EXTRACTS FROM THE CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK RELATING TO THE STATE BOARD OF CHARITIES

§ 11. The legislature shall provide for a state board of charities, which shall visit and inspect all institutions, whether state, county, municipal, incorporated or not incorporated, which are of a charitable, eleemosynary, correctional or reformatory character, excepting only such institutions as are hereby made subject to the visitation and inspection of either of the commissions hereinafter mentioned, but including all reformatories except those in which adult males convicted of felony shall be confined; a state commission in lunacy, which shall visit and inspect all institutions, either public or private, used for the care and treatment of the insane (not including institutions for epileptics or idiots); a state commission of prisons which shall visit and inspect all institutions used for the detention of sane adults charged with or convicted of crime, or detained as witnesses or debtors.

1. CORPORATIONS - WHEN CHARITABLE IN NATURE CAPACITY TO TAKE CHARITABLE GIFTS. The capacity of a corporation to take and administer charitable gifts does not imply that the corporation must necessarily be of a charitable nature.

2. EXEMPTION FROM TAXATION AS INDICATION OF CHARITABLE NATURE OF CORPORATION. The exemption from taxation given by chapter 553 of the Laws of 1890 to societies for the prevention of cruelty to children does not show that the New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children is of the class designated as charitable, since charitable institutions were already exempt, and the statute was not necessary if this corporation belonged to that class, and, moreover, exemption from taxation is a privilege frequently conferred by the legislature upon corporations with no charitable

features whatever.

3. CORPORATION RECEIVING MONEY FROM CITY TREASURY. In receiving and disbursing the money which is annually given from the city treasury to the New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children that corporation does not receive or administer any charity, but only takes an allowance from the city for doing work that otherwise would devolve upon the police department.

4. NEW YORK SOCIETY FOR THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO CHILDREN PURPOSE AND CHARACTER OF - NOT SUBJECT TO VISITATION BY STATE BOARD OF CHARITIES. The New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to

Children, organized under chapter 130 of the Laws of 1875, for the prevention of cruelty to children and the enforcement by all lawful means of the laws relating to or in any wise affecting children, is not a charitable institution within the scope of sections 11 to 14 of article 8 of the Constitution, chapter 771 of the Laws of 1895 and chapter 546 of the Laws of 1896, giving to the State Board of Charities the right of visitation with respect to all charitable institutions, since it receives no public money for charitable uses and administers no charity in any legal sense, but exists for the sole purpose of enforcing the criminal laws to prevent cruelty to children, although the corporation, as a mere incident of its work, feeds, clothes and cares for children temporarily while detained as witnesses or victims of cruelty pending the prosecution of the offenders in the courts.

5. STATE SUPERVISION OF CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS EXTENT OF. The scheme of state supervision of charitable institutions under the Constitution and statutes was not intended to apply to every institution engaged in some good or commendable work for the relief of humanity from some of the various ills with which it is afflicted, but only to those corporations, public or private, maintained in whole or in part by the state, or some of its political divisions, through which charity, as such, is dispensed by public authority to those having a claim upon the generosity or bounty of the state. Court of Appeals, January, 1900, People ex rel. State Board of Charities v. New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, 161 N. Y. 233 (42 App. Div. 83, reversed).

1. CORPORATIONS, WHEN CHARITABLE. A charitable institution, within the meaning of sections 11 to 14 of article 8 of the Constitution, chapter 771 of the Laws of 1895, and chapter 546 of the Laws of 1896, giving to the State Board of Charities the right of visitation with respect to all charitable institutions, is one that in some form or to some extent receives public money for the support and maintenance of indigent persons, and by public money is meant money raised by taxation not only in the State at large, but in any city, county or town. Court of Appeals, April, 1900, People ex rel. State Board of Charities v. The New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, 162 N. Y. 429.

2. PRIVATE CHARITABLE INSTITUTION NOT SUBJECT TO STATE INSPECTION. A purely private institution, which, without any compensation from the public, cares for or maintains, indigent adults or children who voluntarily seek it as a home, or who remain there voluntarily, is not subject to State inspection or regulation. Id.

In that case (161 N. Y. 233) the only question before the court was whether the defendant (the New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children) was an institution of a "charitable, eleemosynary, correctional or reformatory" character within the nomenclature of section 11, article VIII of the Constitution, and, therefore, subject to the visitation of the State Board of Charities, a question not at all involved in this case. Court of Appeals, February, 1901, Fox v. Mohawk and Hudson River Humane Society, 165 N. Y. 517.

§ 12. The members of the said board and of the said commissions shall be appointed by the governor, by and with the advice

and consent of the senate; and any member may be removed from office by the governor for cause, an opportunity having been given him to be heard in his defense.

§ 13. Existing laws relating to institutions referred to in the foregoing sections and to their supervision and inspection, in so far as such laws are not inconsistent with the provisions of the constitution, shall remain in force until amended or repealed by the legislature. The visitation and inspection herein provided for, shall not be exclusive of other visitation and inspection now authorized by law.

§ 14. Nothing in this constitution contained shall prevent the legislature from making such provision for the education and support of the blind, the deaf and dumb, and juvenile delinquents, as to it may seem proper; or prevent any county, city, town or village from providing for the care, support, maintenance and secular education of inmates of orphan asylums, homes for dependent children or correctional institutions, whether under public or private control. Payments by counties, cities, towns and villages to charitable, eleemosynary, correctional and reformatory institutions, wholly or partly under private control, for care, support and maintenance, may be authorized, but shall not be required by the legislature. No such payments shall be made for any inmate of such institutions who is not received and retained therein pursuant to rules established by the state board of charities. Such rules shall be subject to the control of the legislature by general laws.

PRIVATE CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS EFFECT OF NEW CONSTITUTION UPON STATUTORY LOCAL AID FROM PUBLIC MONEYS. The Constitution of 1894 did not of itself annul and render inoperative mandatory provisions in existing statutes requiring the payment by localities of public moneys to private charitable institutions, by force of the new provision (art. 8, § 14), that such payments "may be authorized, but shall not be required by the Legislature; but its effect was to leave such statutory provisions in force until superseded by subsequent legislation. Court of Appeals, April, 1897, People ex rel. The Inebriates' Home for Kings County v. The Comptroller of the Uity of Brooklyn, 152 N. Y. 399.

LIMITATION ON FUTURE LEGISLATION. The above provision of the Consti tution is a mere limitation on future legislative action, and was not intended to forbid the operation of existing laws. Id.

NON-ABROGATION OF ADMINISTRATIVE DUTY OF PAYMENT OF PUBLIC MONEYS TO PRIVATE CHARITABLE INSTITUTION. The above provision of the Constitu.

tion did not abrogate the purely administrative duty imposed upon the comptroller of the city of Brooklyn by chapter 169, Laws of 1877, of paying a portion of the excise moneys to the Inebriates' Home for Kings County, a private charitable and reformatory institution. Id.

REQUIREMENT OF COMPLIANCE WITH RULES OF STATE BOARD OF CHARITIES. The new provision of the Constitution of 1894 (art. 8, § 14), that no payments of public moneys by localities to private charitable institutions shall be made for any inmate who is not received and retained "pursuant to rules established by the State Board of Charities," operated presently, so that from the time rules should be established by the State Board on the subject, no payments would be justified for inmates received or retained, in contravention of the rules of the board. Id.

FAILURE OF PRIVATE CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS TO EARN PUBLIC MONEYS. The courts will not compel the payment to a private charitable institution of public moneys authorized to be paid only for the current support of inmates during the period when the fund accrued, where it appears that the institution had to a great extent ceased its operations and had not, except to a limited extent, performed the service which was the consideration of the payment to be made out of the public funds. Id.

People ex rel. Inebriates' Home v. Comptroller (11 App. Div. 114), affirmed. CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS SUPERVISION OF STATE BOARD OF CHARITIES. It is not necessary that an institution should be wholly charitable to fall within the provisions of the Constitution (art. 8, §§ 11-15) and the statutes (L. 1895, chaps. 754, 771) placing charitable institutions under the supervision and rules of the State Board of Charities. It is enough if the insti tution is partly charitable in its character and purpose. Court of Appeals, October, 1897, People ex rel. the New York Institution for the Blind v. Fitch, Comptroller of the City of New York, 154 N. Y. 14.

EDUCATIONAL AND CHARITABLE INSTITUTION. The mere fact that an insti tution is partly educational does not exclude it from the provisions of the Constitution and statutes placing charitable institutions under the supervision and rules of the State Board of Charities. If an institution is both educational and charitable, it falls within those provisions. Id.

INSTITUTIONS FOR INSTRUCTION OF THE BLIND. The fact that institutions for the instruction of the blind are subject to the visitation of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (L. 1894, chap. 556, tit. 15, art. 14) does not prevent such an institution from being charitable in its character and purpose, and, hence, also subject to the visitation of the State Board of Charities (Const., art. 8, § 13)). Id.

MEANING OF CHARITABLE." The word " charitable," as used in the provisions of the Constitution and the statutes subjecting charitable institutions to the supervision and rules of the State Board of Charities, is to be given only its usual and ordinary meaning. Id.

INSTITUTION FOR THE BLIND CHARITABLE IN PART. The New York Institution for the Blind, an institution under private control, organized in 1831 (chap. 214) for the special education of the blind, is to be regarded as a charitable institution so far as it clothes, educates and maintains indigent pupils at public expense or by donations from individuals; and as to such pupils, it is subject to the supervision and rules of the State Board of Charities. Id.

INSTITUTION EDUCATIONAL IN PART. Such institution, so far as it edu. cates pupils who pay for their tuition, board and maintenance, is not to be regarded as a charitable, but only as an educational institution, and as to those pupils the Board of Charities has no jurisdiction or power of supervision.

INSTITUTION OF CHARITABLE CHARACTER. Such institution, being to an extent charitable as well as educational, falls within the provisions of the Constitution and statutes as an institution of a charitable character or design. Id.

STATE MAINTENANCE OF FREE EDUCATION. The provision of the Constitution (art. 9, § 1), that "the Legislature shall provide for the maintenance and support of a system of free common schools, wherein all the children of this State may be educated," relates only to the public or common schools of the State, and has no application to appropriations made by the State to an institution for the education of the blind, wholly or partly under private control. Id.

STATE AID TO PRIVATE EDUCATION OF THE BLIND. Appropriations by the Legislature to a local or private institution, for the education and support of the blind, are based upon and authorized by the provisions of the Constitution (art. 8, § 10 of 1874; § 9 of 1894) which prescribe that the prohibition of State aid to any association, corporation or private undertaking shall not prevent the Legislature from making such provision for the education and support of the blind as to it may seem proper. Id.

PAST APPROPRIATIONS NOT VIOLATIVE OF THE CONSTITUTION. It does not follow that, if the New York Institution for the Blind is charitable, appropriations made to it in the past by the State for the education and support of pupils, and approriations made by the counties of New York and Kings (under L. 1870, chap. 166, § 3) of the sums required for clothing the indigent pupils who were residents of the county making the appropriation were violative of the Constitution (art. 8, §§ 8, 11, of 1874). Id.

MANDATORY APPROPRIATION. The charitable character of the New York Institution for the Blind is not changed if the provisions of the statute (L. 1870, chap. 166, § 3) requiring the counties of New York and Kings to appropriate money to clothe indigent pupils is mandatory, and hence in conflict with the Constitution of 1894 (art. 8, § 14), which is not decided. Id. PARTICIPATION IN PUBLIC SCHOOL FUND. It does not follow from the fact that the charter of Greater New York (L. 1897, chap. 378, § 1161), authorizes the board of education to distribute a ratable proportion of the school fund to every pupil in the New York Institution for the Blind, that the institution must be regarded as purely educational and not charitable. Id.

CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS PROVISIONS UNDER STATE CONSTITUTION FOR EDUCATION AND SUPPORT OF DEAF AND DUMB- WHEN COUNTY LIABLE FOR PAYMENT OF BILLS FOR RETENTION OF DEAF AND DUMB CHILD IN CHARITABLE INSTITUTION. The State Constitution (Art. VIII, § 14) while permitting the legislature to make provision for the education and support of the deaf and dumb forbids payment therefor for any inmate of a charitable institution wholly or partly under private control who is not received and retained therein pursuant to rules established by the State Board of Charities. During the lifetime of decedent one of his six children, about six years of age, was, under