payment of such a fine, he must be discharged at the expiration of thirty days; but where he is also committed for a definite time, the thirty days must be computed from the expiration of the definite time. C. C. P., § 9; L. 1882, ch. 410, § 1288; L. 1901, ch. 466, § 1369. § 6. In view of court; how punished. Such a contempt, committed in the immediate view and presence of the court, may be punished summarily. When not so committed, the party charged must be notified of the accusation, and have a reasonable time to make a defence, and the court may issue a warrant directed generally to any marshal requiring him to bring the offender before the court. Where a person is committed for such a contempt, the particular circumstance of his offence must be set forth in the mandate of commitment. C. C. P., §§ 10, 11; L. 1882, ch. 410, § 1288; L. 1901, ch. 466, § 1369. § 7. Preceding three sections limited. Punishment for a contempt, as herein prescribed, does not bar an indictment for the same offence; but where a person who has been so punished is convicted on such an indictment, the courts in sentencing him, must take into consideration the previous punishment. C. C. P. § 12. § 8. Contempts punishable civilly. The court has power to punish, by fine and imprisonment, or either, a neglect or violation of duty, or other misconduct, by which a right or remedy of a party to a civil action or specia! proceeding, pending in the court may be defeated, impaired, impeded, or prejudiced, in either of the following cases: 1. An attorney, counsellor, clerk, sheriff, marshal, coroner, or other person, in any manner duly selected or appointed to perform a judicial or ministerial service, for a misbehavior in his office or trust, or for a wilful neglect or violation of duty therein; or for disobedience to a lawful mandate of the court, or of a judge thereof, or of an officer authorized to perform the duties of such a judge. 2. A party to the action or special proceeding, for putting in fictitious bail or a fictitious surety, or for any deceit or abuse of a mandate or proceeding of the court. 3. A party to the action or special proceeding, an attorney, counsellor, or other person, for the non-payment of a sum of money ordered or adjudged by the court to be paid, in a case where by law execution cannot be awarded for the collection of such sum; or for any other disobedience to a lawful mandate of the court. 4. A person for assuming to be an attorney or counsellor, or other officer of the court, and acting as such without authority; for rescuing any property or person in the custody of an officer, by virtue of a mandate of the court; for unlawfully detaining or fraudulently preventing, or disabling from attending or testifying, a witness, or a party to the action or special proceeding, while going to, remaining at, or returning from, the sitting where it is noticed for trial or hearing; and for any other unlaw ful interference with the proceedings therein. 5. A person subpoenaed as a witness, for refusing or neglecting to obey the subpoena, or to attend, or to be sworn or to auswer as witness. 6. A person duly notified to attend as a juror at a term of the court, for improperly conversing with a party to an action or special proceeding, to be tried at that term, or with any other person in relation to the merits of that action or special proceeding; or for receiving a communication from any other person, in relation to the merits of such an action or special proceeding, without immediately disclosing the same to the court. 7. In any other case where an attachment or any other proceeding to punish for a contempt, has been usually adopted and practiced in a court of record, to enforce a civil remedy of a party to an action, or special proceeding in that court, or to protect the right of a party. C. C. P., § 14; L. 1882, ch. 410, § 1288; L. 1901, ch. 466, § 1369. § 8-a. [Added, 1910.] In view of court; how punished. In a case specified in the last section where the offense is committed in the immediate view and presence of the court, or of the judge upon a trial or hearing, it may be punished summarily by a fine not exceeding one hundred dollars or by imprisonment not exceeding thirty days in the jail of the county where the court is sitting, or both, in the discretion of the court. |