2013 New York Consolidated Laws
PEN - Penal
Part 1 - GENERAL PROVISIONS
Title C - DEFENSES
Article 35 - (35.00 - 35.30) DEFENSE OF JUSTIFICATION
35.05 - Justification; generally.

 
  § 35.05 Justification; generally.
    Unless  otherwise  limited  by  the ensuing provisions of this article
  defining  justifiable  use  of  physical  force,  conduct  which   would
  otherwise constitute an offense is justifiable and not criminal when:
    1.  Such  conduct  is  required  or authorized by law or by a judicial
  decree, or is performed by a public servant in the  reasonable  exercise
  of his official powers, duties or functions; or
    2.  Such  conduct  is  necessary  as  an emergency measure to avoid an
  imminent public or private injury which is about to occur by reason of a
  situation occasioned or developed through no fault  of  the  actor,  and
  which  is  of  such  gravity  that,  according  to ordinary standards of
  intelligence and morality, the desirability and urgency of avoiding such
  injury clearly outweigh the desirability of avoiding the  injury  sought
  to  be  prevented  by  the  statute defining the offense in issue.   The
  necessity  and  justifiability  of  such  conduct  may  not  rest   upon
  considerations  pertaining  only to the morality and advisability of the
  statute, either in its  general  application  or  with  respect  to  its
  application  to a particular class of cases arising thereunder. Whenever
  evidence relating to the defense of justification under this subdivision
  is offered by the defendant, the court shall rule as  a  matter  of  law
  whether  the  claimed  facts  and  circumstances  would, if established,
  constitute a defense.