of the council, the person appointed to fill such vacancy until a successor be elected, shall be a member of the same political party as the last incumbent of the office. No person shall be chosen to fill a vacancy in any such office unless he possess the qualifications therefor prescribed in this act.

§ 26. Except as otherwise specially provided by law, every officer or employee of the city or any county included therein re ceiving any fees or emoluments under any statute shall account therefor to the chamberlain and pay the same into the city treas

ury.

CHAPTER III.

The Council.

Section 27. The legislative power of the city shall, except as otherwise provided in this act, be vested in one house to be known and styled as the council of the city of New York.

§ 28. 1. There shall be a president of the council, who shall be elected at the same time and in the same manner as the mayor and for a similar term. No person shall be eligible to the office of president of the council who is not eligible to the office of mayor.

2. He shall preside over all meetings of the council and shall have a voice and vote therein except as provided in section thirtytwo, subdivision three of this act.

3. His salary shall be fifteen thousand dollars a year.

§ 29. A vacancy in the office of president of the council shall be filled by appointment by the remaining members of the board of estimate and apportionment, each casting one vote; their appointee to hold office until the first day of January succeeding the first annual election after the happening of the vacancy.

§ 30. 1. The council shall be composed of thirty-nine councilmen, one to be elected from each of the thirty-nine council districts of the city, and the president of the council.

2. The council shall at its first meeting elect a vice-chairman. Whenever the president of the council shall be sick, absent from the city, under suspension, or acting as mayor, or while a vacancy shall exist in his office, the vice-chairman shall possess his powers, perform his duties and be a member of every board of which the president is a member by virtue of his office.

3. Every head or acting head of a department shall be entitled to sit in the council and shall have the right to participate in the discussions thereof, but not the right to vote. Whenever required by the council, he shall attend its meetings and answer all questions asked by any councilman relating to the affairs of his department, provided that at least forty-eight hours before the meeting he shall have had written notice of such questions. If a department be composed of more than one member, the president or chairman thereof shall be entitled to such seat.

4. The first meeting of the council in each year shall be held at noon on the first Monday of January.

5. The council may appoint a sergeant-at-arms and such other assistants as may be necessary to the orderly conduct of its business.

6. At its first meeting in January, nineteen hundred and ten, and at its first meeting in January in every second year thereafter, the council shall appoint a clerk of the council who shall act also as city clerk and shall hold office for two years and until the election of his successor.

7. The council shall prescribe the duties of all officers and employees appointed by it and may make rules and regulations, not inconsistent with the provisions of this act or the administrative code, for the conduct of the public business in their offices.

8. Councilmen shall serve without salary or compensation. 9. The mayor may at any time call a special meeting of the council; and shall do so whenever requested in writing by not less than fifteen councilmen.

§ 31. 1. No council district shall embrace territory lying within more than one borough. The boundaries of the council districts shall in the first instance be fixed in the administrative code. There shall be fourteen districts wholly in the borough of Manhattan, eleven wholly in the borough of Brooklyn, six wholly within the borough of The Bronx, five wholly in the borough of Queens, and three wholly in the borough of Richmond.

2. In the year nineteen hundred and seventeen and during the month of July, and in the same month every sixth year thereafter, the council may alter the council districts, so that the several districts within the same borough shall contain as nearly as may be an equal number of inhabitants, excluding aliens, and be in as compact form as practicable, and shall consist at all times of contiguous territory. The total number of council districts shall not be increased, but shall be apportioned among the boroughs in a ratio based as far as practicable upon population. There shall not be less than five council districts in the borough of Queens nor less. than three in the borough of Richmond.

8 32. 1. The councilmen shall be elected at the general election to be held in the year nineteen hundred and nine, and every two years thereafter, and hold office commencing the first day of January following the election.

2. Any elector who shall have been a citizen of the United States and a resident of the city for at least five years immedi

ately preceding his election shall be eligible to the council for any council district in which he shall have resided continuously for at least one year immediately preceding his election.

3. Any vacancy in the office of councilman shall be filled for the unexpired term by election by a majority of all the councilmen representing the borough containing the council district in which the vacancy occurs. At any such election the president of the council shall preside, but shall have no vote unless the councilmen present be equally divided. A person elected to fill a vacancy shall possess the qualifications requisite for election in the first instance.

4. The council shall be the judge of the election returns and qualifications of its members; but its determinations shall be subject to review by certiorari in any court of competent jurisdiction.

§ 33. A majority of all the councilmen shall constitute a quorum to do business; but a smaller number may adjourn from day to day, and may be authorized to compel the attendance of absent members in such manner and under such penalties as the council may prescribe. The sessions of the council shall be public. It may determine the rules of its proceedings, punish its members for disorderly behavior, and, with the concurrence of two-thirds of all the members, expel a member. It shall keep a journal of its proceedings, wherein the ayes and noes taken on any question at the desire of any two members shall be entered. The ayes and noes shall be called and recorded on the final passage of every ordinance.

34. The council is hereby vested with full and complete power and authority to enact all ordinances necessary for the protection and preservation of life, health and property in the city; for the prevention and summary abatement and removal of nuisances therein; for the establishment, preservation and enforcement of good government, order and security of the inhabitants of the city; for the suppression of vice; and for the enforcement of all such ordinances by fines or penalties, or otherwise. The council shall have power and authority also to enact ordinances prescribing regulations in respect to the making of contracts to be made or let for work to be done for the city or supplies to be furnished thereto, except as in this act otherwise provided.

§ 35. The council may alter, amend or repeal the administrative code as expressly provided therein.

§ 36. 1. Every legislative act of the council shall be by ordi

nance, and no ordinance shall be passed except by the vote of a majority of all the councilmen.

2. The style of ordinance shall be: "Be it ordained by the council of the city of New York as follows:"

3. All ordinances shall be general in their application, and no special ordinance shall be enacted; except that the council may enact ordinances applicable in one or more of the boroughs and not the city generally.

4. No ordinance shall be passed until it shall have been printed and upon the desks of the members, in its final form, at least three days prior to its final passage, unless the mayor shall have certified to the necessity for its immediate passage. Upon the last reading of an ordinance, no amendment thereof shall be allowed.

§ 37. Every ordinance shall, after its adoption by the council, be presented, duly certified, to the mayor. If he approve it, he shall sign it; and it shall then be deemed to have been passed and shall take effect in accordance with its provisions. If he disapprove it, he shall return it, with his objections, to the council, which shall enter the objections at large upon its journal and may proceed to reconsider the ordinance after ten days and within fifteen days after it shall have been returned to the council. If after such reconsideration, the ordinance receive the affirmative votes of at least two-thirds of the councilmen, it shall then be deemed to have passed. If upon the first vote upon such reconsideration an ordinance fail to receive the stated number of affirmative votes, it shall be deemed finally lost. If, within ten days (Sundays excepted) after an ordinance shall have been presented to him, the mayor shall neither approve it nor return it with his objections, his disapproval shall be presumed and the council may recall the ordinance and reconsider it within the same time and in the same manner as if it had been returned with objections at the expiration of the ten days aforesaid.

§ 38. The ordinances in force in the city of New York on the thirty-first day of December, nineteen hundred and nine, are, so far as they are not inconsistent with this act, continued in full force and effect, subject to modification, amendment or repeal by the council. But all ordinances or resolutions heretofore adopted affecting or relating to franchises, or consenting or agreeing to the exercise of any franchise as defined or referred to in sections five, seven and eight of this act, shall be subject to modification, amendment or repeal by the board of estimate and apportionment in like manner and to the same extent as they have