175 A.D. 218 | N.Y. App. Div. | 1916
The People of the State of Hew York bring this action as for conversion against the city of Buffalo, claiming that the defendant has withheld the sum of $17,831, fines and penalties collected under the provisions of the State law, city ordinances and park rules and regulations. Upon the trial of the action it was conceded that the State had a right to recover the fines and penalties collected for violations of the State law under section 291 of the Highway Law (Consol. Laws, chap. 25 [Laws of 1909, chap. 30], as added by Laws of 1910, chap. 374), but the defendant maintained that it was entitled to retain the fines and penalties collected for violations of the city ordinances and the park rules and regulations; and the contention of the defendant having been sustained in" this regard, the plaintiff appeals from so much of the judgment as refuses this latter relief.
The question brought up for review involves the construction of that portion of the Highway Law which deals with motor vehicles, and particularly with the provisions of subdivision 2 of section 291 of the Highway Law, it being the contention of the plaintiff that this act alone gives municipalities power to deal with the question of regulation of motor vehicles, and that, the fines and penalties collected for violations of ordinances, rules and regulations of municipalities and park boards belong to the State. The learned Attorney-General has gone into an elaborate analysis of the statutory law of the State in reference to motor vehicles and their relation to the use of the highways, but the most of this has very little to do with the law as it stood at the time in question; and this is the important question involved here.
Subdivision 2 of section 291 of the Highway Law, in so far as it is important here, provides that “ On the first day of each month or within ten days thereafter all fines, penalties or forfeitures collected for violations of any of the provisions of this article or of any act in relation to the use of the public highways by motor vehicles now in force or hereafter enacted, under the sentence or judgment of any court, judge, magistrate or other judicial officer having jurisdiction in the premises, shall be paid over by such court, judge, magistrate
If we are right in this view, it follows that the contention of the plaintiff is without force, for there is no other language in the act which undertakes to make it the duty of municipal corporations to turn over the fines and penalties collected for violations of their own ordinances, and this view is strengthened by the fact that section 288 of the act limits generally the prohibition against making ordinances to cities other than those of the first class, among which is the defendant. It may be, of course, that the general act has operated to prevent cities other than those of the first class making ordinances which are intended to regulate the speed of motor vehicles, except under
This view is in harmony with the provisions of section 280 of the act (as added by Laws of 1910, chap. 374), which provides that “ except as herein otherwise expressly provided, this article . shall be exclusively controlling,” not upon the disposition of the fines and penalties, but “1. Upon the registration, numbering and regulation of motor vehicles, and the licensing and the regulation of chauffeurs; 2. On their use of the public highways, and 3. On the accessories used upon motor vehicles and their incidents and the speed of motor vehicles upon the public highways; 4. On the punishment for the violation of any of the provisions of this article.” And it is the fines, penalties and forfeitures growing out of the punishment of the violation of any of the provisions of this article which are dealt with in the provisions of section 291 of the act, while section 288 relieves cities of the first class from the inhibition against the passage of special ordinances governing the operation of motor vehicles. (See People v. Untermyer, 153 App. Div. 176.)
The judgment appealed from should be affirmed.
Judgment unanimously affirmed, with costs.
Since amd. by Laws of 1916, chap. 577, and made subd. 1.— [Rep.
Added by Laws of 1910, chap. 374, as amd. by Laws of 1915, chap. 487. Since amd. by Laws of 1916, chap. 579. —[Rep.