§ 1409 — Agricultural and horticultural corporations

§ 1409. Agricultural and horticultural corporations.\n (a) Definition.\n An agricultural or horticultural corporation or society is a\ncorporation formed under or by a general or special law for promoting\nagriculture, horticulture and the mechanic arts.\n (b) Type of corporation. An agricultural or horticultural corporation\nis a non-charitable corporation under this chapter, except that any such\ncorporation which has received moneys from the state or has acted as\nagent for the state under paragraph (c) of this section, or has acquired\nor does acquire real property by condemnation is or becomes a charitable\ncorporation under this chapter.\n (c) Condemnation.\n In case any agricultural or horticultural corporation or any other\nagricultural society which has received moneys from the state for\npremiums paid for improving the breed of cattle, sheep and horses, or\nhas acted as agent for the state in disbursing moneys for such purpose\ncan not acquire real property needed for its corporate purposes upon\nsatisfactory terms, it may acquire such real property by condemnation.\nAny real property acquired by condemnation, or otherwise, shall not be\nsubject to condemnation by any other private corporation except a\nrailroad corporation.\n (d) Report of corporation receiving aid; disposition of property.\n Any county agricultural corporation receiving after May tenth,\nnineteen hundred and twenty, money from any county shall, through its\nsecretary, make annually to the board of supervisors a detailed\nstatement with vouchers showing the disbursement during the year of all\nmoneys so received. If such a corporation shall cease to exist, or\nwithout satisfactory reason shall fail or neglect to hold its annual\nexhibitions or fairs for a period of two years, the board of supervisors\non notice to the corporation may petition the supreme court of the\njudicial district or the county court of the county to declare a\nforfeiture to the county of the real and personal property of the\ncorporation in whole or in part or to confer on the county a lien upon\nsuch property, whereupon such court may make a decree determining the\nlegal or equitable rights of the county in such property subject to the\nrights of creditors of the corporation.\n (e) Restrictions on the formation of corporations.\n There shall be but one county corporation in a county, and but one\ntown corporation in a town, except that a second corporation may be\nformed if it is to be the surviving corporation under a plan of merger\nwith the existing corporation, in which event, the certificate of\nincorporation of such second corporation shall have endorsed thereon or\nannexed thereto the approval of a justice of the supreme court of the\njudicial district in which the office of such corporation is to be\nlocated. Ten days written notice of the application for such approval,\naccompanied by a copy of the proposed certificate, shall be given to the\nattorney general. Whenever a new county shall be or shall have been\nerected out of a part of an existing county in which a county\ncorporation existed at the time of the erection of such new county, the\nexisting corporation may at its option be continued as the county\ncorporation of both counties. The determination of an existing\ncorporation to be continued as a county corporation for both counties\nshall be evidenced by a certificate thereof, signed and acknowledged by\na majority of the directors, and filed in the office of the secretary of\nstate and in the office of the clerk of each of such counties. A town\ncorporation may be formed for several towns, but the formation of such\ncorporation shall not prevent the formation of a separate town\ncorporation for any such town.\n (f) Annual fairs and premiums.\n Every agricultural or horticultural corporation, the American\ninstitute in the city of New York, and the New York state agricultural\nsociety, shall hold annual fairs and exhibitions, and distribute\npremiums. Such corporations and societies shall regulate and award\npremiums on such articles, productions and improvements as they deem\nbest calculated to promote the agricultural, horticultural, mechanic and\ndomestic arts of the state, having special reference to the net profits\nwhich accrue or are likely to accrue from the mode of raising crops, or\nstock, or fabricating the articles exhibited, so that the award be made\nto the most economical or profitable mode of production. A county or\ntown corporation, by a two-thirds vote of the members present and voting\nat a regular meeting or at a special meeting, duly called for that\npurpose, may fix the place where the annual fair and exhibition of the\ncorporation shall be held.\n (g) Regulation of shows on exhibition grounds.\n Any agricultural or horticultural corporation, or the executive\ncommittee of such board, may regulate or prevent all kinds of\ntheatrical, or circus, exhibitions and shows, huckstering and traffic in\nfruits, goods, wares and merchandise, of whatever description, and shall\nprevent all kinds of mountebank exhibitions or shows for gain on the\nfair days on such fair grounds, and also within a distance of two\nhundred yards of the fair grounds of the corporation, if it shall\ndetermine that they obstruct or interfere with the free and\nuninterrupted use of the highways around and approaching such fair\ngrounds.\n (h) Capital stock.\n An agricultural or horticultural corporation may have capital stock\naggregating not less than five thousand dollars, divided into shares of\nnot less than ten dollars each, and may issue such certificates at not\nless than the par value thereof to raise money for its corporate\npurposes, if provision therefor is made in its certificate of\nincorporation or in a certificate filed pursuant to section 803\n(Certificate of amendment; contents). An agricultural or horticultural\ncorporation, which has issued or shall hereafter issue capital stock,\nentitling its shareholders to dividends from the profits of the\ncorporation, shall be subject to the business corporation law and not to\nthe provisions of this chapter in conflict therewith.\n (i) Annual report.\n On or before December fifteenth in each year, the directors of every\nagricultural or horticultural corporation shall make a verified report\nto the commissioner of agriculture and markets of the transactions of\nthe corporation for the preceding twelve months giving full details of\nthe receipts and expenditures thereof, with a list of premiums awarded\nand to whom and for what awarded.\n (j) Membership in state society.\n The presidents of the county agricultural corporations, or delegates\nto be chosen by such corporations annually, shall be ex officio members\nof the New York state agricultural society.\n (k) Exhibitions and entertainments on fair grounds to be exempt from\nlicense.\n The provisions of any special or local law or municipal ordinance,\nrequiring the payment of a license fee for exhibitions or entertainments\nor requiring that an approval be obtained from any local government\nexcept an approval required to protect the safety, health and well-being\nof persons, shall not apply to any exhibition or entertainment held on\nthe grounds of a town or county corporation whether or not the\ncorporation derives a pecuniary profit from such exhibition or\nentertainment by the lease of its grounds for such purpose and the\nprovisions of any special or local law or municipal ordinance shall not\nbe construed or applied to unreasonably prohibit or restrict any\nagricultural or horticultural corporation receiving reimbursement\npursuant to article twenty-four of the agriculture and markets law from\nthe construction, improvement, renovation, relocation or demolition of\nall or any of such agricultural or horticultural corporation grounds,\nbuildings and facilities.\n