СНАР. 324. AN ACT for the preservation of the public health. PASSED April 10, 1850; three-fifths being present. The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows: SECTION 1. It shall be the duty of the common council of every Constitu tion of city health. city in this State, except in the cities of Brooklyn, New York, boards of Yonkers and Buffalo, which are hereby excepted from the operation of this act, to appoint a board of health for such city, to consist of six persons who are not members of said council, and who shall be appointed as follows: Two persons for a term of one year; two persons for a term of two years; and two persons for a term of three years; (one of whom, at least, shall be a competent physician). The mayor of such city shall be a member ex-officio of such board of health, and shall be president thereof. The said board of health, when duly organized, shall appoint a competent physician (not a member of such board), who shall be health officer for such city. This section shall not be construed to remove any of the existing boards of health in any of the cities of this State, but the successors of such boards shall be appointed as in this section provided. Upon the expiration of the term of office of any member of the board of health, appointed as herein provided, his successor shall be appointed by such common council for the term of three years, and the said common council shall also have power to fill any vacancy caused in such board of health by the death, resignation or removal from the city of any member thereof. And it shall be the duty of the trus- Health tees of every incorporated village in this State in which there is villages. not now a board of health duly organized, to appoint once in each year a board of health for such village, to consist of not less than three nor more than seven persons (who are not village trustees), who shall hold office for one year, or until their successors shall have been appointed, from which board shall be elected a president and secretary; and the said board of health thus constituted shall appoint a competent physician to be the health officer of such village, who shall not be a member of said board of health. [As amended by L. 1881, ch. 431.] boards of Membership and organization of town boards of health. § 2. The supervisor and justices of the peace and the town clerk, or a majority of them, of each town in this State, together with a citizen of such town of full age, to be elected by them, shall be the board of health for such town for each year, and they shall appoint some competent physician not a member of said board, to be the health officer for such town. They shall have cognizance of the causes of injury or danger to the public health, and shall meet upon call of the supervisor. Also, whenever in the judgment of the State board of health, or (if the said board be not in session), of the president and secretary thereof, it shall be necessary, and the public good requires it, the supervisor of such town, upon reasonable notice being given him from the State board of health, or its president and secretary, shall immediately convene the town board of health, by notice to the members thereof, to take such proceedings as the public health in that vicinity may require, and concerning which it shall have been notified by the State board of health, or by its president and secretary. And in any case in which the term for which the board of health of any village or city heretofore appointed shall have expired, or in any case in which a member or several members of a board of health of any town, village or city in this State, shall resign or cease to act officially, so that less than the statutory number of members of said board continue to be members thereof, then it shall be the duty of the county judge of the county in which such town, village or city is situated, or of an adjacent county, upon being satisfied that such term has expired or that Temporary such vacancy or vacancies exist, to appoint in writing a competent how filled. citizen or citizens, as the case shall require to fill such vacancy or vacancies, and to perform the duties of said office within the time specified, and until the said town, village or municipal government shall have elected or appointed the member or members, who shall, according to law, perform such official duties in the said board of health. The written appointment to a board of health, made by a county judge under this section shall forthwith be filed in the office of the clerk of the county in which said board of health is located. Any violation of the provisions of this section or of any lawful instruction of said State board of health shall be a misdemeanor. [As amended by L. 1881, ch. 431.] vacancies, 3. The several boards of health now organized in any city, village or town in this State (except in the cities of New York, Yonkers, and Brooklyn and Buffalo), and the several boards of health constituted under this act as amended, shall have power and it shall be their duty: (1.) To meet in their respective cities, villages and towns and fix and determine the period of quarantine to which vessels, vehicles or persons arriving in such city, village or town shall be subject; but the said board shall have power, after an examination, to reduce the period of quarantine of such vessel, vehicles or persons, if they deem it safe to do so.(") [As amended by L. 1881, ch. 431.] duties of officer. regulate tine, etc. (2.) To prescribe the duties and powers of the health officer; to Prescribed direct him from time to time in the performance thereof, and to fix health the compensation he shall receive. (3.) To make orders and regulations in their discretion concern- Powers to ing the place and mode of quarantine, the examination and purifica- quarante tion of vessels, boats and other craft not under quarantine; the treatment of vessels, articles or persons thereof; the regulation of intercourse with infected places; the apprehension, separation and treatment of emigrants and other persons who shall have been exposed to any infectious or contagious disease; the suppression and removal of nuisances, and all such other orders and regulations as they shall think necessary and proper for the preservation of the public health. late isola tion of and inter us with infected persons and places. (4.) To regulate and prohibit or prevent all communication or To reguintercourse with all houses, tenements, and places, and the persons occupying the same, in which there shall be any person who shall have been exposed to any infectious or contagious disease. (5.) Such board of health shall have power, and it shall be duty, to receive and examine into the nature of complaints made any of the inhabitants, concerning causes of danger, or injury to the public health within the limits of its jurisdiction; also to report its by Board to make a report of record of to acts. facts, and (a) L. 1881, ch. 431, § 3, declares that "section three of said act (viz., the act of 1850) "is hereby amended so as to read as follows"-then follows the matter inserted in the text between the two (a)s. Obviously it was not intended to repeal (or merge) all of § 3, for the next section of the act of 1881 amends subdivision 5 of 8 3 of the act of 1850. The editor has therefore followed the evident intent, though at the expense of some violence to the language used. its orders and public vaccination. the State board of health, promptly, facts which relate to infectious and epidemic diseases within said jurisdiction, and to require such isolation and quarantining of persons, vessels and sources of infection, as shall be in its judgment necessary; also to release from such isolation or quarantine, such persons, vessels and things, as it shall deem safe so to release; but upon ordering such quarantining or isolation, or such release from the same, said board and its health officers shall make a record of the facts in the case, and of the reasons for the action taken. It shall also be the duty of the said local board to procure suitable places for the reception of persons, and things infected with malignant, contagious or infectious dis eases, and in all cases where sick persons cannot otherwise be provided for, to procure for them medical, and other attendance and necessaries; and it shall be the duty of every such board of health to take cognizance of, and report, every case of small-pox or varioTo provide loid occurring within said board's jurisdiction, also to make all needful provisions for immediately obtaining the necessary means for thorough and safe vaccination of all persons within the said jurisThe board, diction who may need the same. It shall also be the duty of the board of health in each town, village and city in this State, to have the supervision of the registration of deaths, diseases and the causes of death, and by its appointed officers, to examine all certificates and records of death, and findings of coroner's juries, and to designate the persons who shall grant permits for the burial of the dead, and to prescribe sanitary regulations for such burials, and it shall be the duty of every such board of health to supervise and make complete the registration of births, deaths and marriages within the limits of its jurisdiction, and in so completing the said registration the cost thereof shall be a charge upon such town, village or city, and shall not exceed fifty cents for each completely verified and afty cents. registered record of a birth, death or marriage, but the town clerks and the registering clerks provided by law in villages and cities may still keep all records of births, deaths and marriages as required by chapter five hundred and twelve, laws of eighteen hundred and eighty. supervision and duty of registration of vital statistics. The cost per record not to exceed [As amended by L. 1881, ch. 431.] regula published. (6.) To publish from time to time all such orders and regulations Orders and of general obligation as they shall have made, in such manner as to tions to be secure early and full publicity thereto; and to make, without publication thereof, such orders and regulations in special or individual cases, not of general application, as they may see fit, concerning the suppression and removal of nuisances, and concerning all other matters in their judgment detrimental to the public health, and to serve copies thereof upon any occupant or occupants of any premises whereon any such nuisances or other matters aforesaid shall exist, or by posting the same in some conspicuous place on such premises. issue (7.) To issue warrants to any constable of their respective cities, Power to villages or towns, to apprehend and remove such persons as cannot warrants. otherwise be subjected to the orders and regulations by them adopted; and, whenever it shall be necessary to do so, to issue their warrant to the sheriff of their respective counties to bring to their aid the power of the county; all of which warrants shall be forthwith executed by the officers to whom they shall be directed, who shall possess the like powers and be subject to the like duties in the execution thereof, as if the same had been duly issued out of any court of record in this State. ment of (8.) To employ all such persons as shall be necessary to enable Employ them to carry into effect the orders or regulations they shall have agents. adopted, published and made, and the powers vested in them by this act, and to fix their compensation. [As amended by L. 1867, ch. 790.] health pose and enforce penalties or restrain (9.) To impose penalties for the violation of, or non-compliance Boards of with, their orders and regulations, and to maintain actions in any may imcourt of record to collect such penalties, not exceeding one hundred dollars in any one case, or to restrain by injunction such violations, violations or otherwise to enforce such orders and regulations. [This subd. added by L. 1870, ch. 559.] by injunctions. orders of misde meanor: § 4. Every person who shall willfully violate or refuse to obey Violating any order or regulation so made and published, or any order so made board a and served, or posted as aforesaid, shall be deemed guilty of a mis- penalty. demeanor, and on conviction thereof, shall be subject to fine or imprisonment, or both, in the discretion of the court, such fine not |