N.Y. Laws » CHAPTER Municipal Home Rule / ARTICLE Legislative Intent; Construction; Effective Date
New York Consolidated Laws

N.Y. Municipal Home Rule Law § 51 (2026)

Liberal construction

✓ text as retrieved May 2026 (this copy records no edition or section history)
Find cases: SyfertCases citing this section NY-LEGnysenate.gov Justiaon Justia CornellLII Search CasesGoogle Scholar 
§ 51. Liberal construction. This chapter shall be liberally construed.
The powers herein granted shall be in addition to all other powers
granted to local governments by other provisions of law. A permissive
procedure authorized by this chapter shall not be deemed to be exclusive
or to prohibit the use of any other procedure authorized by any state
statute, charter or local law lawfully adopted, but shall be deemed an
alternative thereto.
Notes of Decisions
Cited in 8 cases, 1985–2013 · leading case: Kamhi v. Town of Yorktown, 547 N.E.2d 346 (N.Y. 1989).
Sort: Relevance Newest Treatment
Kamhi v. Town of Yorktown, 547 N.E.2d 346 (N.Y. 1989). “) In 1964, a home rule package was adopted, comprising article IX of the State Constitution (with a "Bill of rights for local governments”) and various implementing statutes, including the Municipal Home Rule Law and the Statute of Local Governments, both of which must be…”
Roth v. Cuevas, 158 Misc. 2d 238 (N.Y. Sup. Ct. 1993). “) Consistent with the constitutional provision requiring a liberal construction of the powers granted to municipalities, Municipal Home Rule Law also mandates that its provisions "shall be liberally construed”.”
Bracker v. Cohen, 204 A.D.2d 115 (N.Y. App. Div. 1st Dep't 1994). “The authority specifically conferred on municipalities under NY Constitution, article IX, § 2 (c) (ii) (10) to enact laws "whether or not they relate to the property, affairs or government of such local government” is to be liberally construed (NY Const, art IX, § 3 [c];…”
Pete Drown, Inc. v. Town Bd. of Ellenburg, 188 A.D.2d 850 (N.Y. App. Div. 3d Dep't 1992). “1 is a zoning law and, therefore, was enacted in violation of General Municipal Law § 239-m, which requires that certain zoning laws be referred to the County Planning Commission for review before enactment, is also rejected.”
McDonald v. New York City Campaign Fin. Bd., 40 Misc. 3d 826 (N.Y. Sup. Ct. 2013). · cites it 2× “This constitutional grant of power to localities is promulgated by the Municipal Home Rule Law, which contains language that tracks article IX, §§ 2 (c) and 3 (c) (see Municipal Home Rule Law § 10 [1] [i], [ii]).”
ILC Data Device Corp. v. Cnty. of Suffolk, 182 A.D.2d 293 (N.Y. App. Div. 2d Dep't 1992). “The foregoing constitutional provision is repeated virtually verbatim in Municipal Home Rule Law § 10 (1) (ii) (a) (12), and the legislative powers conferred on local governments by the Constitution and the Municipal Home Rule Law are to be broadly construed (see, NY Const, art…”
Caruso v. City of New York, 136 Misc. 2d 892 (N.Y. Sup. Ct. 1987). “*897 This court, therefore, concludes that absent explicit indication to the contrary, the Council is vested with the power to amend section 440 of the Charter notwithstanding that it was voter initiated, which is consistent with the statutory mandate that the home rule…”
Alscot Investing Corp. v. Laibach, 65 N.Y. 1042 (1985). “The departures here claimed to invalidate are that the local law was not introduced by any member of the Village Board, that the Board had not properly voted to hold a hearing on the law, that the text of the law as adopted was not in possession of Board members for the period…”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.