102 Misc. 532 | N.Y. App. Term. | 1918
It is undisputed' that the plaintiff, employed in June, 1916, as the broker, procured, in September, 1916, a lessee who was ready, able and willing to hire an abandoned church building owned by the defendant, and situate in the borough of Manhattan, for use as a garage, the defendant to alter the premises to permit of such use; that the minds of the proposed lessee and defendant met upon all the essential terms of the hiring; that under the building zone
By virtue of chapter 497 of the Laws of 1916, the legislature, as an exercise of the police power, conferred upon the board of estimate and apportionment of the city of New York the right to regulate the height of buildings, to regulate and restrict the location of trades, industries and residential neighborhoods, and generally to divide the city into districts devoted to uses deemed suitable for such localities. The resolution of the board of estimate and apportionment of July 25, 1916, referred to, was passed pursuant to the authority so vested in that body; and the constitutionality of both statute and resolution is expressly conceded for all the purposes of this case.
It is also argued on behalf of the respondent that the proofs show that the - defendant knew of the zoning resolution, and that the plaintiff and his client did not. But whatever might otherwise be made of that point must be seen to be without any value when it is borne in mind that all persons must be deemed to have known of the resolution. A city ordinance is presumed to be known, and no one can be heard to say he was ignorant of it; and there can be no doubt that the resolution in question, passed by the local governing board that was designated by the legislature as the law-making body under the statute, for all the purposes of the statute, is entitled at the least to an equal degree of presumption of knowledge of its existence as is possessed by an ordinance passed by the board of aldermen.
The respondent seems to place his chief reliance
Judgment reversed, with costs, and complaint dismissed, with costs.
Guy and Weeks, JJ., concur.
Judgment reversed, with costs.