N.Y. Gen. Bus. Law § 136

Current through 2024 NY Law Chapter 457

Section 136 - Exhibition or display of the flag

Any person who:

a. In any manner, for exhibition or display, shall place or cause to be placed, any word, figure, mark, picture, design, drawing, or any advertisement, of any nature upon any flag, standard, color, shield or ensign of the United States of America, or the state of New York, or shall expose or cause to be exposed to public view any such flag, standard, color, shield or ensign, upon which after the first day of September, nineteen hundred and five, shall have been printed, painted or otherwise placed, or to which shall be attached, appended, affixed or annexed, any word, figure, mark, picture, design, or drawing, or any advertisement of any nature, or

b. Shall expose to public view, manufacture, sell, expose for sale, give away, or have in possession for sale, or to give away, or for use for any purpose, any article, or substance, being an article of merchandise, or a receptacle of merchandise or article or thing for carrying or transporting merchandise, upon which after the first day of September, nineteen hundred five, shall have been printed, painted, attached, or otherwise placed, a representation of any such flag, standard, color, shield or ensign, to advertise, call attention to, decorate, mark, or distinguish, the article or substance on which so placed, or

c. Shall print, engrave, or otherwise place or cause to be printed, engraved or otherwise placed on any blank check, bill head, letter head, envelope or other business stationery, a representation of any such flag, standard, color, shield or ensign, or shall use any such blank check, bill head, letter head, envelope or other stationery for business purposes or correspondence, or

d. Shall publicly mutilate, deface, defile, or defy, trample upon, or cast contempt upon either by words or act, or

e. Shall raffle or place in pawn any such flag, standard, color, shield or ensign, or

f. Shall publicly carry or display any emblem, placard or flag which casts contempt, either by word or act, upon the flag of the United States of America, or

g. Shall publicly use or cause any such flag, standard, color, shield or ensign, to be publicly used as a receptacle for the placing, depositing or collecting of money or any other article or thing, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.

The words flag, standard, color, shield or ensign, as used in this section, shall include any flag, standard, color, shield or ensign, or any picture or representation, of either thereof, made of any substance, or represented on any substance, and of any size, evidently purporting to be, either of, said flag, standard, color, shield or ensign, of the United States of America, or of the state of New York, or a picture or a representation, of either thereof, upon which shall be shown the colors, the stars, and the stripes, in any number of either thereof, or by which the person seeing the same, without deliberation may believe the same to represent the flag, colors, standard, shield or ensign of the United States of America or of the state of New York.

This section shall not apply to any act expressly permitted by the statutes of the United States of America, or by the United States army and navy regulations, nor shall it be construed to apply to a certificate, diploma, warrant, or commission of appointment to office, ornamental picture, article of jewelry, stationery for use in private correspondence, or newspaper or periodical, on any of which shall be printed, painted or placed, said flag, standard, color, shield or ensign disconnected and apart from any advertisement.

The possession by any person, other than a public officer, as such, of any such flag, standard, color, shield or ensign, on which shall be anything made unlawful at any time by this section, or of any article or substance or thing on which shall be anything made unlawful at any time by this section shall be presumptive evidence that the same is in violation of this section, and was made, done or created after the first day of September, nineteen hundred five, and that such flag, standard, color, shield or ensign, or article, substance, or thing, did not exist on the first day of September, nineteen hundred and five.

N.Y. Gen. Bus. Law § 136