SECTION XXI.

SPECIAL PROVISIONS APPLICABLE TO NEW YORK CITY.

Every person who shall threaten to abandon, or shall have actually abandoned his family, wife or child in the city of New York without adequate support, or in danger of becoming a burden upon the public, or who may neglect to provide according to his means for his family, or any member of said family, is declared by statute to be a disorderly person. All the provisions of law in relation to disorderly persons in the city of New York, apply to any person so offending, and any member of the defendant's family, of otherwise legal qualifications, is a competent witness to be examined; and in case the defendant offers himself to be examined under oath he is to be examined like any other witness.1

In case of the conviction of any such person as a disorderly person, the magistrate convicting is to make an order, specifying a certain sum to be paid to the governors of the alms house department of the said city weekly, for and towards the support of the family of the defendant, and all the provisions of law in relation to the enforcement of orders for the support of bastard children in said city after conviction, are, as far as practicable, made to apply to the enforcement of such order, except that the order shall be for the stated period of one year, and that any appeal from or amendment of such order shall be exclusively for the action of the court of special sessions.2

No person who shall have been so convicted of being a disorderly person and committed to prison can be discharged therefrom without the written approval of the magistrate making the commitment, except he be discharged by a court of competent jurisdiction, or other legal proceedings for that purpose.3

The proceedings upon the forfeiture of any recognizance, under the provisions above referred to, is also made the subject of special legislation in the city of New York.4

In the city and county of New York, every person is deemed

guilty of disorderly conduct that tends to a breach of the peace, who shall in any thoroughfare or public place in said city and county, commit any of the following offences:

1. Every person who shall suffer to be at large any unmuzzled, ferocious or vicious dog.

2. Every common prostitute or night walker, loitering or being in any thoroughfare or public place, for the purpose of prostitution or solicitation, to the annoyance of the inhabitants or passers by.

3. Every person who shall use any threatening, abusive or insulting behavior, with intent to provoke a breach of peace, or whereby a breach of the peace may be occasioned.

Whenever it shall appear on oath of a credible witness, before any police justice in said city and county, that any person in said city and county has been guilty of any such disorderly conduct, as in the opinion of such magistrate, tends to a breach of the peace, the said magistrate may cause the person so complained of to be brought before him to answer such charge.1

The provisions of the above mentioned act of 1860, section 20. do not repeal or supersede that of the act of 1833, chapter 11;2 which provides that any conduct which, in the opinion of the magistrate, tends to a breach of the peace, may be punished as disorderly conduct.3

It is also declared to be disorderly conduct, subjecting the offender to a summary conviction, to drive or ride a horse through any lane, street, alley or public place within the lamp district of the city of New York, with a greater speed than five miles an hour.4

Upon a commitment for disorderly conduct, the making and filing of a record is not necessary, there being a distinction between commitment, under the statutes relating to the city of New York, for disorderly conduct, and under the Revised Statutes for being a disorderly person.5

It is not necessary that a commitment for disorderly conduct should set forth the particular act complained of. If the magis

1 Laws 1860, ch. 508, §§ 20, 21.

• Post.

The twelve commitments, 19 Abb., 394.

Laws 1833, ch. 11, § 5.

* See the case of the twelve commitments, 19 Abb Pr., 394.

trate acts erroneously or upon insufficient evidence, the 'remedy is not by habeas corpus, but by certiorari. The commitment for disorderly conduct, until the party shall find security for his good behavior, without qualification of time, is void. It should be limited to a specified period not exceeding twelve months.1

In cases of arrest for disorderly conduct in the city of New York, the police justice has power, in addition to holding the party to bail for good behavior, to impose a fine not exceeding ten dollars in each case, or to commit to the city prison not exceeding ten days, each day of imprisonment to be taken as a liquidation of one dollar of the fine.2

SECTION XXII.

BEGGARS AND VAGRANTS.

All idle persons, who, not having means to maintain themselves, live without employment; all 'persons wandering abroad and lodging in taverns, groceries, beer-houses, out-houses, market places, sheds or barns, or in the open air, and not giving a good account of themselves; all persons wandering abroad and begging, or who go about from door to door, or place themselves in the streets, highways, passages, or other public places, to beg or receive alms, are deemed vagrants.3

This statute must be strictly construed, and a person must be shown to come exactly within its description. Proof that the prisoner was a common prostitute and idle person, does not authorize her commitment and conviction as a vagrant.

It is the duty of every constable, or other peace officer, whenever required by any person to carry such vagrant before a justice of the peace of the same town, or before the mayor, recorder, or any one of the aldermen of the city in which such vagrant shall be, for the purpose of examination.5

If such justice, or other officer, be satisfied, by the confession

' 19 Abb., 394.

Laws 1859, ch. 491, § 5.

1 R. S., 633, §.

Peo. v. Forbes, 4 Park., 611; 11 Abb., 52; 19 How. 457. Vide Gray's Case, 11 Abb., 56; 4 Park., 616.

1 R. S., 633, § 2.

of the offender, or by competent testimony, that such person is a vagrant, within the description aforesaid, he shall make up and sign a record of conviction thereof, which shall be filed in the office of the clerk of the county, and shall, by warrant under his hand, commit such vagrant, if he be not a notorious offender, and be a proper object for such relief, to the county poor-house, if there be one, or to the alms-house or poor-house of such town or city, for any time not exceeding six months, there to be kept at hard labor; or, if the offender be an improper person to be sent to the poor house, then he shall be committed to the bridewell or house of correction of such county or city, if there be one, and if none, to the common jail of such county, for a term not exceeding sixty days; there to be kept, if the justice think proper so to direct, upon bread and water only for such time as shall be directed, not exceeding one-half the time for which he shall be committed.1

If any child shall be found begging for alms, or soliciting charity from door to door, or in any street, highway or public place of any city or town, any justice of the peace, on complaint and proof thereof, shall commit such child to the county house, if there be one, or to the alms house or other place provided for the support of the poor, there to be detained, kept, employed and instructed in such useful labor as such child shall be able to perform until discharged therefrom by the county superintend ents of the poor, or bound out as an apprentice by them or by the commissioners of the alms house or the overseers of the poor.2

In the county of Ontario, when any justice of the peace shall be satisfied that any person brought before him is a vagrant, under the provisions of the Revised Statutes, or is an improper person to be sent to the poor house of said county, he shall sentence and commit such person to the work house in the county of Monroe, for a period of not less than sixty days nor more than ninety days.3

The police justices of the city of New York shall, in every case of commitment for vagrancy, file or cause to be filed in the office of the clerk of the court of general sessions of the peace,

' 1 R. S., 633, § 3. Vide 4 Park, 616–611; ante.

1 R. S., 633, § 4.

* Laws 1862, ch. 217, p. 393.

in and for the city and county of New York, a record of the proceedings had before them, or either of them, and such record shall contain, as part thereof, the proofs or confession taken by such justice, together with the prisoner's examination. The form of this commitment is embodied in the statute.1

The statute in relation to the city of New York, further provides that no person committed to the penitentiary work house or alms house as a vagrant, as above directed, shall, unless upon a writ of habeas corpus or certiorari, except upon an order of two of the governors of the alms house, be discharged before the expiration of the term for which he was so committed.2

By a subsequent act, the governors of the alms house, in the cases where they are empowered to discharge vagrants from the institution under their control, are forbidden to discharge any of said vagrants from custody before the expiration of their term of imprisonment, without the written consent of the committing magistrate in each case.3

The following persons are deemed vagrants in the city of New York, viz.: All persons who, being habitual drunkards, are destitute and without visible means of support, or who, being such drunkards, shall abandon, neglect or refuse to aid in the support of their families, who may be complained of by such families; all persons who have contracted an infectious or other disease, in the practice of drunkenness or debauchery, requiring charitable aid to restore them to health; all common prostitutes who have no lawful employment whereby to maintain themselves; all able bodied or sturdy beggars, who may apply for alms, or solicit charity; all persons wandering abroad, lodging in watch houses, out houses, market places, sheds, stables or uninhabited buildings, or in the open air, and not giving a good account of themselves; all persons wandering abroad and begging, or who go about from door to door, or place themselves in the streets, highways, passages or other public places, to beg or receive alms within the said city. It is made the duty of every constable or other peace officer, whenever required by any person to carry, convey or conduct such vagrant before the mayor, recorder, or one of the aldermen, or special justices of the said city, for

'Laws 1855, ch, 268, § 1; 1 R. S., 633, § 11.

Id., § 2; Id., § 12.

'Laws 1859, ch. 491, § 5.