sion shall be public records, and each commission shall make an annual report to the legislature on or before the second Monday of January in each year, which shall contain copies of all orders issued by it, and any information in the possession of the commission which it shall deem of value to the legislature and the people of the State. Five hundred copies of each report, together with the abstracts of the reports to such commission of common carriers, railroad corporations and street railroad corporations, and gas and electrical corporations, in addition to the regular number prescribed by law, shall be printed as a public document of the State, bound in cloth, for the use of the commissioners and to be distributed by them in their discretion to railroad, street railroad, gas and electrical corporations and other persons interested therein. § 17. Certified Copies of Papers Filed to Be Evidence.Copies of all official documents and orders filed or deposited according to law in the office of either commission, certified by a commissioner or by the secretary of the commission to be true copies of the originals, under the official seal of the commission, shall be evidence in like manner as the originals. § 18. Fees to Be Charged and Collected by the Commissions. Each commission shall charge and collect the following fees: For copies of papers and records not required to be certified or otherwise authenticated by the commission, ten cents for each folio; for certified copies of official documents and orders filed in its office, fifteen cents for each folio, and one dollar for every certificate under seal affixed thereto; for certifying a copy of any report made by a corporation to the commission, two dollars; for each certified copy of the annual report of the commission, one dollar and fifty cents; for certified copies of evidence and proceedings before the commission, fifteen cents for each folio. No fees shall be charged or collected for copies of papers, records or official documents, furnished to public officers for use in their official capacity, or for the annual reports of the commission in the ordinary course of distribution. All fees charged and collected by the commission of the first district shall belong to the city of New York, and shall be paid monthly, accompanied by a detailed statement thereof, into the treasury of the city to the credit of the general fund, and all fees charged and collected by the commission of the second district shall belong to the people of the State, and shall be paid monthly, accompanied by a detailed statement thereof, into the treasury of the State to the credit of the general fund. 19. Attendance of Witnesses and Their Fees.-1. All subpœnas shall be signed and issued by a commissioner or by the secretary of a commission and may be served by any person of full age. The fees of witnesses required to attend before a commission, or a commissioner, shall be two dollars for each day's attendance, and five cents for every mile of travel by the nearest generally travelled route in going to and from the place where attendance of the witness is required, such fees to be paid when the witness is excused from further attendance; and the disbursements made in the payment of such fees shall be audited and paid in the first district in the same manner provided for the payment of expenses of the commission. 2. If a person subpoenaed to attend before a commission, or a commissioner fails to obey the command of such subpoena, without reasonable cause, or if a person in attendance before a commission, or commissioner, shall, without reasonable cause, refuse to be sworn or to be examined or to answer a question or to produce a book or papers, when ordered so to do by the commission, or a commissioner, or to subscribe and swear to his deposition after it has been correctly reduced to writing, he shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and may be prosecuted therefor in any court of competent criminal jurisdiction. If a person in attendance before a commission or a commissioner refuses without reasonable cause to be examined or to answer a legal and pertinent question or produce a book or paper, when ordered so to do by a commission or a commissioner, the commission may apply to any justice of the Supreme Court upon proof by affidavit of the facts for an order returnable in not less than two nor more than five days directing such parson to show cause before the justice who made the order, or any other justice of the Supreme Court, why he should not be committed to jail; upon the return of such order the justice before whom the matter shall come on for hearing shall examine under oath such person whose testimony may be relevant, and such person shall be given an opportunity to be heard; and if the justice shall determine that such person has refused without reasonable cause or legal excuse to be examined, or to answer a legal and pertinent question, or to produce a book or paper which he was ordered to bring, he may forthwith, by warrant, commit the offender to jail, there to remain until he submits to do the act which he was so required to do or is discharged according to law. § 20. Practice Before the Commissions; Immunity of Witnesses. All hearings before a commission or a commissioner, shall be governed by rules to be adopted and prescribed by the commission. And in all investigations, inquiries or hearings the commission, or a commissioner, shall not be bound by the technical rules of evidence. No person shall be excused from testifying or from producing any book or papers in any investigation or inquiry by or upon any hearing before a commission or any commissioner, when ordered to do so by the commission, upon the ground that the testimony or evidence, books or documents required of him may tend to incriminate him or subject him to penalty or forfeiture, but no person shall be prosecuted, punished or subjected to any penalty or forfeiture for or on account of any act, transaction, matter or thing concerning which he shall under oath have testified or produced documentary evidence; provided, however, that no person so testifying shall be exempt from prosecution or punishment for any perjury committed by him in his testimony. Nothing herein contained is intended to give, or shall be construed as in any manner giving unto any corporation immunity of any kind. § 21. Court Proceedings; Preferences.-All actions and proceedings under this act, and all actions and proceedings commenced or prosecuted by order of either commission, and all actions and proceedings to which either commission or the people of the State of New York may be parties, and in which any question arises under this act or under the railroad law, or under or concerning any order or action of the commission, shall be preferred over all other civil causes except election causes in all courts of the State of New York and shall be heard and determined in preference to all other civil business pending therein excepting election causes, irrespective of position on the calendar. The same preference shall be granted upon application of counsel to the commission in any action or proceeding in which he may be allowed to intervene. § 22. Rehearing Before Commission.-After an order has been made by a commission any party interested therein may apply for a rehearing in respect to any matter determined therein, and the commission may grant and hold such a rehearing if in its judgment sufficient reason therefor be made to appear; if a rehearing shall be granted, the same shall be determined by the commission within thirty days after the same shall be finally submitted. An application for such a rehearing shall not excuse any common carrier, railroad corporation or street railroad corporation from complying with or obeying any order or any requirement of any order of the commission, or operate in any manner to stay or postpone the enforcement thereof except as the commission may by order direct. If, after such rehearing and a consideration of the facts, including those arising since the making of the order, the commission shall be of opinion that the original order or any part thereof is in any respect unjust or unwarranted, the commission may abrogate, change or modify the same. An order made after any such rehearing abrogating, changing or modifying the original order shall have the same force and effect as an original order but shall not affect any right or the enforcement of any right arising from or by virtue of the original order. § 23. Service and Effect of Orders.-Every order of a commission shall be served upon every person or corporation to be affected thereby, either by personal delivery of a certified copy thereof, or by mailing a certified copy thereof, in a sealed package with postage prepaid, to the person to be affected thereby or, in the case of a corporation, to any officer or agent thereof upon whom a summons may be served in accordance with the provisions of the code of civil procedure. It shall be the duty of every person and corporation to notify the commission forthwith, in writing, of the receipt of the certified copy of every order so served, and in the case of a corporation such notification must be signed and acknowledged by a person or officer duly authorized by the corporation to admit such service. Within a time specified in the order of the commission every person and corporation upon whom it is served must if so required in the order notify the commission in like manner whether the terms of the order are accepted and will be obeyed. Every order of a commission shall take effect at a time therein specified and shall continue in force for a period therein designated unless earlier modified or abrogated by the commission or unless such order be unauthorized by this or any other act or be in violation of a provision of the constitution of the State or of the United States. ARTICLE II. PROVISIONS RELATING TO RAILROADS, STREET RAILROADS AND COMMON CARRIERS. § 25. Application of Article. 27. Switch and Side-track Con- 28. Tariff Schedules; Publication. 30. Concurrence in Joint Tariffs; 31. Unjust Discrimination. § 33. Transportation Prohibited Until Publication of Schedules; Rates as Fixed to Be Charged; Passes Prohibited. 34. False Billing, etc., by Carrier or Shipper. 35. Discrimination Connecting Lines. Prohibited; 36. Long and Short Haul. 37. Distribution of Cars. 39. Continuous Carriage. 40. Liability for Loss or Damage by Violation of This Act. |