People ex rel. Olsen v. Sheriff of Erie County

174 A.D. 281, 160 N.Y.S. 427, 1916 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 7655
CourtAppellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York
DecidedJune 15, 1916
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 174 A.D. 281 (People ex rel. Olsen v. Sheriff of Erie County) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People ex rel. Olsen v. Sheriff of Erie County, 174 A.D. 281, 160 N.Y.S. 427, 1916 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 7655 (N.Y. Ct. App. 1916).

Opinion

Foote, J.:

Relator was confined in the county jail of Erie county under a body execution issued upon a judgment recovered in the Supreme Court in Erie county on November 24, 1914, for a penalty of sixty dollars and seventy-two dollars and sixty-four cents costs, amounting in all to one hundred and thirty-two dollars and sixty-four cents, upon the verdict of a jury in an action brought by the Attorney-General in the name of the People of the State to recover the penalty prescribed in section 182 of the Conservation Law (Consol. Laws, chap. 65 [Laws of 1911, chap. 647], added by Laws of 1912, chap. 318, as amd. by Laws of 1913, chap. 508) for unlawfully and wrongfully using a gill net in the waters of Lake Erie in violation of sections 176 and 177 of the said Conservation Law (added by Laws of 1912, chap. 318, as amd. by Laws of 1913, chap. 508) and of a rule of the Conservation Commission in respect to the use of such net. Relator appeared and answered in such action and trial was had and numerous witnesses examined upon both sides, and the case submitted to the jury, which rendered a verdict in favor of plaintiff for the full amount of the penalty sued for. By section 28 of article 3 of the Conservation Law (as added by Laws of 1912, chap. 444) such a judgment may be enforced by execution against the person. Relator took no appeal from the judgment and after remaining in confinement upon the execution for some time, sought to test its validity [283]*283and his imprisonment thereunder by habeas corpus, on the theory that the court was without jurisdiction to render such a judgment. It was so held, in effect, by the justice from whose decision this appeal is brought, but on what ground does not appear, the order discharging relator from custody reciting only that “no legal cause for the said imprisonment and restraint or for the continuance thereof having been shown.”

We think relator’s imprisonment was authorized by the judgment and entirely legal and that he was improperly discharged.

The complaint alleged that the Conservation Commission had adopted a rule which was in effect on January 1, 1913, as follows:

“ Rule 1, subd. 8. The Commission shall issue with each licensed net a tag upon which shall be stamped a number corresponding with the number or numbers on the license. Such tag must be attached to the net when in use in such manner that it will be on the top of or above the water and in plain sight at all times.’’

That on June 8, 1913, the defendant did wrongfully and unlawfully and in violation of sections 176 and 177 of the Conservation Law (as amd. supra) and of said subdivision 8 of rule 1 so adopted by the Conservation Commission, “ use a gill net in the waters of Lake Erie at Buffalo, N. Y., which said net was not tagged in the manner prescribed by said Rule 1, subdivision 8, and that thereby the defendant incurred and became liable to the plaintiff for the penalty of sixty dollars ($60) for such violation as provided by section 182 ” of said Conservation Law (as amd. supra) and that no part thereof has been paid.

Relator’s answer to this complaint was a general denial.

The fish and game sections of the Conservation Law, added by chapter 318 of the Laws of 1912, as amended by chapter 508 of the Laws of 1913, which amendments took effect April 15, 1912, and May 14,1913, are found in article 5, which article is subdivided into thirteen separately numbered parts, and all the sections applicable to this case are found in article 5. We will quote the pertinent parts of the sections which seem to be applicable:

Section 176 in part III provides: “No person shall at any [284]*284time of the year, pursue, take, wound or kill, in any manner, number or quantity, any fish, * * * protected by law, * * *. except as permitted by this article. Nets * * * shall not be used to take fish except as specifically permitted by this article. Any person aiding in any manner in such prohibited acts shall be deemed to have violated this section.”

Section 177 in part III provides: “2. * * * Fish except migratory food fish of the sea, shall.only be taken by angling, unless otherwise specifically permitted by this article.”

Section 182 in part III provides: “A person who violates any of the provisions of part three or of any lawful rule or regulation of the Commission, is guilty of a misdemeanor, and in addition thereto, is liable as follows: to a penalty of sixty dollars and an additional penalty of twenty-five dollars for each fish *. * * taken * * * in violation thereof.”

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Related

People v. Mills
240 P. 296 (California Court of Appeal, 1925)
In re Locke
174 A.D. 287 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1916)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
174 A.D. 281, 160 N.Y.S. 427, 1916 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 7655, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-ex-rel-olsen-v-sheriff-of-erie-county-nyappdiv-1916.