People ex rel. Henry P. Burgard Co. v. City of Buffalo

73 Misc. 356, 130 N.Y.S. 1073
CourtNew York Supreme Court
DecidedSeptember 15, 1911
StatusPublished

This text of 73 Misc. 356 (People ex rel. Henry P. Burgard Co. v. City of Buffalo) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New York Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People ex rel. Henry P. Burgard Co. v. City of Buffalo, 73 Misc. 356, 130 N.Y.S. 1073 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1911).

Opinion

Pooley, J.

Application for writ of mandamus, requiring the defendant to accept relator’s bond with individual sureties.

The relator was a bidder for paving part of Oak street, Buffalo, and his bid was reported to the .common council January. 9, 1911. The assessment therefor was ordered February 6, 1911, and on July 24, 1911, a resolution was adopted by the board of aldermen and duly approved, directing the commissioner of public works to enter into a contract with the relator for the work, and, pursuant thereto, the contract is about to be executed. A bond is required for the faithful performance of the work, and the relator has presented to the mayor a bond with individual sureties, satisfactory to the mayor as to responsibility; but approval is withheld, owing to provisions of chapter 450, Laws of 1911, which became a law June 26, 1911, entitled "An act to amend the lien law, in.relation to the protection of persons furnishing materials and' labor for the construction or repair of public buildings or other public works.”

Section 62 provides as follows:

“ Public contracts; laborers and materialmen to be secured. Whenever, after this article takes effect, any person enters into a written contract with the state or with any board, commission or department thereof, or with any municipal corporation, for the construction of any public building, or for the prosecution and completion of any public work, or for repairs upon any public building or public work,, he [358]*358shall be required before commencing such work to execute a bond with a surety company authorized to do business in the state of ISTew York as surety, in an amount not less than one-third the contract price for such work, conditioned for the faithful performance of the contract, and also that the contractor shall promptly make payment of the sums due to all persons supplying labor and materials in the prosecution of the work provided for in such contract.”

The charter of the city of Buffalo provides a comprehensive system concerning contracts entered into with the city, covering every detail, from the original notice of intention to the final payment for the completed work, and fully .providing for the protection, of subcontracts for labor or materials furnished, and requiring the contractor to furnish a bond therefor, to be approved by the mayor and his approval to be indorsed thereon.

Section 478 of the original charter (Laws of 1891, chap. 105) provides in every detail for the execution, acknowledgment and qualification of sureties; and the only amendment to this section is that of chapter 577 of the Laws of 1899, which does not change the original other than by adding the following: “ The common council, shall have power to provide by ordinance that every bond given for the performance of any contract made by the city shall contain a clause that the person, copartnership, association, or corporation entering into such contract with the city will pay for all materials used and services rendered in the execution of such contract,” and further providing that the subcontractors may maintain an action against the obligors in such bond, provided the action is brought within one year after the cause of action accrues.

The other provisions of chapter 450, Laws of 1911, are somewhat similar to the charter provisions above referred to, so that practically the important change sought to be effected, so far as the city of Buffalo is concerned, is the requirement of a surety company as surety, instead of individuál sureties, upon all bonds given by contractors in connection with municipal contracts. The other features are quite as complete and effective in the city charter as in the new pro[359]*359visions in this amendment of the Lien Law; and it does not appear hut that the city, the contractors and the subcontractors are fully and adequately protected under the provisions of the charter.

The question, therefore, presented here is whether or not the legislation amending the Lien Law supersedes and by implication repeals the charter provisions relative to the bond to be given by the contractor.

There is no reference to the charter of the city of Buffalo either in the title or text of this latter enactment, and we are left to infer or imply the intention of the Legislature in enacting a law which may or may not affect the charter.

The repeal of a statute by implication is not favored, and is only permitted when it is manifest that it was the intention of the Legislature to repeal.

People v. Jaehne, 103 N. Y. 182. This case involved the question whether the provision of the charter of blew York city in reference to bribery was repealed by a later general statute on the same subject. Judge Andrews, writing the prevailing opinion, says: “ Whether a subsequent statute repeals a prior one in the absence of express words, depends upon the intention of the legislature, and one of the tests frequently resorted to to ascertain whether there is a repeal by implication, is to inquire whether the special and general acts may both be executed without involving repugnancy of rights or remedies. In some cases the question has been solved by holding that the general act was intended to declare a general rule governing cases not already provided for, and that a prior special statute on the same subject, operating upon a single person or class of persons, or within a limited territory, should be treated as if specially excepted from the operation of the general law. It will be found I think on examining the cases in which the courts have held that a special law was not repealed by a subsequent general law on the same subject, that they are as a general rule cases where the legislature was not dealing directly with the subj ect of the prior law, and it was not in the mind of the legislature when the general law was enacted, or where the special law was part of a system of local administration, [360]*360or where it was possible to assign a reasonable motive-for retaining the special and peculiar provisions of the special act, notwithstanding the enactment of a subsequent general rule covering the same subject.”

Van Denburgh v. Village of Greenbush, 66 N. Y. 1. This case involved the question whether the special Lien Law of Rensselaer county was superseded by the later general Lien Law. Judge Earl, writing for the court, says: “It is claimed on the part of the appellants that the effect was to repeal the law of 1865 and to bring Rensselaer county again under the law of 1854. It is a question of legislative intent. By the act of 1858 the legislature placed that county under the law of 1854, and there it remained until 1865, ivhen a special law was passed, with peculiar provisions applicable to that county only. Can it be supposed that the. legislature meant by the act of 1869 to restore in its application to that county the law of 1854, which had once been repealed as to that county, without any special repeal of the law of 1865 ? We think not. It is a rule of construction that a special statute providing for a particular case or applicable to a particular locality is not repealed by a statute general in its terms and application, unless the intention of the legislature to repeal or alter the special law is manifest, although the terms of the general act would be taken strictly, and but for the special law include the case or cases proAÚded for by it. (Foster’s Case, 11 Coke, 63, 64; In the Matter of the Evergreens, 47 N. Y. 216; Matter of Com. of Central Park, 50 id. 493; Canal Co. v. Railroad Co., 4 Gill & Johns. 6; Smith’s Stat. and Con. Law, 905.)”

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Bluebook (online)
73 Misc. 356, 130 N.Y.S. 1073, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-ex-rel-henry-p-burgard-co-v-city-of-buffalo-nysupct-1911.