66 Blacksmith work.... "Building stone wall in Seventy-ninth st., between Fourth and Fifth avs. Working One hundred and seventy- 66 Expense of Committee on Roads and 65 39 282 80 .2,470 24 511 32 62 81 4,546 41 DOCUMENT No. 19. BOARD OF ALDERMEN, JANUARY 28, 1851. The following report of the Committee on the Law Department, relative to the presentment of the Grand Jury, was received, laid on the table and ordered to be printed. D. T. VALENTINE, Clerk. The Committee on the Law Department, to which was referred the presentment of the Grand Jury, made at the January term of the General Sessions of the Peace, 1851, for the purpose of reporting upon such parts thereof as were properly within the province of this Committee, and of assigning the other parts thereof to the appropriate Committees, respectfully REPORT: 1. That the portion of said presentment which relates to the manner in which prisoners, awaiting trial atthe Halls of Justice are detained, would seem to be more especially within the Alms House Department; the Board of Governors of which is, by law, vested with full and absolute control and direction of all the prisons in the county. Your Committee, concurring fully in the views entertained and expresed by the Grand Jury on this subject, therefore recommend that that part of the said presentment be referred to the Governors of the Alms House. 2. The next subject which the Grand Jury have thought proper to present, is that of lottery gambling. The species of lottery gambling which the jury have deemed the mostdangerous and prolific of evil, is that of the sale of policies, in the purchase of which it is stated, five thousand dollars are daily expended in this city. That this is an evil of great magnitude, and that the interests of the community require its speedy extinction, there can be no doubt. It is clear, too, that the disastrous effects of this species of gambling, fall most heavily, if not entirely upon those who are least able to sustain them. But, in the opinion of your Committee, no new law is needed on the subject. The law is ample, now, for the prohibition of the offence. What is required is an enforcement of the enactments which already exist. These, strictly carried out, will soon put an end to the practice complained of. The law, as at present existing, forbids the setting up or proposing any money, goods, chattels or things in action to be raffled for or distributed by lot or chance-forbids raffling-makes all contracts relating thereto void-declares every lottery, game or device of chance, in the nature of a lottery, except such as have been authorized by law, unlawful-establishes a penalty for opening, setting on foot, carrying on, promoting, or drawing publicly or privately, in any lottery or game, or for printing, writing, or publishing notices thereof, or for selling or procuring tickets therein, or for offering for sale any property dependent on the drawing of any lottery, or for insuring tickets in any lottery, with other prohibition and guards; and makes it the duty of presiding judges to charge every Grand Jury to enquire into all violations of the laws against lotteries, and against the unlawful selling of tickets in lotteries. It is difficult for legislation to go further. The sale of these policies, domestic or foreign, is emphatically forbidden, and the penalties for the violation of the law in this respect, are sufficient, if enforced, to terminate the evil. The Grand Jury complain of "another system, which," they say, "has to some extent grown up amongst us, and is pronounced by competent judges, to be in violation of the law, viz: the sale of lands and the distribution of personal property by lottery, which would appear to be as gross a violation of the law as lotteries for money." If this is a violation of the law, then what is required, is not the enactment of a new law, but the enforcement of the old one. |