Which was received and ordered to be printed in the minutes. The SECRETARY presented the following: LAW DEPARTMENT, OFFICE OF THE COUNSEL TO THE CORPORATION, To the Board of Estimate and Apportionment: Gentlemen,-I am in receipt of a communication, dated the 21st instant, from your Clerk, stating that at a meeting of your Board, held the 21st instant, the subject of an annual appropriation for the Normal College was discussed and referred to me for my opinion, as to whether it is mandatory upon your Board to appropriate the amount asked for. Under Chapter 580 of the Laws of 1888, entitled “ An act relative to the Normal College of the City of New York," passed June 9, 1888, the Normal College of the City of New York is declared to be a separate and distinct organization and body corporate, with the powers and privileges of a college pursuant to the Revised Statutes in this State, and subject to the provisions of said statutes relative to colleges, and to the visitation of the Regents of the University, in like manner with the other colleges of the city. The members of the Board of Education of the City of New York (not the Board), together with the Presi dent of the Normal College, are declared, ex-officio, the trustees of said college; and all acts of the Legislature ther in force with regard to said Normal College, its contro management, support and affairs, not inconsistent with the provisions of this act, were declared to be applicable to said college. Section 5 of the act provides that it shall be the duty a the trustees of said college, annually, on or before the 15th day of November, to report to your Board such sum, not exceeding $125,000 in any one year, as they may require for the payment of the salaries of the professors and officers of the said college, for obtaining and furnishing scientific apparatus, books for the students, and all other necessary supplies therefor; for repairing and altering the college buildings and for the support, maintenance and general expenses of said college. The section further provides as follows: "And the said Board of Estimate and Apportionment of the City and County of New York are hereby authorized, in each and every year, to raise and collect by tax on the estate, real and personal, and liable to taxation in said city and county, such sum of money, not exceeding the amount aforesaid, as may be reported to them by said trustees. The amount so to be raised and collected to be in addition to the sums required for the purposes of common schools in the City of New York, under the act en titled 'An act to amend, consolidate and reduce to one act the several acts of the State of New York,' passed July 3, 1851, and the several acts amendatory thereto." Prior to the passage of this statute the Normal College, so called, was entirely under the jurisdiction of the Board of Education, having been organized, conducted and maintained in pursuance of the provisions of Subdivision 8 of Section 1027 of the New York City Consolidation Act of 1882, which authorized the Board "to organize an institution for females, similar to the free academy, as the same existed in eighteen hundred and fifty-one," and providing that when so organized all the provisions of Chapter 17 of the Consolidation Act, relative to the free academy, should apply to each and every one of such institutions then exist ing or thereafter to be established, "as fully, completely and distinctly as they could or would if it was the only institution of the kind; to distinguish each existing and future institution by an appropriate title; and to pur chase, erect, or lease sites and buildings for each and al of the said institutions." Prior, therefore, to the Law of 1888, the Normal College formed a part of the general educational system of the State, within the City and County of New York, under the control and management of the Board of Education. and subject, so far as appropriations for its maintenance and support were concerned, to the same control which the Board of Estimate and Apportionment was authorized to exercise over the appropriations for other objects con nected with the work of the Board of Education. Chapter 580 of the Laws of 1888, however, removes the Normal College from the control of the Board of Education, makes it a separate, independent and distinct organization and body corporate, under the control of trustees consisting of the members of the Board of Education and the President of the college. Of course if the college is to be continued, and if the trustees are to perform any of the functions vested in them by law, as the responsible officers in charge of the work which the college is incorporated to perform, it is necessary that they should be provided with the requisite funds, and accordingly, the statute makes it their duty to determine the amount whit they may require for such purpose, and to report the same, not exceeding $125,000 in any one year, to the Boar! of Estimate and Apportionment. It was obviously the intention of the Legislature tha the judgment of the trustees of the college should abso lutely control as to the amount necessary for the purpose of meeting the expenses of the college, and that such judgment should not be subject to review by the Board of Estimate and Apportionment. The statute does not provide that the Board of Estimate and Apportionment shall be authorized to appropriate so much money as may be necessary, or as in their judgment may be proper to meet the expenses of said college, but "such sum of money not exceeding the amount aforesaid (i. e., $125,000) as may be reported to them by said trustees." So far, therefore, as the amount of any appropriation for this object may be concerned, the Board of Estimate and Apportionment has no option except to appropriate the total amount asked for by the trustees, provided that amount does not exceed $125,000. As, under the statute, it is the duty of the trustees to perform the functions vested in them by law, and to report to the Board of Estimate and Apportionment the amount necessary to enable them to meet their obligations, a correlative obligation rests upon the Board of Estimate and Apportionment to respond to their demands. Under any other construction, the object of the law could be entirely defeated by a refusal of the appropriating power to supply the means necessary to give it effect. The institution is a public one, and the duty resting upon the officers having it in charge, as well as that of the Board of Estimate and Apportionment, in relation to appropriations for its maintenance, is a public one. The case, therefore, comes within the familiar principle of statutory construction, that, where a statute confers authority upon a public body, to be exercised for a public purpose, it imports a duty to exercise such authority, and is, therefore, mandatory. It appears from your minutes that the Board of Trustees |