signation give bonds, § 4. There may be designated by the respective mayors of the cities Scales, deof the first and second class in this state, stationary or movable scales, of, etc. suitable for the purpose of weighing coal, the owners of which may tender the same for public use, in different parts of the city, in such convenience in number and locality as shall be deemed necessary, on which the coal or coal vehicle with or without coal, may be weighed at the request of the purchaser thereof. The scales so designated shall be provided at the expense of the owners thereof with test weights, and shall be subject at all times to the inspection and supervision of the sealers or inspectors of weights and measures in such city, who shall inspect such scales at least once in each month. Such scales shall also be provided by the owner thereof, with a competent. weigh-master. The owner of such scales shall be entitled to charge for weighing coal and coal vehicles containing coal, at such scales, fee of not exceeding fifteen cents per ton of coal; empty vehicles returning to such scales after delivery of the coal so weighed therein, shall be reweighed without further charge. The owner of such scales owners to so designated, shall enter into a bond with the city in which such scales are situated, in the sum of five hundred dollars with two sufficient sureties, conditioned that the said scales shall be kept in such condition as at all times to properly register the weight of coal, and that the person weighing coal thereat shall perform his duties faithfully and furnish correct certificates to all persons having coal or coal vehicles weighed at such scales. The amount of such bond shall be recoverable at the suit of the city, upon proof that any of the conditions thereof have not been complied with. The designation of Publicasuch scales shall be in writing signed by the mayor of the city in signation. which such scales are situated, and a copy thereof inserted in any official publication in said city, and if there be none, in a newspaper published therein. Any owner of such scales, or any agent or representative of his, or any weigh-master employed by him thereat, who shall be in any manner concerned in any fraudulent weighing of coal Penalty for at such scales, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall be punish- weigh able by a fine of not exceeding five hundred dollars or by imprisonment for one year or by both such fine and imprisonment. Every Memoranowner of such scales shall keep a book in which shall be entered in ink to be kept. a memorandum of every load of coal weighed at such scales, showing the name of the person, firm or corporation delivering said coal, the net weight thereof as shown by the delivery ticket thereof of such person, firm or corporation, the name of the purchaser thereof, the gross and net weight of the coal so weighed, and the date of the weighing thereof. Such book shall be the book of original entries, and all certificates delivered by the owner of such scales shall be copies of the entries contained therein, and such books shall be open to the inspection of any citizen. tion of de fraudulent dum book § 5. It shall be the right of every purchaser of coal in any of the cities of the first and second class, before accepting the delivery of weighed, the same, to have any of the deliveries of said coal weighed at his Right of purchaser to have coal re atc. of weight. expense, at any of the scales designated under the provisions of section four of this act, provided such scales are within half mile of the place of loading or of the place of delivery of the coal, and for this purpose to require that any vehicle containing coal purchased by him shall be taken by the driver or other person in charge thereof, to such scales for the purpose of having the same weighed, and, after the delivery of the coal, to require that the vehicles from which such coal so purchased shall have been delivered, shall be taken by the driver thereof, or any other person in charge thereof, to the said Certificate scales to be weighed at the expense of the purchaser thereof; and a certificate of the weight of such coal so weighed as aforesaid, shall thereupon be furnished to the purchaser of such coal by the owner of the Penalty for scales at which such coal is so weighed. The refusal of any seller of permit coal coal to permit coal purchased from him to be reweighed at the request of the purchaser thereof, as aforesaid, or of any driver or other person in charge of a vehicle containing coal, or from which coal has been delivered, to take the same at the request of the purchaser of such coal to such scales for the purpose of having the same weighed, provided, however, that the purchaser of such coal shall have first paid to the owner of the said scales, or to the seller of such coal, or to the driver or other person in charge of the vehicle containing such coal, an amount sufficient to meet the charges for weighing such coal, shall render the person, firm or corporation selling the said coal, liable to a penalty not to exceed the sum of fifty dollars. refusal to to be re weighed, etc. Recovery and dis penalties. § 6. The penalties provided by this act shall be recoverable at the position of suit of the city in which such penalties are incurred, and the amount so collected, as well as any amount collected in suits brought to recover the amounts due on bonds given under the provisions of section. four of this act, shall be paid over, one-half to any police pension or relief fund in such city, and one-half to any firemen's pension or relief fund therein. Bills of lading, penalty for altering, etc. § 7. A person guilty of altering, with intent to defraud, any original bill of lading issued by the person, firm or corporation by whom the coal was loaded into the vessel in which such coal is transported to any city of the first class in this state, or of uttering any such bill of lading so altered, or who is guilty of making, preparing, subscribing or uttering, a false or fraudulent manifest, invoice or bill of lading thereof, or removing any part of said cargo of coal without having the amount thereof certified to in writing on the said original bill of lading, by the person, firm or corporation receiving the coal so removed, and by the captain of the vessel containing such cargo, is punishable by imprisonment in the state prison not exceeding three years, or by a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars, or both, and the delivery of any fraudulent bill of lading to any purchaser of coal shall be presumptive evidence of uttering the same with criminal intent. § 8. Chapter five hundred and thirty-nine of the laws of eighteen Repeal. hundred and eighty-eight, is hereby repealed. § 9. This act shall take effect immediately. Chap. 176. AN ACT to amend section three hundred and sixty-one of the Became a law April 3, 1897, with the approval of the Governor. The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Section 1. Section three hundred and sixty-one of the code of civil procedure is hereby amended so as to read as follows: § 361. Stenographers. The county judge in either of the counties of Livingston, Niagara, Monroe, Onondaga, Oswego or Cortland, where issues of fact are triable, may employ a stenographer to take stenographic notes upon trials thereat, who is entitled to a compensation to be certified by the judge, not exceeding ten dollars for each day's attendance at the request of the judge. The stenographer's compensation is a charge upon the county, and in the county of Livingston must be audited, allowed and paid as other county charges; and in the counties of Onondaga, Monroe, Niagara, Oswego and Cortland must be paid by the county treasurer, on an order of the court, granted on the affidavit of the stenographer, and the certificate of the judge that the services were rendered. The county judge of Erie county, and the county judge of Oneida county may each appoint and may at pleasure remove a stenographer of said court, who must attend each term of the said court where issues of fact in civil and criminal cases are triable, and who shall each receive therefor a salary of fifteen hundred dollars per annum, together with his necessary expenses for stationery, to be paid by the treasurer of said county of Erie, and the treasurer of the said county of Oneida, in equal monthly installments, on the certificates of said judges of Erie and Oneida counties, that the services have been actually performed or the expenses necessarily incurred. Said stenographers shall also report and transcribe opinions for the said county judges, as well as special proceedings where a stenographer is required, without additional compensation. § 2. This act shall take effect on the first day of September, eighteen hundred and ninety-seven. Chap. 177. AN ACT to amend the code of civil procedure, relating to applications for probate of wills and for granting of letters of administration. Became a law April 3, 1897, with the approval of the Governor. Passed, a majority being present. The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows: Section 1. Section twenty-six hundred and fourteen of the code of civil procedure is hereby amended to read as follows: § 2614. Who may propound will.-A person designated in a will as executor, devisee, or legatee, or any person interested in the estate, or a creditor of the decedent, or any party to an action brought or about to be brought, and interested in the subject thereof, in which action the decedent, if living, would be a proper party, may present to the surrogate's court having jurisdiction, a written. petition, duly verified, describing the will, setting forth the facts, upon which the jurisdiction of the court to grant probate thereof depends, and praying that the will may be proved, and that the persons, specified in the next section, may be cited to attend the probate thereof. Upon the presentation of such a petition, the surrogate must issue a citation accordingly. § 2. Section twenty-six hundred and sixty of the code of civil procedure, as amended by chapter five hundred and three of the laws of eighteen hundred and ninety-four, is hereby further amended to read as follows: § 2660. When entitled to letters of administration.-Administration in case of intestacy must be granted to the relatives of the deceased entitled to succeed to his personal property, who will accept the same, in the following order: 1. To the surviving husband or wife. 2. To the children. 3. To the father. 4. To the mother. 5. To the brothers. 6. To the sisters. 7. To the grandchildren. 8. To any other next of kin entitled to share in the distribution of the estate. 9. To an executor or administrator of a sole legatee named in a will, whereby the whole estate is devised to such deceased sole legatee. If a person entitled is a minor, administration must be granted to his guardian, if competent, in preference to creditors or other persons. If no relative, or guardian of a minor relative, will accept the same, the letters must be granted to the creditors of the deceased; the creditor first applying, if otherwise competent, to be entitled to preference. If no creditor applies, the letters must be granted to any other person or persons legally competent. Letters of administration shall also be granted to an executor or administrator of a deceased person named as sole legatee in a will. The public administrator in the city of New York has preference after the next of kin and after an executor or administrator of a sole legatee named in a will whereby the whole estate is devised to such deceased sole legatee over creditors and all other persons. In other counties, the county treasurer shall have preference next after creditors over all other persons. If several persons of the same degree of kindred to the intestate are entitled to administration, they must be preferred in the following order: First, men to women; second, relatives of the whole blood to those of the half blood; third, unmarried women to married. If there are several persons equally entitled to administration, the surrogate may grant letters to one or more of such persons, and administration may be granted to one or more competent persons, although not entitled to the same, with the consent of the person entitled to be joined with such person or persons; which consent must be in writing, and filed in the office of the surrogate. If a surviving husband does not take out letters of administration on the estate of his deceased wife, he is presumed to have assets in his hands sufficient to satisfy her debts, and is liable therefor. A husband is liable as administrator for the debts of his wife only to the extent of the assets received by him. If he dies leaving any assets of his wife unadministered, except as otherwise provided by law, they pass to his executors or administrators as part of his personal property, but are liable for her debts in preference to the creditors of the husband. If, in an action, brought or about to brought, the intestate, if living, would be a proper party thereto, any party to such action, interested in the subject thereof, may apply to the surrogate's court for the granting of letters of administration to himself, or some other qualified person, and upon the jurisdictional facts being satisfactorily shown, and no relative, or guardian of a minor relative, and no creditor, county treasurer or public administrator consenting to such administration, some legally competent person must be appointed administrator. 3. This act shall take effect immediately. Vol. I 10 |