Raines law Raines law The Raines law, authored by John Raines, was passed on March 23, 1896, by the New York State Legislature. It was nominally a liquor tax, but its intention was to curb the consumption of alcohol by imposing regulations. Among other provisions, it prohibited the sale of alcoholic beverages on Sunday except in hotels. Most men worked a six-day week, and Sunday was the only full day for drinking at saloons. Under the law, however, hotels were allowed to serve liquor on Sunday, to guests only, if it was served during a meal or in the bedrooms of the
New York Law Institute New York Law Institute The New York Law Institute is the oldest circulating law library in New York City and is open to Institute members and to scholars of history and the law. The New York Law Institute library is located in the Equitable Building and has a circulating collection of over 250,000 print volumes, including Congressional documents, records on appeal, current and superseded U.S. and state laws, new and archival editions of legal treatises, and archival New York City and New York State materials. The library's collection also includes over 160,000 eBooks from Proquest and OverDrive, including legal, business,