designated and numbered, remaining unsold, and in which there shall have been no interment, may by order of the trustees, be re-surveyed, enlarged, subdivided or altered in shape or size, and designated by numbers or otherwise, on any map or maps which may be filed as aforesaid; one half, at least, of the proceeds of all sales of lots must be first appropriated to the payment of the purchase money of the lands acquired by the association, until the whole purchase money. shall be paid, and the residue thereof to preserving, improving and embellishing the said cemetery grounds and the avenues or roads leading thereto, and to defray the inci dental expenses of the cemetery establishment; and after the payment of the purchase money and the debts contracted therefor, and for surveying and laying out the land, the proceeds of all further sales must be applied to the improvement, embellishment, and preservation of such cemetery, and for incidental expenses, and to no other purpose or object whatever. (Laws of 1847, Ch. 133, Sec. 7, as amended by Laws of 1852, Ch. 280, Sec. 1; 3 Stat. at Large, 751.)

995. It is made lawful for such associations to agree with the person or persons from whom cemetery lands may be purchased, to pay for such lands, or the purchase price thereof, any specified share or portion, not exceeding one half the proceeds of all sales of lots or plats made from such lands; in which case, the share or portion of such proceeds so agreed upon, not exceeding one-half thereof, must be first appropriated and applied to the payment of the purchase money of the lands so acquired; and the residue thereof must be appropriated to preserving, improving and embellishing the cemetery grounds and the avenues and roads leading thereto, and to defraying the incidental expenses of the cemetery establishment. (Ib., as amended by Laws of 1853, Ch. 122; 3 Stat. at Large, 753.)

996. In all cases where cemetery lands are purchased and agreed to be paid for in the manner referred to in the last preceding section, the prices for lots or plats specified in the by-laws, rules and regulations first adopted by any such association, cannot be legally changed without the written consent of a majority in interest of the persons from whom the cemetery lands were purchased, their heirs, representatives or assigns. (16.)

§ 997. Any such association may hold personal property to an amount not exceeding five thousand dollars, besides what may arise from the sale of lots or plats. (Laws of 1847, Ch. 133, Sec. 4; 3 Stat. at Large, 747.) The cemetery lands and property of the association are declared exempt from all public taxes, rates and assessments, and the same are not liable to be held on execution, and cannot be made to apply in payment of debts due from any individual proprietors; but the proprietors of lots or plats in the cemetery, their heirs and devisees, may hold the same exempt therefrom so long as the same shall remain dedicated for the purpose of a cemetery, and during that time no street, road, avenue or thoroughfare can be legally laid through such cemetery, or any part of the land held by the association for cemetery purposes, without the consent of the trustees of the association, except by special permission of the legislature of the State. (Ib., Sec. 10; 3 Stat. at Large 748.)

CHAPTER LXXIII.

BURIAL GROUNDS IN NEW YORK-ELECTION OF TRUSTEES OF CEMETERY ASSOCIATIONS-TRUSTEES TO REPORT TO LOT PROPRIETORS -TENURE OF THEIR OFFICE- -SALE OF LOTSLOTS, HOW HELD INDEBTEDNESS OF THE ASSOCIATION MAY BE FUNDED CERTIFICATES OF INDEBTEDNESS - - HOLDERS MAY VOTE.

§ 998. The annual election for trustees for any cemetery association in the State of New York, to supply the place of those whose term of office expires, must be held on the day mentioned in the certificate of incorporation, and at such hour and place as the trustees may direct, at which election there must be chosen such number of trustees as will supply the places of those whose term expires. The trustees, however, have the power, by resolution of a majority of all of said trustees, to change the time for the annual election of trustees as fixed in their act of incorporation; but no such resolution can take effect until sixty days after the same has been published six successive weeks, once in each week, in some newspaper published in the city or county where the association is situated, and a copy of such resolution, certified by the president and secretary, shall have been filed in the office of the clerk of the county where the cer tificate of incorporation is recorded. (Laws of 1847, Chap. 133, Sec. 5, as amended by the Laws of 1860, Chap. 94; 3 Stat. at Large, 747.)

§ 999. The trustees of any such association, chosen at any election subsequent to the first, hold their places for three years and until others are chosen to succeed them. The election of trustees must be by ballot, and every person of

full age, who may be proprietor of a lot or plat in the cemetery of the association, containing not less than ninety-six square feet of land, or, if there are more than one proprietor of any such lot or plat, then such one of the proprietors as the majority of joint proprietors shall designate to represent such lot or plat, may, either in person or proxy, give one vote for each lot or plat of the dimensions aforesaid, and the persons receiving a majority of all the votes given at such election will be the trustees to succeed those whose term of office expires. In all elections after the first, the trustees must be chosen from among the proprietors of lots or plats; and the trustees may fill any vacancy occurring in their number during the period for which they hold their office. Public notice of the annual elections must be given in such manner as the by-laws of the corporation may prescribe. (Ib.)

§ 1000. The trustees, at each annual election, are required to make reports to the lot proprietors of their doings, and of the management and condition of the property and concerns of the association. Should the annual election happen not to be held on the day fixed in the certificate of incorporation, the trustees have power to fix or appoint another day, not more than sixty days thereafter, and they must give public notice of the time and place, at which time the election may be held with the like effect as if holden on the day fixed on in the certificate; and the office of the trustees chosen at such time, will expire at the same time as if they had been chosen on the day fixed by the certificate of incorporation. (Laws of 1847, Chap. 133, Sec. 6; 3 Statutes at Large, 748.)

§ 1001. The trustees may sell and convey lots and plats of ground within the cemetery limits, as shown on the map of the same, filed in the office of the clerk of the county [Tr.]

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wherein the same may be situated, without previously filing in such clerk's office a map of each lot so intended to be conveyed; though a map is required to be preserved by the association, of each lot and plat conveyed, on which the number thereof must be designated. (Ib., Sec. 11, as amended by Laws of 1853, Ch. 122; 3 Stat. at Large, 753.)

§ 1002. When the land is laid off into lots or plats, and such lots or plats, or any of them, may be transferred to individual holders, and after an interment has been made in a lot or plat so transferred, such lot or plat, from the time of the first interment, will be forever thereafter inalienable, and, upon the death of the holder or proprietor thereof, will descend to the heirs at law of such holder or proprietor, and to their heirs at law forever; any one or more of such heirs, however, may release to any other of the said heirs, his, her or their interest in the same, on such conditions as may be agreed on and specified in the release, a copy of which release is required to be filed with the town clerk of the town, or the register of the city within which the cemetery is situated. No body of any deceased person can be legally interred in such lot or plat, unless it be the body of a person having an interest therein at the time of such decease, or the relation of some person having such interest, or the wife of such person, or her relation, except by the consent of all persons having an interest in such lot or plat. (Laws of 1847, Chap. 133, Sec. 11; 3 Statutes at Large, 749.)

§ 1003. The trustees may also fund any outstanding indebtedness of the association, for lands purchased for cemetery purposes, or for moneys actually expended in preserving, improving and embellishing the cemetery grounds, and may provide for the payment of such funded debt. Whenever such trustees, by a vote of two-thirds of all the trustees