The New York Supreme Court in the second Chiasson case in 1988 held that limiting the number of musicians who can play at unlicensed establishments to three is not constitutional.
Chiasson v. NYC Dept. of Consumer Affairs, 138 Misc. 2d 394, 524 N.Y.S.2d 649 (Sup. Ct. N.Y. Co. 1988).
“Summary judgment is granted in favor of the plaintiffs declaring that the portion of the incidental music exception of the Cabaret Law limiting the number of musicians who can play at unlicensed establishments to three is unconstitutional.”
The license referred to is the Cabaret License.
The three-musician limit and the restriction as to type of instruments were not part of the 1926 law, despite the misrepresentations made to the Court in the Muchmore case. There, neither counsel of record nor the court clerks took the extra effort to locate and read the text of the 1926 law. The 1926 law was not available on Lexis or Westlaw, and could only be found in bound volumes in the New York City archives next to City Hall.
