Title GCN, General Construction

§ 37. Person. The term person includes a corporation and a joint-stock\nassociation. When used to designate a party whose property may be the\nsubject of any offense, the term person also includes the state, or any\nother state, government or country which may lawfully own prope…

§ 37-a. Personal injury. "Personal injury" includes libel, slander and\nmalicious prosecution; also an assault, battery, false imprisonment, or\nother actionable injury to the person either of the plaintiff, or of\nanother.\n

§ 37-b. Population. 1. The term population when used in relation to\nthis state, or a municipality or other subdivision thereof, or a portion\nof such a municipality or subdivision, shall, unless otherwise provided\nin relation to such use, mean population as shown by the latest…

§ 38. Property. The term property includes real and personal property.\n

§ 39. Property, personal. The term personal property includes\nchattels, money, things in action, and all written instruments\nthemselves, as distinguished from the rights or interests to which they\nrelate, by which any right, interest, lien or incumbrance in, to or upon\nprope…

§ 40. Property, real. The term real property includes real estate,\nlands, tenements and hereditaments, corporeal and incorporeal.\n

§ 41. Quorum and majority. Whenever three or more public officers are\ngiven any power or authority, or three or more persons are charged with\nany public duty to be performed or exercised by them jointly or as a\nboard or similar body, a majority of the whole number of such per…

§ 41-a. Recital in record of meeting as evidence. A recital in any\norder, resolution or other record of any proceeding of a meeting\nreferred to in section forty-one of this chapter that such meeting had\nbeen held or adjourned as provided in said section, or that it had been\n…

§ 42. Register of county. Any act done in pursuance of law by the\nregister of a county shall be deemed to be a compliance with any\nprovision of law authorizing or requiring such act to be done by the\ncounty clerk of such county, and any instrument or writing filed,\nentered o…

§ 43. Seal of court, public officer or corporation. A seal of a court,\npublic officer or corporation may be impressed directly upon the\ninstrument or writing to be sealed, or upon wafer, wax or other adhesive\nsubstance affixed thereto, or upon paper, or other similar substanc…

§ 44. Seal, private. The private seal of a person, other than a\ncorporation, to any instrument or writing shall consist of a wafer, wax\nor other similar adhesive substance affixed thereto, or of paper or\nother similar substance affixed thereto, by mucilage or other adhesive\n…

§ 44-a. Seal on written instrument. Except as otherwise expressly\nprovided by statute, the presence or absence of a seal upon a written\ninstrument executed after August thirty-first, nineteen hundred\nforty-one shall be without legal effect.\n

§ 45. Seal, private as corporate seal. An instrument or writing duly\nexecuted, in the corporate name of a corporation, which shall not have\nadopted a corporate seal, by the proper officers of the corporation\nunder their private seals, shall be deemed to have been executed und…

§ 46. Signature. The term signature includes any memorandum, mark or\nsign, written, printed, stamped, photographed, engraved or otherwise\nplaced upon any instrument or writing with intent to execute or\nauthenticate such instrument or writing.\n

§ 47. State. The term state, when used generally to include every\nstate of the United States, includes also every territory of the United\nStates and the District of Columbia.\n

§ 47-a. Superintendent of schools. The term "superintendent of\nschools" shall mean the chief school officer of a school district other\nthan the city school district of the city of New York or a community\nschool district therein. Except for purposes of section one thousand\nse…

§ 48. Tense, present. Words in the present tense include the future.\n

§ 49. Territory. The term territory when used generally to include\nevery territory of the United States, includes also the District of\nColumbia.\n

§ 50. Time, computation. Time shall continue to be computed in this\nstate according to the Gregorian or new style. The first day of each\nyear after the year seventeen hundred and fifty-two is the first day of\nJanuary, according to such style.\n

§ 51. Time, night. Night time includes the time from sunset to\nsunrise.\n

§ 52. Time, standard. 1. The standard time throughout this state is\nthat of the seventy-fifth meridian of longitude west from Greenwich,\nexcept as hereinafter provided, and all courts and public officers, and\nlegal and official proceedings, shall be regulated thereby.\n 2. At…

§ 53. Time, use of standard. Any act required by or in pursuance of\nlaw to be performed at or within a prescribed time, shall be performed\naccording to the standard time.\n

§ 53-a. Trial juror; trial jury. The terms "trial juror" and "trial\njury", are respectively equivalent to the terms "petit juror", and\n"petit jury", as used in the constitution and laws of the state.\n

§ 54. Village. The term village means an incorporated village.\n

§ 55. Women. The term women includes girls.\n

§ 56. Writing and written. The terms writing and written include every\nlegible representation of letters upon a material substance, except when\napplied to the signature of an instrument.\n

§ 57. Year, common and leap. For the purpose of computing and\nreckoning the days of the year in the same regular course in the future,\nevery year, the number of which in the Christian era is a multiple of\nfour, is a bissextile or leap year consisting of three hundred and\nsix…

§ 58. Year in statute, contract and public or private instrument. The\nterm year in a statute, contract, or any public or private instrument,\nmeans three hundred and sixty-five days, but the added day of a leap\nyear and the day immediately preceding shall for the purpose of su…

§ 59. Bastard; illegitimate child. The term "bastard" or "illegitimate\nchild" in a statute means a child born out of wedlock. Hereafter in any\nlocal law, ordinance or resolution or in any public or judicial\nproceeding or in any process, notice, order, decree, judgment, record…

§ 60. Newspapers. a. In any case in which notice of any fact is\nrequired by law to be published or advertised in a newspaper, the term\n"newspaper" shall mean a paper of general circulation which is printed\nand distributed ordinarily not less frequently than once a week, and h…

§ 61. Date for determining last completed assessment rolls. In\ncomputing the amount which may be raised by tax on real estate by a\ncounty, city, village or school district within the limitation\nprescribed by article eight of the constitution, the determinations as\nto the las…

§ 62. Size of type. Whenever a requirement of law relating to size of\ntype is stated in point size, the type size requirement shall be deemed\nmet if the x-height of the type is a minimum of forty-five percent of\nthe specified point size. Each point shall be measured as .351\n…

§ 65. Classification of corporations. a. A corporation shall be\neither,\n 1. A public corporation,\n 2. A corporation formed other than for profit, or\n 3. A corporation formed for profit.\n b. A public corporation shall be either,\n 1. A municipal corporation,\n 2. A district …

§ 66. Definitions. 1. A "public corporation" includes a municipal\ncorporation, a district corporation, or a public benefit corporation.\n 2. A "municipal corporation" includes a county, city, town, village\nand school district.\n 3. A "district corporation" includes any territo…

§ 67. Names of corporation laws. The cooperative corporations law,\nreligious corporations law and transportation corporations law may be\ncited or referred to as, respectively, the cooperative corporation law,\nreligious corporation law and transportation corporation law.\n

§ 70. Statutes of England and Great Britain inoperative in this state.\nA statute of England or Great Britain shall not be deemed to have had\nany force or effect in this state since May first, seventeen hundred and\neighty-eight.\n

§ 71. Acts of the legislature of the colony of New York inoperative.\nActs of the legislature of the colony of New York shall not be deemed to\nhave had any force or effect in this state since December twenty-ninth,\neighteen hundred and twenty-eight.\n

§ 72. Resolutions of the congress of the colony and the convention of\nNew York inoperative. The resolutions of the congress of the colony of\nNew York and of the convention of the state of New York, shall not be\ndeemed to be the laws of this state hereafter.\n

§ 80. References to repealed provisions. If any provision of a law be\nrepealed and, in substance, re-enacted, a reference in any law to such\nrepealed provision shall be deemed a reference to such re-enacted\nprovision.\n

§ 81. Titles and head notes. If the title of any article or other\ndivision of a statute, or the head note of a section shall be amended or\nrepealed in the body of the statute, or if a new article or other\ndivision having a title, or a new section having a new head note be\nad…

§ 90. Effect of the repeal of a repealing statute. The repeal\nhereafter or by this chapter of any provision of a statute, which\nrepeals any provision of a prior statute, does not revive such prior\nprovision.\n

§ 91. Effect of the repeal of a statute upon amendments thereof. The\nrepeal by the Consolidated Laws of a statute includes a statute\namendatory of the statute repealed.\n

§ 92. Effect of the repeal of an amending statute. The repeal\nhereafter or by this chapter of any provision of a statute, which amends\na provision of a prior statute, leaves such prior provision in force\nunless the amendatory statute be a substantial re-enactment of the\nstat…

§ 93. Effect of repealing statute upon existing rights. The repeal of\na statute or part thereof shall not affect or impair any act done,\noffense committed or right accruing, accrued or acquired, or liability,\npenalty, forfeiture or punishment incurred prior to the time such r…

§ 94. Effect of repealing statute upon pending actions and\nproceedings. Unless otherwise specially provided by law, all actions and\nproceedings, civil or criminal, commenced under or by virtue of any\nprovision of a statute so repealed, and pending immediately prior to the\nta…

§ 95. Effect of the repeal of a statute by another statute\nsubstantially re-enacting the former. The provisions of a law repealing\na prior law, which are substantial re-enactments of provisions of the\nprior law, shall be construed as a continuation of such provisions of\nsuch…

§ 96. Effect of hyphen in schedule of repeals. When two numbers in a\nschedule of repeals of the consolidated laws are connected by a hyphen\nboth such numbers are included as well as all intermediate numbers.\n