64 Misc. 2d 305 | N.Y. City Crim. Ct. | 1970
It is charged (and admitted) that on the afternoon of March 7, 1970, at the northeast corner of 72nd Street and Central Park West in the Borough of Manhattan, the defendant solicited the signatures of passers-by to a petition calling upon the Assembly of the State of New York to repeal the abortion laws then in effect. The Park Department Begulations (art. 3, § 13) prohibit such solicitation (and a variety of other conduct) in the public parks of the City of New York and on abutting public streets unless a permit has first been obtained from the Commissioner of Parks.
The First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States provides that ££ Congress shall make no law * * * abridging * * * the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances and the State Constitution contains a similar provision (art. I, §9).
For the constitutional reasons above cited and because of the interpretation given by me to the regulation (People v. Barber, 289 N. Y. 378, 385), it would appear that the defendant is not guilty of the violation charged and I so find.