from
Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856)
NEW JERSEY. The name of one of the original states of the United States of
America. This state, when it was first settled, was divided into, two
provinces, which bore the names of East Jersey and West Jersey. They were
granted to different proprietaries. Serious dissensions having arisen
between them, and between them and New York, induced the proprietaries of
both provinces to make a formal surrender of all their powers of government,
but not of their lands, to Queen Anne, in April, 1702; they were immediately
reunited in one province, and governed by a governor appointed by the crown,
assisted by a council, and an assembly of the representatives of the people,
chosen by the freeholders. This form of government continued till the
American Revolution.
2. A constitution was adopted for New Jersey on the second day of July,
1776, which continued in force till the first day of September, 1844,
inclusive. A convention was assembled at Trenton on the 14th of May, 1844;
it continued in, session till the 29th day of Tune, 1844, when the new
constitution was adopted, and it is provided by art. 8, s. 4, that this
constitution shall take effect and go into operation on the second day of
September, 1844.
3. By art. 3, the powers of the government are divided into three
distinct department, the legislative, executive and judicial. It further
provided that no person or persons belonging to, or constituting one of
these departments, shall exercise any of the powers properly belonging to
either of the others, except therein expressed.
4.-Sec. 1. The legislative power shall be vested in a senate and
general assembly. Art. 4, s. 1, n. 1.
5.-1st. In treating of the senate, it will be proper to consider, 1.
The of senators. 2. Of the electors of senators. 3. Of the number of
senators. 4. Of the time for which they are elected.
6.-1. No person shall be a member of the senate, who shall not have
attained the age of thirty years, and have been a citizen and inhabitant of
the state for four years, and of the county for which he shall be chosen one
year, next before his election. And he must be entitled to suffrage at the
time of his election. Art. 4, s. 1, n. 2.
7.-2. Every white male citizen of the United States, of the age of
twenty-one years, who shall have been a resident of this state one year, and
of the county in which he claims his vote five months next before the
election, shall be entitled to vote for all officers that now are, or
hereafter may be elective by the people; provided, that no person in the
military, naval, or marine service of the United States, shall be considered
a resident in this state, by, being stationed in any garrison, barrack, or
military or naval place or station within this state; and no pauper, idiot,
insane person, or person convicted of a crime which now excludes him from
being a witness, unless pardoned or restored by law to the right of
suffrage, shall enjoy the right of an elector.
8.-3. The senate shall be composed of one senator from each county in
the state. Art. 4, s. 2, n. 1.
9.-4. The senators are elected on the second Tuesday of October, for
three years. Art. 4, s. 2, n. 1. As soon as the senate shall meet after the
first election to be held in pursuance of this constitution, they shall be
divided, as equally as may be, into three classes. The seats of the,
senators of the first class shall be vacated at the expiration of the first
year; of the second class at the expiration of the second year; and of the
third class at the expiration of the third year; so that one class may be
elected every year; and if vacancies happen, by resignation or otherwise,
the person elected to supply such vacancies shall be elected for the
unexpired terms only. Art. 4, s. 2, n. 2.
10.-2d. The general assembly will be considered in the same order that
has been observed in speaking of the senate.
11.-1. No person shall be a member, of the general assembly, who shall
not have attained the age of twenty-one years, and have been a citizen and
inhabitant of the state for two years, and of the county for which he shall
be chosen one year next before his election. He must be entitled to this
right of suffrage. Art. 4, s. 1, n. 2.
12.-2. The same persons who elect senators elect members of the
general assembly.
13.-3. The general assembly shall be composed of members annually
elected by the legal voters of the counties, respectively, who shall be
apportioned among the said counties as nearly as may be according to the
number of their inhabitants. The present apportionment shall continue until
the next census of the United States shall have been taken, and an
apportionment of members of the general assembly shall be made by the
legislature, at its first session after the next and every subsequent
enumeration or census, and when made shall remain unaltered until another
enumeration shall have been taken; provided, that each county shall at all
times be entitled to one member: and the whole number of members shall never
exceed sixty.
14.-4. Members of the legislature are elected yearly on the second
Tuesday of October.
15.-3d. The powers of the respective houses are as follows:
16.-1. Each house shall direct writs of election for supplying
vacancies, occasioned by death, resignation, or:otherwise; but if vacancies
occur during the recess of the legislature, the writs may be issued by the
governor, under such regulations as may be prescribed by law.
17.-2. Each house shall be the judge of the elections, returns, and
qualifications of its own members, and a majority of each shall constitute a
quorum to do business; but a smaller number may adjourn from day to day, and
may be. authorized to compel the attendance of absent members, in such
manner and under such penalties as each house may provide.
18.-3. Each house shall choose its own officers, determine the rules
of its proceedings, punish its members for disorderly behaviour, and, with
the concurrence of two-thirds, may expel a member.
19.-4. Each house shall keep a journal of its proceedings, and from
time to time publish the same; and the yeas and nays of the members of
either house, on any question, shall, at the desire of one-fifth of those
present, be entered on the journal.
20.-5. Neither house, during the session of the legislature, shall,
without the consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days, nor to
any other place than that in which the two houses shall be sitting.
21.-6. All bills and joint resolutions shall be read three time; in
each house, before the final passage thereof; and no bill or joint
resolution shall pass, unless there be a majority of all the members of each
house personally present and agreeing thereto: and the yeas and nays of
members voting on such final passage shall be entered on the journal.
22.-7. Members of the senate and general assembly shall receive a
compensation for their services, to be ascertained by law, and paid out of
the treasury of the state; which compensation shall not exceed the sum of
three dollars per day for the period of forty days from the commencement of
the session; and shall not exceed the sum of one dollar and fifty cents per
day for the remainder of the session. When convened in extra session by the
governor, they shall receive such sum as shall be fixed for the first forty
days of the ordinary session. They shall also receive the sum of one dollar
for every ten miles they shall travel, in going to and returning from their
place of meeting, on the most usual route. The president of the senate, and
the speaker of the house of assembly shall, in virtue of their offices,
receive an additional compensation equal to one-third of their per diem
allowance as members.
23.-8. Members of the senate and of the general assembly shall, in all
cases except treason, felony, and breach of the peace, be privileged from
arrest during their attendance at the sitting of their respective houses,
and in going to and returning from the same: and for any speech or debate,
in either house, they shall not be questioned in any other place.
24.-Sec. 2. By the fifth article of the constitution, the executive
power is vested in a governor. It will be convenient to consider, 1. The
qualifications of the governor. 2. By whom he is elected. 3. The duration of
his office. 4. His powers: and 5. His salary.
25.-1. The governor shall be not less than thirty years of age, and
shall have been for twenty years, at least, a citizen of the United States,
and a resident of this state seven years next before his election, unless be
shall have been absent during that time on the public business of the United
States or of this state.
26.-2. He is chosen by the legal voters of the state.
27.-3. The governor holds his office for three years, to commence on
the third Tuesday of January next ensuing the election of governor by the
people, and to end on the Monday preceding the third Tuesday of January,
three years thereafter; and he cannot nominate nor appoint to office during
the last week of his term. He is not reeligible without an intermission of
three years. Art. 5, n. 3.
28.-4. His powers are as follows: He shall be the commander-in-chief
of all the military and naval forces of the state; he shall have power to
convene the legislature, whenever, in his opinion, public necessity requires
it; he shall communicate, by message, to the legislature, at the opening of
each session, and at such other times as he may deem necessary, the
condition of the state, and recommend such measures as he may deem
expedient; he shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed, and
grant, under the great seal of the state, commissions to all such officers
as shall be required to be commissioned.
29. Every bill which shall have passed both houses shall be presented to
the governor: if he approve, he shall sign it, but if not, he shall return
it, with his objections, to the house in which it shall have originated, who
shall enter the objections at large on their journal, and proceed to
reconsider it; if, after such reconsideration, a majority of the whole
number of that house shall agree to pass the bill, it shall be sent,
together with the objections, to the other house, by which it shall likewise
be reconsidered, and if approved of by a majority of the whole number of
that house, it shall become a law; but in neither house shall the vote be
taken on the same day on which the bill shall be returned to it; and in all
such cases the votes of both houses shall be determined by yeas and nays,
and the names of the persons voting for and against the bill shall be
entered on the journal of each house respectively. If any bill shall not be
returned by the governor, within five days (Sunday excepted) after it shall
have been presented to him, the same shall be a law, in like manner as if he
had signed it, unless the legislature, by their adjournment, prevent its
return, in which case it shall not be a law.
30. The governor, or person administering the government, shall have
power to suspend the collection of fines and forfeitures, and to grant
reprieves, to extend until the expiration of a time not exceeding ninety
days after conviction but this power shall not extend to cases of
impeachment.
31. The governor, or person administering the government, the
chancellor, and the six judges of the court of errors and appeals, or a
major part of them, of whom the governor or person administering the
government shall be one, may remit fines and forfeitures, and grant pardons
after conviction, in all cages except impeachment.
32.-5. The governor shall, at stated times, receive for his services a
compensation which shall be neither increased nor diminished during 'the
period for which be shall have been elected.
33.-Sec. 3. The judicial power shall be vested in a court of errors
and appeals in the last resort in all causes, as heretofore; a court for the
trial of impeachments; a court of chancery; a prerogative court; a supreme
court; circuit courts, and such inferior courts as now exist, and as may be
hereafter ordained and established by law; which inferior courts the
legislature may alter or abolish, as the public good shall require.
34.-1. The court of errors and appeals shall consist of the
chancellor, the justices of the supreme court, and six judges, or a major
part of them; which judges are to be appointed for six years.
35.-2. Immediately after the court shall first assemble, the six
judges shall arrange themselves; in such manner that the seat of one of them
shall be vacated every year, in order that thereafter one judge may be
annually appointed.
36.-3. Such of the six judges as shall attend the court shall receive,
respectively, a per diem compensation, to be provided by law.
37.-4. The secretary of state shall be the clerk of this court.
38.-5. When an appeal from an order or decree shall be heard, the
chancellor shall inform the court, in writing, of the reasons for his order
or decree but he shall not sit as a member, or have a voice in the hearing
or final sentence.
39.-6. When a writ of error shall be brought, no justice who has given
a judicial opinion in the cause, in favor of or against any error complained
of, shall sit as a member, or have a voice on the hearing, or for its
affirmance or reversal; but the reasons for such opinion shall be assigned
to the court in writing.
40.-1. The house of assembly shall have the sole power of impeaching,
by a vote of a majority of all the members; and all impeachments shall be
tried by the senate: the members, when sitting for that purpose, to be on
oath or affirmation "truly and impartially to try and determine the charge
in question according to evidence:" and no person shall be convicted without
the concurrence of two-thirds of all the members of the senate.
41.-2. Any individual officer impeached shall be suspended from
exercising his office until his acquittal.
42.-3. Judgment, in cases of impeachment, shall not extend farther
than. to removal from, office and to disqualification to hold and enjoy any
office of honor, profit, or trust under this state; but the party convicted
shall nevertheless be liable to indictment, trial, and punishment, according
to law.
43.-4. The secretary of state shall be the clerk of this court.
44.-1. The court of chancery shall consist of a chancellor.
45.-2. The chancellor shall be the ordinary, or surrogate-general, and
judge of the prerogative court.
46.-3. All persons aggrieved by any order, sentence, or decree of the
orphans' court may appeal from the same, or from any part thereof, to the
prerogative court; but such order, sentence, or decree shall not be removed
into the supreme court, or circuit court if the subject matter thereof be
within the jurisdiction of the orphans' court.
47.-4. The secretary of state shall be the register of the prerogative
court, and shall perform the duties required of him by law in that respect.
48.-1. The supreme court shall consist of a chief justice and four
associate justices. The number of associate justices may be increased or
decreased by law, but shall never be less than two.
49.-2. The circuit courts shall be held in every county of this state,
by one or more of the justices of the supreme court, or a judge appointed
for that purpose; and shall in all cases within the county, except in those
of a criminal nature, have common law jurisdiction concurrent with the
supreme court; and any final judgment of a circuit court may be docketed in
the supreme court, and shall operate as a judgment obtained in the supreme
court, from the time of such docketing.
50.-3. Final judgments in any circuit court may be brought by writ of
error into the supreme court, or directly into the court of errors and
appeals.
51.-1. There shall be no more than five judges of the inferior court
of common pleas in each of the counties in this state after the terms of the
judges of said court now in office shall terminate. One judge for each
county shall be appointed every year, and no more, except to fill vacancies,
which shall be for the unexpired term only.
52.-2. The commissions for the first appointments of judges of said
court shall bear date and take effect on the first day of April next; and an
subsequent commissions for judges of said court shall bear date and take
effect on the first day of April in every successive year, except
commissions to fill vacancies, which shall hear date and take effect when
issued.
53.-1. There may be elected under this constitution two, and not more
than five, justices of the peace in each of the townships of the several
counties of this state, and in each of the wards, in cities that may vote in
wards. When a township or ward contains two thousand inhabitants or less, it
may have two justices; when it contains more than two thousand inhabitants,
and not more than four thousand, it may have four justices; and when it
contains more than four thousand inhabitants, it may have, five justices;
provided, that whenever any township, not voting in wards, contains more
than seven thousand inhabitants, such township) may have an additional
justice for each additional three thousand inhabitants above four thousand.
54.-2. The population of the townships in the several counties of the
state and of the several wards shall be ascertained by the lost preceding
census of the United States, until the legislature shall provide by law some
other mode of ascertaining it.