1963-12-20
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JUDSON C. WILLIAMS
ATTORNEY AT LAW
259 MAIN STREET
POUGHKEEPSIE. N. Y.
GLOBE 4_4315
December 20. 1963
Hon. Vincent S. Francese
11 Reservoir Place
Wappingers Falls, N.Y.
Dear Vinnie:
conc,eming the powe of Town officers to administer oaths,
Section 28 of the Town Law provides that any Town officer
"y administer any necessary oath in any matter or pro-
ceeding lawfully before him or in connection with any paper
to be filed with h~ as such officer. As you can see,
this power to administer oaths is shared by all Town of-
ficers but it is ltmited to official business.
Section 2309(a) of C.P.L.R. provides that. unless otherwise
provided, an oath or affirmation may be administered by
any person authorized to take acknowledgement of deeds un-
der the Real Property Law. This section specifically pro-
vides that the grant of authority here contained does not
include an oath of office or an oath administered to jurors.
However, Section 10 of the Public Officers Law provides
that an oath of office may be administered by any officer
authorized to take. witbin the State. the aclmowledgement
of the execution of a de~d of real property. In addition,
the oath of office may be administered to a member of a
board by the presiding officer or clerk, if such presiding
officer or clerk shall have already taken his own oath of
office. '
Section 298 of the Real Property Law provides that an ack-
nowledgement of a conveyance of real property situated in
this State may be made before, among others, a Justice of
the Peace or a Town Counci~n anywhere within his county.
Accordingly t it would se8m that Town Councilmen and Justices
of the Peace within their counties have the same powers as
a notary public. However, on any document which may go be-
yond the confines of tbe county. it might be just as well
if a nota~ public acted rather than a Councilman or a
Justice of the Peace since the power of a Justice of the
Peace in this respect is by no means universally known and
I am sure that few people know that Town Councilmen have
such power.
Sincerely yours,
JCW: ec
CC: Mrs. Helen L. Travis
Town Clerk. Town of Wappinger