"PRESENT—His Excellency the Governor, the Honourable the Chancellor, the Chief Justice, and Judge Benson.
"Mr. Reynolds and Mr. Robbins, from the honourable the Assembly, delivered to the council the bill entitled An act for the relief of John Lansing, the bill entitled An act for supplying the city of New-York with pure and wholesome water, and the bill entitled An act to amend the statute of limitation, and the bill entitled An act making provision to keep in repair the bridge over Schoharie Creek, at Fort Hunter, in the county of Montgomery.
"The council proceeded to take the said bills into consideration, and thereupon
"Resolved, That the bill entitled An act for supplying the city of New-York with pure and wholesome water be committed to the honourable the Chief Justice; that the bill entitled An act to amend the statute of limitation be committed to the honourable the Chancellor."
"At a meeting of the Council of Revision, held at the City Hall of the City of Albany, on Tuesday, the 2d of April, 1799.
"PRESENT—His Excellency the Governor, the Honourable the Chancellor, the Chief Justice, and Judge Benson.
"The honourable the Chief Justice, to whom was committed the bill entitled An act for supplying the city of New-York with pure and wholesome water, reported the following objections, to wit:
"Because the bill creates a corporation, with a capital of two millions of dollars, vested with the unusual power to divert its surplus capital to the purchase of public or other stock, or any other moneyed transactions or operations not inconsistent with the constitution and laws of this state or of the United States, and which surplus may be applied to the purposes of trade, or any other purpose which the very comprehensive terms in which the clause is conceived may warrant; this, in the opinion of the council as a novel experiment, the result whereof as to its influence on the community must be merely speculative and uncertain, peculiarly requires the application of the policy which has heretofore uniformly obtained, that the powers of corporations relative to their money operations should be of limited instead of perpetual duration."
"The council proceeded to take the preceding objections into consideration, which were overruled; it was thereupon
"Resolved, That it does not appear improper to the council that the said bill, entitled An act for supplying the city of New-York with pure and wholesome water, should become a law of this state.