Case ID: misc_93/html/0671-01.html
Source: Caselaw Access Project
Author: {"author": "Ford, J.", "license": "Public Domain", "url": "https://static.case.law/"}
Date Created: 2024-08-24T03:29:51.129683

Matter of the Application of Matthew J. McGrtath for a writ of Mandamus, Relator, v. Arthur Woods, Police Commissioner of the City of New York, Respondent.
    (Supreme Court, New York Special Term,
    February, 1916.)
    Police — city of New York—■ what amounts to reduction in rank — unjust dismissal from police force.
    Where upon .a rehearing a finding was made that relator, a patrolman, was unjustly dismissed from the police force of the city of New York, and after being permitted to resume his duties as patrolman he took the examination for sergeant and was duly appointed to that position, he is a sergeant de jure and entitled to pay as a sergeant de facto, and the action of the police commissioner in compelling him to perform the duties of a patrolman amounts to a reduction in rank without right or warrant in law.
    Application for a writ of mandamus.
    James Brennan, for relator.
    Lamar Hardy, corporation counsel, for respondent.
   Ford, J.

Relator was a patrolman in the police department on April 28,1911, and for some time prior thereto. He was “ unjustly ” dismissed by the police commissioner on that date according to the finding of Commissioner Woods who reheard his case in 1915. The Standard Dictionary gives as synonymous of ' ‘ unjust ’ ’. the words " not legitimate, fair or just ’ ’; ‘‘wrongful ”; “unrighteous.’’ Putnam’s Word Book gives “unfair”; “ inequitable ”; “ iniquitous ”; ‘ ‘ unmerited. ’ ’ May a member of the police force be dismissed, i. e., removed, from office in that manner? I think not. It follows, therefore, that the relator has always been since his original appointment a member of the police force de jure. When he was permitted by the action of Commissioner Waldo to resume the performance of his duties as patrolman, which he had for a time been prevented from performing by reason of the unjust ” finding of Commissioner Cropsey against him, he took the examination for sergeant and was afterwards duly appointed to that position. The action of Commissioner Woods in now compelling him to perform the duties of patrolman with a patrolman’s pay merely amounts to a reduction in rank without right or warrant in law. He is now a sergeant de jure and should be in the enjoyment of his rightful rank, title and pay as a sergeant de facto. I can see this application in no other light. The motion for a peremptory writ of mandamus is granted.

Motion granted.