People ex rel. Moss v. Bd. of Sup'rs of Oneida Cnty.

• Decision Date: 16 October 1917
• Citation: 221 N.Y. 367,117 N.E. 578
• Parties: PEOPLE ex rel. MOSS et al. v. BOARD OF SUP'RS OF ONEIDA COUNTY.
• Court: New York Court of Appeals Court of Appeals

221 N.Y. 367

117 N.E. 578

PEOPLE ex rel. MOSS et al.

v.BOARD OF SUP'RS OF ONEIDA COUNTY.

Court of Appeals of New York.

Oct. 16, 1917.

Appeal from Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Fourth Department.

Certiorari by the People, on the relation of Harry J. Moss and another, to review a determination of the Board of Supervisors of Oneida County. From an order of Appellate Division (178 App. Div. 716,165 N. Y. Supp. 511), affirming the determination, the relators appeal. Appeal dismissed.

The facts, so far as material, are stated in the opinion.G. C. Morehouse, of Utica, for appellants.

H. N. Harrington, of Rome, for respondent.

COLLIN J.

The board of supervisors of Oneida county determined, in May, 1916, that claims of the relators upon the county were not legal and should not be audited. Those claims were for the costs and expenses of the relator Moss in proceedings before the Governor of the state for his removal as sheriff of the county upon charges preferred against him. He was removed by the Governor. The relator O'Connor was his attorney. The Appellate Division, on certiorari, unanimously affirmed the determination by the order entered May 26, 1917, from which this appeal was taken as of right June 4, 1917.

The law did not permit the appeal. Chapter 290 of the Laws of 1917, taking effect June 1, 1917, amended section 190 of the Code of Civil Procedure to read, in so far as is relevant here:

‘From and after the 31st day of May, 1917, the jurisdiction of the Court of Appeals shall, in civil, actions and proceedings, be confined to the review upon appeal of an actual determination made by an appellate division of the Supreme Court in either of the following cases, and no others. 1. An appeal may be taken as of right to said court from a judgment or order entered upon the decision of an appellate division of the Supreme Court which finally determines an action or special proceeding where is directly involved the construction of the Constitution of the state or of the United States, or where one or more of the justices of the appellate division dissents from the decision of the court, or where the judgment or order is one of reversal or modification. 2. * * *3. * * * 4. * * * The provisions of this section shall not apply to an appeal taken to the Court of Appeals prior to the first day of June, nineteen hundred and seventeen, but an appeal so taken shall be heard and determined under existing provisions of law.’

It is obvious the appeal is unwarranted, by virtue of the legislative limitation, unless, as the appellants assert, the proceeding directly involved the construction of the Constitution of the state. The claims of the relators were based wholly upon a statute (County Law [Cons. Laws, ch. 11] § 240, subds 16, 18). The record...