NEW YOEK. 



583 



Oyer and Terminer, when cases of official mis- 

 conduct, or of fraud and peculation in the man- 

 agement of public funds, were to be tried, was 

 vetoed by the Governor. A bill, providing 

 for the audit and payment of claims against the 

 city government of New York, created during 

 the year 1871 to an amount not exceeding 

 $8,500,000, and for the appropriation and ap- 

 portionment of money to carry on the local 

 government of the city for the first four 

 months of the year, was also vetoed by the 

 Governor, who gave his reasons as follows: 



The power to audit and pay last year's claims up 

 to a fixed amount and to make appropriations for 

 the expenditures of the current year up to the 1st of 

 May next, without limit as to amount, is conferred 

 upon the three persons who now are, or may here- 

 after be, heads of certain departments of the city 

 government, to wit, the Comptroller, the President 

 of the Department of Parks, and the Commissioner 

 of Public Works, all of whom are appointees of the 

 mayor, none of them having been elected by the 

 people. The bill ignores the chief executive officer 

 of the city and the legislative branch of the local 

 government. 



A bill which seeks to carry on the government of 

 a great city and county, without the concurrence of 

 its mayor and Common Council and Board of Super- 

 visors, or any of them, and which places this great 

 duty in the hands of certain subordinate officers ap- 

 pointed by the mayor, without associating with 

 them in it either the mayor or the legislative oranch 

 of the local government, or some representative of 

 the latter, can be justified only by an extraordinary 

 condition of affairs. 



This " extraordinary condition of affairs" 

 he thought did not exist. 



The resolution passed in 1870, "purport- 

 ing to withdraw the assent of the people of 

 the State, previously given, to the fifteenth 

 amendment of the Federal Constitution," was 

 rescinded, the vote in the Assembly being 71 

 yeas to 13 nays. 



"An act for the protection of tax-payers 

 against frauds, embezzlement, and wrongful 

 acts of public officers and agents," was passed 

 in the following terms : 



SECTION 1. All officers, agents, commissioners, and 

 other persons, acting for or on behalf of any county, 

 town, or municipal corporation, in this State, and 

 each and every one of them, are hereby declared 

 trustees of the property, funds, and effects of such 

 county, town, or municipal corporation, respectively, 

 so far as such property, funds, and effects have 

 been, are, or may be committed to their management 

 or control ; and every person residing in such coun- 

 ty, town, or municipal corporation, and assessed to 

 pay taxes therein, who shall pay taxes therein, is 

 hereby declared to be a cestui que trust in respect to 

 the said property, funds, and effects, respectively ; 

 and any co-trustees, or any such cestui que trust, 

 shall be entitled as against such trustees, and in re- 

 gard to such property, funds, and effects, to all the 

 rights and remedies provided by law of any co-trus- 

 tee or eestui que trust, to prosecute and maintain any 

 action to prevent waste and injury to any property, 

 funds, and estate held in trust. Such trustees are 

 hereby made subject to all the duties and responsi- 

 bilities imposed by law on trustees, and such duties 

 and responsibilities may be enforced by any co- 

 trustee or cestui que trust aforesaid. 



In regard to this the Governor submitted 



these two questions to the judges of the 

 Court of Appeals: 



1. Whether the bill, if it become a law, in the 

 words now used, may not operate to divest every 

 municipal corporation of the title to its property, 

 and to vest the legal title thereof in the various offi- 

 cers, commissioners, agents, and other persons who 

 may have control and management of such property, 

 or of separate and distinct portions thereof. 



2. Whether it may not operate to give to tax-payers 

 the exclusive right to sue for wrongs done, or in or- 

 der to prevent wrongs by municipal officers, taking 

 away the right of action in such cases from the cor- 

 poration itself, and from all public officers; and may 

 not, in fact, interfere with suits now pending. 



The judges agreed that "serious questions 

 might arise upon the bill in its present form 

 both as to the title of the property covered by 

 the terms of the act, and as to whether the 

 municipalities are not divested of all title ; 

 and also as to the right of a corporation itself, 

 or any of its officers, or any public officer, or 

 any person whatever, other than a tax-payer, 

 to bring an action in respect to the property, 

 funds, or effects mentioned in the act." The 

 Governor, therefore, vetoed the act, warning 

 the Legislature that "in times of unusual ex- 

 citement about abuses in the administration of 

 public affairs, and when the demand for cor- 

 rection and reform is urgent and loud, it is 

 especially important that those charged with 

 the responsibility of legislation should move 

 with great caution, and that the most careful 

 consideration should be given to every bill 

 providing new remedies, or making great 

 changes in existing laws." 



An act was passed, the object of which is 

 expressed in the title, as follows : 



An act to supply deficiencies in former appropria- 

 tions and to pay the indebtedness of the State on 

 account of the canals, which deficiencies and indebt- 

 edness have been changed into liabilities for money 

 borrowed to pay them, or into certificates of indebt- 

 edness on which the State is now paying interest, 

 and to pay the floating indebtedness of the State and 

 the estimated liabilities for the present fiscal year not 

 yet provided for by law, and to raise money therefor, 

 by an issue of the bonds of the State, and to provide 

 for submitting the question thereon to the people. 



The debt created by this act is not to exceed 

 $6,600,000. The question of raising it was 

 submitted to a vote of the people at the elec- 

 tion in November, and the proposition was 

 approved by a light vote. An act was also 

 passed to " perfect an amendment of the con- 

 stitution relative to the Court of Appeals, and 

 for the extension of the services of the Com- 

 missioners of Appeals." The amendment in 

 question had been adopted by the preceding 

 Legislature, and consisted of the following 

 section to be added to article sixth : 



SEC. 28. The Court of Appeals may order any of 

 the causes, not exceeding 500 in number, pending 

 in that court at the time of the adoption of this pro- 

 vision, to be heard and determined by the Commis- 

 sioners of Appeals, and the Legislature may extend 

 the term of service of the Commissioners of Appeals, 

 for a period not exceeding two years. 



Provision was made for submitting it to a 



