ture may be made for a term of one year although such term may extend beyond the time when such person will be of full age. An indenture made in pursuance of this section must be signed, 1. By the minor; 2. By the father of the minor unless he is legally incapable of giving consent or has abandoned his family; 3. By the mother of the minor unless she is legally incapable of giving consent; 4. By the guardian of the person of the minor, if any; 5. If there be neither parents nor guardian of the minor legally capable of giving consent, by the county judge of the county, or a justice of the supreme court of the district, in which the minor resides; whose consent shall be necessary to the binding out or apprenticing in pursuance of this section of a minor coming from a foreign country or of a child of an Indian woman, in addition to the other consents herein provided; 6. By the master or employer. § 123. Indenture by poor officers; by whom signed. The poor officers of a municipal corporation may, by an execution of the indenture provided by this article, bind out or apprentice any minor whose support shall become chargeable to such municipal corporation. In such case the indenture shall be signed, 1. By the officer or officers binding out or apprenticing the minor; 2. By the master or employer; 3. By the county judge of the county, if the support of such child was chargeable to the county, by two justices of the peace, if chargeable to the town, or by the mayor and aldermen or any two of them, if chargeable to the city. The poor officers by whom a child is indentured and their successors in office shall be guardians of every such child and shall inquire into the treatment thereof, and redress any grievance as provided by law. The provision of the Revised Statutes (1 R. S. 617, § 15) declaring that a majority of the superintendents of the poor of a county "shall be at all times competent to transact business and to execute any powers vested in the board of superintendents" authorizes the majority to act, irrespective of and with out consultation, with the minority. The authority to bind minors as apprentices given to said superintendent (2 R. S. 134, § 5) may, therefore, be executed by a majority, without a meeting of or notice to all. Court of Appeals, February, 1874, Johnson v. Dodd, 56 N. Y. 76. The government has the right to require the services of its citizens, minors as well as adults, for the public defense. It may dissolve the relation of master and apprentice existing by force of municipal regulations, and the obligation of service resulting from indentures executed under or sanctioned by local law. The relation is dissolved by the acceptance of the apprentice into the military service of the government, although his enlistment was his voluntary act, not compelled by the government, and without the consent of the master; and the wages due the former for his service in the army as well as bounty money belong to him, to the exclusion of any claim thereto by the latter. Id. A mother who has received temporary relief from the poor officers is not a person chargeable to the public, within the meaning of the statutes, allowing a child who, or whose parents, become chargeable, to be bound out. Albany City Recorder, March, 1873, People ex rel. Heilbronner v. Hoster, 14 Abb. Pr. N. S. 414. Abandonment of a child by the father is the surrender of his parental right to the child's custody. Court of Appeals, April, 1875, People ex rel. Wehle v. Weisenbach, 60 N. Y. 385. § 124. Binding out children by charitable corporation; indenture; by whom signed. An orphan asylum or charitable institution, incorporated for the care of orphans, friendless or destitute children, may bind out as an apprentice, clerk or servant, an indigent or poor child by an indenture in writing. Such child must have been absolutely surrendered to the care and custody of such asylum or institution in pursuance of this chapter, or have been placed therein as a poor person, as provided in section fifty-six of the poor law, or have been left to the care of such asylum or institution with no provision by the parent, relative or legal guardian of such child, for its support, for a period of one year then next preceding. Such indenture shall bind such child, if a male, for a period which shall not extend beyond his twenty-first year, and if a female, for a period which shall not extend beyond her eighteenth year. Every such child shall, when practicable, be bound out or apprenticed to persons of the same religious faith as the parents of such child. The indenture shall in such case be signed: 1. In the corporate name of such institution by the officer or officers thereof authorized by the directors to sign the corporate name to such instrument, and shall be sealed with the corporate seal; 2. By the master or employer. Such indenture may also be signed by the child, if over twelve years of age. § 125. Penalty for failure of master or employer to perform provisions of indenture. If a master or employer to whom a minor has been indentured shall fail, during the term of service, to perform any provision of such indenture on his part, such minor or any person in his behalf may bring an action against the master or employer to recover damages for such failure; and if satisfied that there is sufficient cause, the court shall direct such indenture to be canceled, and may render judgment against such master or employer for not to exceed one thousand nor less than one hundred dollars, to be collected and paid over for the use and benefit of such minor to the corporation or officers indenturing such minor, if so indentured, and otherwise, to the parents or guardian of the child. § 126. Assignment of indenture on death of master or employer. On the death of a master or employer to whom a person is indentured by the poor officers of a municipal corporation, the personal representatives of the master or employer may, with the written and acknowledged consent of such person, assign such indenture and the assignee shall become vested with all the rights and subject to all the liabilities of his assignor, or if such consent be refused, the assignment may be made with like effect by the county judge of the county, on proof that fourteen days' notice. of the application therefor has been given to the person indentured, to the officers by whom indentured, and to his parent or guardian, if in the country. § 127. Contract with apprentice in restraint of trade void. No person shall accept from any apprentice any agreement or cause him to be bound by oath, that after his term of service expires he will not exercise his trade, profession or employment in any particular place; nor shall any person exact from any apprentice, after his term of service expires, any money or other thing, for exercising his trade, profession or employment in any place. Any security given in violation of this section shall be void; and any money paid, or valuable thing delivered, for the consideration, in whole or in part, of any such agreement or exaction, may be recovered by the person paying the same with interest; and every person accepting such agreement, causing such obligation to be entered into, or exacting money or other thing, is also liable to the apprentice in the penalty of one hundred dollars, which may be recovered in a civil suit. PENAL LAW. Chapter 40 of the Consolidated Laws. ARTICLE XLIV. Children. Section 480. Abandonment of children. 481. Abandonment of child under fourteen years. 484. Permitting children to attend certain resorts. 487. Children's courts. 488. Sending messenger boys to certain places. 489. Furnishing minors in reformatories with tobacco. prohibited. 490. Duty of officers. 491. Fines to be paid to society for prevention of cruelty to children. 492. Concealing birth of a child. 493. Taking apprentice without consent of guardian. § 480. Abandonment of children. A parent or other person charged with the care or custody for nurture or education * Added by chapter 699 of the Laws of 1910. of a child under the age of sixteen years, who abandons the child in destitute circumstances and wilfully omits to furnish necessary and proper food, clothing or shelter for such child is guilty of felony, punishable by imprisonment for not more than two years, or by a fine not to exceed one thousand dollars, or by both. In case a fine is imposed the same may be applied in the discretion of the court to the support of such child. Proof of the abandonment of such child in destitute circumstances and omission to furnish necessary and proper food, clothing or shelter is prima facie evidence that such omission is wilful. The provisions of section twenty-four hundred and forty-five prohibiting the disclosure of confidential communications between husband and wife shall not apply to prosecutions for the offense here defined. A previous conviction of felony or misdemeanor shall not prevent the court from suspending sentence upon a conviction under this section, or from arbitrarily fixing the limit of imprisonment or fine, in case imprisonment or fine is imposed upon conviction herein. Nothing in this section shall be deemed or construed to repeal, amend, impair or in any manner affect the provisions of sections four hundred and eighty-one, four hundred and eighty-two and four hundred and eighty-three of this chapter or any other existing provisions of law relating to abandonment or other acts of cruelty to children. § 481. Abandonment of child under fourteen years. A parent, or other person having the care or custody, for nurture or education, of a child under the age of fourteen years, who deserts the child in any place, with intent wholly to abandon it, is punishable by imprisonment in a state prison for not more than seven years. § 482. Unlawfully omitting to provide for child. A person who: 1. Wilfully omits, without lawful excuse, to perform a duty by law imposed upon him to furnish food, clothing, shelter or medical attendance to a minor, or to make such payment toward its maintenance as may have been required by the order of a |