People v. Stewart

183 Misc. 212, 47 N.Y.S.2d 349, 1944 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 1772
CourtCity of New York Municipal Court
DecidedMarch 6, 1944
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 183 Misc. 212 (People v. Stewart) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering City of New York Municipal Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People v. Stewart, 183 Misc. 212, 47 N.Y.S.2d 349, 1944 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 1772 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1944).

Opinion

Walsh, J.

The defendant is charged with violating Ordinance No. 332 of 1914 of the City of Utica, which reads: “ * * * no person shall in any case or under any circumstances, not otherwise specially provided for by law, resist, delay or obstruct a police officer of the City of Utica in discharging or attempting to discharge a duty of his office, under a penalty of not to exceed Fifty Dollars ($50.00) for each offense.” ■

The facts demonstrate that the complainant, a police officer of the City of Utica, received a call to go to the home of the defendant. When he and another police officer reached the house they were admitted by a small boy. Inside, the defendant and his wife were engaged in heated argument. While the police officers were in the room, defendant’s wife demanded that they arrest her husband for assault and, during the course of this conversation, defendant made an attempt to strike his [214]*214wife. The complainant then placed defendant under arrest and the defendant resisted their efforts to take him from the house. ■Although the defendant denies any resistance, the facts clearly demonstrate that such resistance took place.

Defendant, in the first place, challenges the validity of the ordinance, contending that the same is inexpertly drawn; that it was enacted without power on the part of the City of Utica to legislate on the subject, since no such power was ever delegated to the City of Utica; and that, since the State of New York has passed legislation on this particular matter, the City of Utica is prevented from so doing.

Defendant, in the second place, argues that if the ordinance is declared valid by the court he is not guilty of violating the ordinance because the complaining police officer was not discharging or attempting to discharge any duty of his office but was in fact an intruder in defendant’s home.

In considering the challenge to the validity of the ordinance, it is well to inquire into the facts surrounding the enactment in 1914 by the Common Council of Ordinance No. 332.

In that year, certain persons were discharged in the City Court of Utica upon a charge of violating section 1851 of the Penal Law by forcibly delivering prisoners from the custody of police. Section 1851 of the Penal Law (adopted in 1909 from section 124 of the old Penal Code) provided then as it does now: “ § 1851. Resisting' public officer in the discharge of his duty. A person who, in any case or under any circumstances not otherwise specially provided for, wilfully resists, delays, or obstructs a public officer in discharging, or attempting to discharge, a duty of his office, is guilty of a misdemeanor. ’ ’ Counsel for defendant states' in his brief that the City Court of Utica at that time (1914) “ was of the opinion that Penal Law, 1825 and Penal Law, 1851, which refer to resistance of an ‘ executive officer ’ and of a ‘ public officer ’ did not include ‘ police officer ’ ”. On July 16,1914, the Common Council adopted Ordinance No. 332 to cover “ a police officer of the City of Utica ”. That the City Court at that time had reasonable ground to doubt the applicability of section 1851 of the Penal Law is demonstrated by the fact that no case had been reported up to that time which declared a local “ police officer ” to be a “ public officer ”.

In 1914 the legislative power of the City of Utica was, as it is now, vested in the Common Council, whose legislative authority was and is found in section 30 of the Second Class Cities Law, which reads as follows: The legislative power of the city is vested in the common council thereof, and it has authority to enact ordinances, not inconsistent with law, for the government [215]*215of the city and the management of its business, for the preservation of good order, peace and health, for the safety and welfare of its inhabitants and the protection and security of their property; and its authority, except as otherwise provided in this chapter, or by law, is legislative only.”

Clearly, therefore, in 1914 the Common Council of the City of Utica had the power to enact the ordinance in question. A municipal ordinance is a local law prescribed by a municipality for application within its jurisdiction, and its validity, in general, depends upon two fundamental requirements: (a) that the local municipality possess sufficient power under its charter or State statute, and (b) that such power be exercised in a manner consistent with the constitution and laws of the State. As to the first requirement, the Second Class Cities Law conferred sufficient power, as did the Charter of the City of Utica (see Charter of the City of Utica, L. 1862, ch. 18, § 35; amd. by L. 1923, ch. 658). As to the second requirement, there was considerable doubt that section 1851 of the Penal Law applied to 1 ‘ police officers ’ ’ so that the enactment could not be held to be arbitrary or unreasonable. It was designed to protect a police officer ” of the City of Utica in the discharge of his duties.

If this ordinance was valid when adopted in 1914, as we have held, can it thereafter become invalid because of legislative action or judicial interpretation which removes the doubt as to the applicability of a State statute!

The Legislature has not,up to the present time clarified section 1851 which remains the same as it was in 1914. Defendant calls the court’s attention to the case of People v. O’Connor (257 N. Y. 473), which was an appeal from a judgment of conviction in the Schenectady Police Court, convicting defendant O’Connor of violating section 1825 of the Penal Law, after arrest on charges of assault in the third degree and of driving an automobile while intoxicated. The Court of Appeals held, Per Curiam, that the prisonér did not resist an officer in the performance of any duty ”. Defendant contends that besides being a reaffirmation of defendant’s civil rights, the O’Connor case might be authority that section 1825 of the Penal Law covers the ground and that the ordinance cannot be enforced.

Eepeals of local ordinances by implication are not to be favored. In Village of Cohoes agt. Moran (25 How. Prac. 385, 387) it was stated that the repeal of a village ordinance by implication derived from a subsequently enacted State law is not to be favored, and with equal force, it may be stated that repeal of a city ordinance by implication derived from a judicial [216]*216decision, which did not pass squarely upon the question at issue but reversed the conviction upon a different ground is not to be favored by this court. But going even further than that, this court holds that even if by implication the O’Connor case held a “ police officer ” to be an “ executive officer ” (Penal Law, § 1825) or a “ public officer ” (Penal Law, § 1851), that the ordinance in question would not be invalid.

While it is clear that an ordinance which is aimed at conditions which constitute felonies under State law would be void, breach of the ordinance in question is made a misdemeanor (Second Class Cities Law, § 42). Sections 1825 and 1851 of the Penal Law are likewise of the grade of misdemeanor. Under ample charter powers, ordinances carrying appropriate penalties forbidding acts also made penal by statutes relating to the following subjects have been sustained: (1) sale of liquor (Village of Cohoes agt. Moran, 25 How. Prac. 385, supra; People v. Fenton, 144 Misc. 710); (2) sale of milk (Polinshy v. People, 11 Hun 390); (3) regulation of vehicles

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People ex rel. Travis v. Thatcher
190 Misc. 494 (New York County Courts, 1947)
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Bluebook (online)
183 Misc. 212, 47 N.Y.S.2d 349, 1944 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 1772, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-stewart-nynyccityct-1944.