Commissioner of Agriculture. 101 



densed milk. No person or persons, firm, association or cor- 

 poration shall induce or attempt to induce any person or per- 

 sons to violate any of the provisions of the Agricultural Law. 

 Any person, firm, association or corporation selling, offering or 

 advertising for sale any substance, preparation or matter for 

 use in violation of the provisions of the Agricultural Law shall 

 be guilty of a violation of this act." The complaint merely fol- 

 lows the statutes, and alleges that the defendant advertised for 

 sale a preservative called " preservaline " for use with butter, 

 " which was neither salt to be used in butter and cheese, sugar 

 to be used in milk nor liquor to be used in club or fancy cheese," 

 with intent that the said preservative should be used in butter 

 to be offered and exposed for sale. The defendant demurred to 

 the complaint, claiming that the statutory enactment quoted 

 was unconstitutional and void, and in this contention he has 

 been upheld by the Special Term and the Appellate Division. 



We think the disposition of this case by the courts below was 

 correct. It is not possible to define accurately the limits of the 

 police power, the exercise of which is vested in the Legislature, 

 nor have the courts, as a rule, essayed that task further than 

 to state in very general terms the nature and object of such 

 power. Still the power has its limitations and those limitations 

 have been to a large extent determined by the process of exclu- 

 sion and inclusion, as the courts have upheld particular cases 

 of legislation as valid exercises of the power and in other cases 

 have declared the legislation void. In People v. Moyrx (99 N. Y. 

 377) a statute absolutely prohibiting the manufacture and sale 

 of oleomargarine or any compound as a substitute for butter 

 and cheese was held void. The statute having been subse- 

 quently amended so as to prohibit the manufacture or sale of 

 any article so compounded as to imitate butter was upheld in 

 People v. Arensberg (105 N. Y. 123) as valid legislation to prevent 

 fraud on purchasers and consumers. In People v. Killer (106 

 N. Y. 321) a statute defining what should be deemed unwhole- 

 some or adulterated milk and prohibiting its sale was held con- 

 stitutional. In People v. Girard (145 N. Y. 105) a statute for- 



