said society, to be applied as directed by the seventeenth section of the act entitled "An act to incorporate medical societies for the purpose of regulating the practice of physic and surgery in this state," passed April tenth, eighteen hundred and thirteen.

26. Annual meeting, etc.

(Laws of 1823, ch. 298.)

§ 26. [Sec. 1.] Be it enacted by the People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, That it shall and may be lawful for any society, incorporated under the act entitled "An act to incorporate medical societies, for the purpose of regulating the practice of physic and surgery in this state," at any anniversary meeting of such society, to change the day of holding their annual meeting to such other day in the year as may be more convenient: Provided, That two thirds of the members present concur in voting for such change; notice of intention to move the same, having been first given at some previous regular meeting of the society.

II. GENERAL REGULATIONS.

(Title VII. of art. 3 of ch. 14 of R. S. of 1830.)

27. Notice to be given to every physician and surgeon.

SECTION 1. The president of every county medical society shall give notice in writing, to every physician and surgeon not already admitted into such society, within the county in which the society of which he is president is situated, requiring such physician or surgeon, within sixty days after the service of such notice, to apply for and receive a certificate of admission, as a member of such society.

28. How served; persons notified to forfeit their licenses, if they do not apply.

§ 2. The service of every such notice shall be made personally, on the physician or surgeon, to whom it shall be directed; and if such physician or surgeon shall not, within the time specified in the notice, or within such further time as may be allowed by the president, under the regulations of the society, apply for a certificate of membership in such society, his license shall be deemed forfeited, and he shall be subject thereafter, to all the provisions and penalties of the laws of this state, in relation to unlicensed physicians, until upon a special application, he shall be admitted a member of the medical society, in the county in which he shall reside.

29. Charges for misconduct.

§ 3. If there shall be preferred to any county medical society, specific charges against any member thereof, of gross ignorance or misconduct in his profession, or of immoral conduct or habits, a special meeting of the society to consider the charges shall be called, of which at least ten days previous notice shall be given, in one or more of the newspapers printed in the county.

30. Proceedings thereon.

§ 4. If two thirds of the members present at such meeting shall be of opinion, that the charges preferred are well founded, the president of the society shall, without delay, deliver a certified copy of the charges and of the vote of the society thereon, to the district attorney of the county, and shall give notice of such delivery to the member accused, who from that time shall be suspended from the practice of physic and surgery, until the determination of such charges, in the manner hereinafter provided.

31. Charges to be served and notice of hearing. § 5. The district-attorney to whom the charges shall be delivered, shall serve a copy thereof without delay, on the member accused, and at the same time shall give him notice, of the time and place at which the judges of the county court of the county will meet, for the purpose of hearing and determining the same; such notice shall be served at least fourteen days before the time of hearing appointed.

32. District-attorney to prosecute.

§ 6. The district-attorney shall conduct the prosecution of the charges, and shall issue process to compel the attendance of such witnesses, as the president of the society and the member accused, shall severally require.

33. Judges to determine.

§ 7. The judges of the county court, at the time and place of hearing appointed, or at such other time and place as they shall fix, shall proceed to hear and determine the charges, and shall examine, on oath, the witnesses produced; if they, or a majority of them, shall be satisfied, from the evidence, that the charges are true, they shall make an order, which shall be valid in law, expelling the member accused from the society, and declaring him forever thereafter incapable of practising physic and surgery, within this state; or suspending him from such practice, for a limited period; if they shall be of opinion, that the charges are not established, the suspension of the member accused shall cease, and he shall be restored to all his rights and privileges, as a practising physician and surgeon.

34. Qualifications of students.

§ 8. No student shall be admitted to an examination by any medical society, until he shall have completed,

with some physician and surgeon, duly authorized by law to practise his profession, the term of medical study, prescribed in the following sections of this title.

35. Term of study.

§ 9. The regular term of the study of medical science shall be four years, but a deduction from such term, in no case to exceed one year, shall be made in either of the following cases:

1. If the student, after the age of sixteen, shall have pursued any of the studies usual in the colleges of this state, the period during which he shall have pursued such studies, shall be deducted.

2. If the student, after the age of sixteen, shall have attended a complete course of all the lectures delivered in an incorporated medical college in this state, or elsewhere, one year shall be deducted.

36. Certificate.

§ 10. The physician and surgeon with whom a student shall commence his studies, shall file a certificate with the president of the county medical society to which he belongs, certifying that such person has so commenced his studies; and the term of study shall be considered as commencing, from the day on which such certificate is filed.

37. Order for term of study.

§ 11. If the term of study shall be intended to be for less than four years, upon either of the grounds mentioned in the ninth section of this title, the president with whom the certificate shall be filed, upon satisfactory proof that a deduction ought to be allowed, shall annex to such certificate, an order specifying the period, not exceeding one year, which, according to the proof exhibited to him,

ought to be deducted from the term of four years, and directing that the term of study of the student shall be for the period that shall remain.

38. Requisites for diplomas from regents.

12. No person shall receive from the regents of the university a diploma, conferring the degree of doctor of medicine, unless he shall have pursued the study of medical science for at least three years, after the age of sixteen, with some physician and surgeon, duly authorized by law to practise his profession, and shall also, after the same age, have attended two complete courses of all the lectures delivered in an incorporated medical college, and have attended the last of such courses, in the college by which he shall be recommended for his degree.

39. Regents to confer certain degrees.

The regents of the university, may in their discretion confer the honorary degree of doctor of medicine upon such persons, not to exceed four in any one year, as may be recommended to them for that purpose, by the medical society of this state, but such honorary degree shall in no case be a license to practise physic or surgery. [Laws of 1840, ch. 366.]*

§ 13. No student who has attended one or more courses of medical lectures, shall be admitted to an examination by any medical society, except of the county in which he shall have pursued his medical studies for four months immediately preceding his attendance upon his last course of lectures, or by the censors of the state medical society. [As amended 1836, ch. 532, § 1.]

40. If rejected, to appeal.

§ 14. No person, who shall have been examined by the

*See Laws of 1872, ch. 746, post 55.