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New Jersey Law

by Paul Axel-Lute
last revised August 19th, 2008

Constitution
Statutes, Bills, & Legislative History
Court Rules & other Judiciary Materials
Court Decisions & Proceedings
Ethics Codes & Opinions
Executive Orders & Circulars
Regulations
Administrative Decisions
Attorney General's Guidelines, Directives & Opinions
Municipal & County Ordinances
Interstate Agencies of which N.J. is a member
Legal newspapers
Law-Related Organizations
Topical sites
Other Sites
Publications for the Layperson on New Jersey Law

N.J. Constitution

New Jersey Legislature This site includes the current Constitution.
Selected New Jersey and American Historic Documents (at the State Library): Includes constitutional documents from the proprietary period and the Constitutions of 1776, 1844, and 1947. See also the New Jersey Charters (in the Avalon Project at Yale).
New Jersey Constitutional Convention Proceedings 1947 (at the State Library)
New Jersey Constitutional Documents Online (at Rutgers-Camden Law Library). Includes proceedings of constitutional conventions of 1776 and 1844; proceedings and report of 1942 joint legislative committee, and other documents. Images from microfilm; browsable but not searchable.

N.J. Statutes, Bills, & Legislative History

New Jersey Legislature This site includes the New Jersey Permanent Statutes Database, the Chapter Laws from 1996 forward, Legislative Bills from 1996 forward, Public Hearings from 1996 forward, and, beginning in 2001, audio and video recordings of some floor and committee proceedings. For enactment information on this site more recent than that in the "Chapter Laws" section, check the recent issues of the "Legislative Digest," looking at the end of each issue under "Bills Signed Into Law Since Last Session." Caution: the Permanent Statutes Database currently includes some expired sections; see the disclaimer on the site.
New Jersey Legislative Counsel Opinions (at Rutgers-Newark Law Library)
Gann Law Books site includes New Jersey Statutes--Full Text, Unannotated, as free content. (Rutgers Law School students & faculty: use this link for access to Gann's annotated versions of Titles 2C, 14A, & 59.)
New Jersey Law Revision Commission Includes Commission reports.
New Jersey Legislative Histories (at the State Library): Legislative history references for Laws of 1998 forward, with links to bill texts, committee statements, and public hearing texts.
Report of the Attorney General's Task Force on Sovereign Immunity (1972) (at the State Library). This is part of the legislative history of Title 59 of the N.J. Statutes.
Report to the Governor on the Subject of Tort Reform (1994) (at the State Library)
New Jersey Session Laws Online (at Rutgers-Camden Law Library). Still in development, this is a browsable but not searchable collection of legislative acts, digitized from microform. As of mid-July 2007, the coverage was 1703-1752 and 1776-1999. In order to retrieve a particular law efficiently, you need to know the year and page number (retrieval by chapter number is not possible). Page images can be printed or downloaded: position cursor near top left of image to make ikons for printing or downloading appear.
New Jersey Statute Compilations (at Rutgers-Newark Law Library): The Revised Statutes of 1877 and the General Statutes of 1895 (including Luce's Tables).
Other sites, some of which include New Jersey legislation.

N.J. Court Rules & other Judiciary Material

NOTE: Besides the specific materials linked below, the Judiciary website includes court directory information and substantial explanatory material on the court system and the judicial process.

Appellate Forms
Board of Bar Examiners site, includes information on admission to the bar in New Jersey; sample bar exam questions and answers; and lists of recent successful candidates for the bar.
Board on Attorney Certification site includes Board's regulations and lists of certified civil, criminal, matrimonial, and workers' compensation attorneys.
Child Support Guidelines
Compilation of Administrative Directives
Gann Law Books site includes the N.J. Court Rules and N.J. Rules of Evidence, unannotated, as free content. (Rutgers Law School students & faculty: use this link for access to Gann's annotated versions of the court rules & evidence rules.)
Guidelines for Captioning Cases
Manual on Style for Judicial Opinions
Model Civil Jury Charges
Model Criminal Jury Charges
Notices to the Bar (1999-- )
Organizational Chart for Pre-1948 Court System
Regulations Governing the Committee on Character (N.J. Board of Bar Examiners)
Rules Governing the Courts of New Jersey (Judiciary site)
Sentencing Guidelines
Standards for Appellate Review
Statewide Violations Bureau Schedule (amounts payable on violations not requiring court appearance)

N.J. Court Decisions & Proceedings

Supreme and Appellate Court Opinions (at Judiciary site): This site gives just the current week's and previous week's released opinions. Includes Appellate Division opinions not approved for publication, as well as those approved.
Opinions of the N.J. Courts (at Rutgers-Camden Law Library): Supreme Court from March 1994 forward, Appellate Division and Tax Court from Sept. 1995 forward. Includes unpublished App. Div. opinions from Sept.20,2005 forward.
New Jersey Lawyer Decisions database. Squibs of the most recent two weeks' worth of decisions are freely browsable, and the squibs and lengthy digests of earlier cases (when complete to be from 1997 forward) can be freely searched. The database includes unpublished opinions. Squibs and digests retrieved by searches can be fully displayed for free. Subscribers can also display and download the full opinions.
Supreme and Appellate Court Opinions Expected for Release This page, also at the Judiciary site, lists Supreme Court and Appellate Division opinions scheduled for release the next day--including Appellate Division opinions not approved for publication. At the bottom of the page are links to monthly cumulations of these lists, from January 2004 forward.
Trial Court Decisions (These are decisions of the Law Division and Chancery Division of the Superior Court of New Jersey, on civil matters, not approved for publication, which are posted at the judge's discretion, for the convenience of attorneys and litigants, for a six-week period only.)
Trial Court Opinions Approved for Publication (at Judiciary site): Gives opinions of the trial divisions of the Superior Court approved for publication during the current week and previous week.
Supreme Court Arguments. Live webcast and thirty-day archive of arguments before the Supreme Court, in streaming video. Also includes the opinions under appeal.
Supreme Court of N.J. Oral Arguments Archive (at Rutgers-Newark Law Library). Archive of arguments older than thirty days, starting January 2005. Also includes the opinions under appeal.
The Calendars and Schedules on the Judiciary website include:
- Supreme Court Agendas which give the legal questions presented by the cases argued in the current court year.
- Appellate Division Calendar (current three weeks)
- Civil Motion Calendar Search, covers motion calendars for the Law Division Civil Part and Special Civil Part and the Chancery Division General Equity Part, for a six-week period from two weeks before the current date to four weeks after the current date.
New Jersey Lawyer: NJL News Online: The free access portion of this site includes a "Full-Text Decisions Index, " which can be used to determine order numbers for full-text copies of decisions from March 1998 forward, including selected unpublished cases that were summarized in New Jersey Lawyer. You need to know party names to start with.
Supreme Court Case Files, 1686-1849 (N.J. Div. of Archives & Records Management): an index to the case files by names, county, case type, and year.
Cases adjudged in the Supreme Court of New-Jersey relative to the manumission of Negroes and others holden in bondage ("Bloomfield's Manumission Cases") (1794) (at the Univ.of Virginia Electronic Text Center)
Federal district court: For links to opinions of the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey, see our U.S. Federal Law page.
Other sites which include New Jersey caselaw.

N.J. Ethics Codes & Ethics Opinions

Attorneys | Judiciary | Executive Branch | Legislative Branch

Attorneys

Rules of Professional Conduct (governing the legal profession):
- Gann Law Books site (registration required) includes the Rules of Professional Conduct (unannotated) as free content.
- Rules of Professional Conduct (Judiciary site)
- Rules of Professional Conduct (N.J. Law Network)
Opinions of the N.J.Supreme Court's Ethics Committees (at Rutgers-Camden Law Library) Opinions of the Advisory Committee on Professional Ethics, the Committee on the Unauthorized Practice of Law, and the Committee on Attorney Advertising.
Decisions of the N.J. Supreme Court Disciplinary Review Board (at Rutgers-Camden Law Library). Disciplinary Review Board decisions from Sept. 1998 forward. Also includes final orders of Supreme Court in disciplinary cases.
The New Jersey Bartender. This site, maintained by Citizens for Justice in New Jersey Inc., provides "a list of New Jersey lawyers who have been formally charged with or sanctioned for ethics violations," from 1995 forward. For a relatively small number of these cases, the site also provides full texts of documents such as complaints and answers.
Setting the Record Straight: Page about dispute over N.J. Committee on Attorney Advertising Opinion 39 regarding "Superlawyers" and "Best Lawyers in America."

Judges & Judiciary Employees

Executive Branch

Code of Conduct for the Governor is Appendix A of Gov. Corzine's Executive Order No.1 (Jan.17,2006).
Report of the Ethics Advisory Panel (May 8, 2007) (finding that no conflict of interest arose in negotiations with Communications Workers of America out of Gov. Corzine's personal relationship with union official, though his conversations with her about the negotiations were inadvisable)
Codes of Ethics For State Agencies
Codes of Ethics for County Agencies
Executive Commission on Ethical Standards, Newsletters (1992--) Include case summaries.
Report of the Special Ethics Counsel to the Governor . . . Ethics Reforms Recommendations for the Executive Branch of New Jersey Government (March 14, 2005). Appendices of this report, starting at page 144 of the PDF, include proposed texts of a Uniform Ethics Code, Plain Language Ethics Guide, and Business Ethics Guide. See also Gov. Codey's Executive Order 36.

Legislative Branch

Legislative Code of Ethics

N.J. Executive Orders & Circular Letters

N.J.Governors' Executive Orders 1941 to Jan.1990 (at Rutgers-Newark Law Library)
Executive Orders from 1990 forward, with selected earlier ones. Note: Arrangement is by administration, latest first, and numerically within each administration. For recent orders not yet included on this page, try the Governor's Press Releases.
A Selection of New Jersey Governors' Executive Orders of Government-Wide Significance, Evidently Still in Force
Circular Letters

N.J. Regulations

New Jersey Administrative Code and Register Page: Freely accessible from this site are: the entire New Jersey Administrative Code (updated quarterly), and the New Jersey Register from July 1995 through the latest issue. Instructions are provided for updating the N.J.A.C. using the N.J.Register.
New Jersey Building Codes: New Jersey editions of the International Building Code and related codes.
N.J. Department of Banking and Insurance, Legislative & Regulatory Affairs. Includes Bulletins and administrative Orders from 2001 forward.
N.J. Department of Community Affairs
- Division of Fire Safety, Bulletins (2000--)
- Local Finance Notices (1998 to date and selected pre-1998)
State Tax News (1994--) (N.J. Division of Taxation) Includes explanatory "Tax Briefs."
Traffic Regulations: Orders of the Commissioner of Transportation
Departmental postings of regulations: A listing formerly included on the present page.
See also Interstate Agencies below.

N.J. Administrative Decisions

N.J. Administrative Reports [first series], 1979-1991 (at Rutgers-Newark Law Library)
N.J.Administrative Law Decisions from Oct.1997 forward (at Rutgers-Camden Law Library)
Board of Medical Examiners, Public Disciplinary Notices (2002--) (click on "Board Activities," and then on "Summary of Board Actions")
Council on Affordable Housing, opinions and other documents, 1986 forward (at Rutgers-Newark Law Library)
Council on Local Mandates Decisions
Department of Banking & Insurance:
- Acquisition Orders (2006--)
- Depository & Licensee Enforcement Activity (abstracts of orders, 2006--)
- Insurance Enforcement Activity (abstracts of orders, 2004--)
- Selected Arbitration Decisions under Program for Independent Claims Payment Arbitration (PICPA) (2008--)
Department of Community Affairs, Division of Codes & Standards, Formal Technical Opinions
Division on Civil Rights, Director's Orders (2002--)
Election Law Enforcement Commission, Advisory Opinions (1998--) and Final Decisions (1999--)
Government Records Council Decisions and Advisory Opinions
Merit Systems Board:
- Search the Notable Decisions: Two subject-arranged digests of selected decisions, with links to the full texts; first covers 2004 forward; other, labeled "additional decisions," has earlier decisions, and cites of court cases.
- Notable Decisions in chronological order, January 2004--
- Merit System Reporter (1997-2004): a twice-yearly digest of the notable decisions.
Public Employment Relations Commission: Reference page, includes PERC Decisions (1969--). Also on the PERC web site, grouped under "Other Agency Decisions," are:
- Appeals Board decisions (ABD) from 1984 forward;
- Director Decisions from 1981 forward (designated either DR for Director of Representation or DUP for Director of Unfair Practices);
- Executive Director decisions (ED) from 1970 to 1976;
- Hearing Examiner (HE) and Hearing Officer (HO) decisions from 1976 forward;
- Interim Relief (IR) decisions from 1981 forward;
- Litigation Alternative Program decisions (LD) from 1985 forward; and
- Payroll Deduction Determinations (PDD) from 2003 forward.
Site also has Synopses of Recent Decisions (1997--)
School Law Decisions (1997--)
Workers Compensation Decisions (1999--) Includes court decisions and Workers Compensation Division Reserved Decisions.

N.J. Attorney General's Guidelines, Directives, & Opinions

Guidelines, Directives,Standards etc. (Dep't of Law & Public Safety, Div.of Criminal Justice)
Attorney General Guidelines
Formal Opinions (1949 to date) (on Office of the Attorney General web site): Each bound volume of opinions from 1949-50 through 1978-84 is given here as a single PDF; these volumes also include Memorandum Opinions issued from 1954 through 1966. Opinions from 1985 forward are given as separate documents.
Attorney General Opinions (1949-1998) (at Rutgers-Newark Law Library)
Attorney General's Opinions on Local Government (Nov.1997--) (at Dep't of Community Affairs, Div. Of Local Gov't Services)

N.J. Municipal & County Ordinances

Electronic Ordinance Library (N.J. State League of Municipalities): sample ordinances arranged by topic.

Local Right-to-Farm Ordinances (collected by State Agriculture Development Committee)

Pay-to-Play Ordinances (collected by N.J. Secretary of State).

General Code Publishers (codes of about 210 New Jersey municipalities). Note: General Code also publishes a collection of N.J. municipal codes on CD-ROM, that includes some codes not found on the web; Rutgers-Newark Law School faculty and students can access those codes here.

Coded Systems Corporation (codes of about 60 New Jersey municipalities, including Newark) (Note: most require Internet Explorer.)

Other municipal codes or ordinance compilations:

Belleville (slow link to Coded Systems)
Berkeley Heights (LexisNexis)
Burlington (City) (whole code is single PDF)
Cape May Point (as of June 30,2003) (PDF)
East Greenwich (LexisNexis)
Edison
Glen Ridge(LexisNexis)
Hamilton Twp. Code of Ordinances and Land Development Code (Municipal Code Corp.)
Harvey Cedars
Jersey City (LexisNexis)
Lincoln Park
New Brunswick (LexisNexis)
Newton (whole code is single PDF)
Pequannock Twp. (whole code is single PDF)
Randolph Twp. Code of Ordinances and Land Development Code (Municipal Code Corp.)
Sayreville (LexisNexis)
Sea Girt (Land Use Volume) (Coded Systems, not listed on their site)
Seaside Park
South Brunswick (Municipal Code Corp.)
Voorhees (American Legal Publishing Corp.)
Waldwick
Wharton

County and municipal web sites (N.J.State government web page) and New Jersey Municipal web Sites (City Connections) : check municipality's website if code not listed above or on General Code or Coded Systems sites; if found, please let us know for addition to our list.

Interstate Agencies of which New Jersey is a member

Atlantic Interstate Low-Level Radioactive Waste Management Compact Commission
Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission. Publications page includes compact and regulations.
Delaware River and Bay Authority. The About-the-DRBA page includes bylaws and resolutions.
Delaware River Basin Commission. Site includes Regulations page with 1961 compact, 1954 U.S. Supreme Court decree, Rules of Practice & Procedure, Comprehensive Plan, Water Code, Flood Plain Regulations, and Water Quality Regulations.
Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission
Delaware River Port Authority of Pennsylvania and New Jersey
Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission
Driver License Compact Commission Site includes Administrative Procedures Manual, and information on the Nonresident Violator Compact and the combined Driver License Agreement.
Interstate Environmental Commission Reports page includes Organization & Regulations.
Interstate Industrialized Buildings Commission. The Forms & Regulations page includes Uniform Administrative Procedures, Model Rules & Regulations, Formal Interpretations, and Formal Technical Opinions.
Interstate Pest Control Compact. Includes Insurance Fund bylaws and articles of association.
Mid-Atlantic Fisheries Management Council. See Publications page for regulations.
National Emergency Management Association
Palisades Interstate Park Commission. Site includes Regulations page.
Port Authority of New York and New Jersey

Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor

N.J. Legal Newspapers

New Jersey Law Journal : searchable database of articles, 2000 to date (anyone can search and view citations; only subscribers can view full text).
New Jersey Lawyer Includes searchable database of articles, 2007 to date.

N.J. Law-Related Organizations

N.J. Topical Legal Sites

See our Topical Legal Sites page under these topics:

Other N.J. Legal Sites

Free sites

Changes and Additions to the New Jersey Lawyers Diary and Manual Since Publication
lexisONE (registration required): Includes New Jersey caselaw from the last five years, searchable with Lexis connectors and segment- restrictions, and retrievable in full text at no charge.
LSNJ LAW: You and the Law in New Jersey
New Jersey Legal Research Handbook 4th Edition Supplement by Paul Axel-Lute
New Jersey Legal Resources (at N.J.State Library)
N.J. Law Network
New Jersey Law 1790s-1920s (Prof. Paul Clemens, History Dep't, Rutgers Univ.), a collection of statutes and cases on abortion, divorce law, water rights & other economic disputes, criminal responsibility, and slavery.
Rutgers Univ. Law School, Newark
------Law Library
Rutgers Univ. Law School, Camden
------Law Library
Seton Hall Univ. Law School
------Rodino Law Library

Fee-based services

Gann Law Books: Online New Jersey Legal Research Free content includes unannotated N.J. statutes & court rules; premium content includes Gann treatises on New Jersey legal topics and annotated versions of the court rules and Titles 2C, 14A, & 59 of the statutes. (Rutgers Law School students & faculty: use this link for access to Gann premium content.)
Lexis-Nexis Includes N.J. statutes, court rules, regulations, caselaw from 1789 forward, administrative decisions, law journals and legal newspapers.
Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe, Basic Legal Research (This service is available to all Rutgers users through a subscription by the Rutgers Univ. Libraries.) Includes New Jersey statutes & court rules, New Jersey caselaw from 1789 forward, law journals & legal newspapers.
LoisLaw Includes N.J. statutes, court rules, regulations, caselaw from 1924 forward.
National Law Library Includes N.J. statutes, court rules, caselaw from 1950 forward.
QuickLaw America Includes N.J. statutes, regulations, court rules, caselaw: high court decisions 1930 forward, Superior Court 1948 forward.
VersusLaw Includes N.J. caselaw from 1930 forward.
Westlaw Includes N.J. statutes, court rules, regulations, caselaw from 1789 forward, administrative decisions, law journals and legal newspapers.

Publications for the Layperson on New Jersey Law

You and the Law in New Jersey: A Resource Guide, by Melville D. Miller, Jr., Leighton A. Holness, and the Staff of Legal Services of New Jersey. Rutgers University Press, 1998, ISBN 0-8135-2532-2, paper, $19.00
Elder Law in New Jersey: Finding Solutions for Legal Problems, by Alice K. Dueker. Rutgers University Press, 2000, ISBN 0-8135-2736-8, paper, $18.00.
Consumer's Guide to the New Jersey Lemon Law (from N.J. Division of Consumer Affairs)
Legal Services of New Jersey, Self-Help Publications. Publications viewable at this site include:
- Clearing Your Record, a guide to expungement of arrest or conviction records (note: web edition does not include forms).
- Know Your Welfare Rights (five titles, each available in either English or Spanish)
- Looking Out for Your Legal Rights (monthly newsletter)
- Tenants' Rights in New Jersey
- Termination of Parental Rights: A Handbook for Parents
Also on the site are prices and order information for print versions.
New Jersey Division of Civil Rights, Fact Sheets: Eight fact sheets on various kinds of discrimination, designed for downloading and reproduction.
New Jersey State Bar Foundation Publications alphabetical list and order form includes links to online versions; the titles that can be viewed at or downloaded from this site include:
- AIDS and the Law in New Jersey: A Practical Guide (1996)
- Consumer's Guide to New Jersey Law (2000)
- Disability Law: A Legal Primer (4th ed., 1999)
- Law Points for Senior Citizens (1996)
- Legal Consequences of Substance Abuse
- The Right to Special Education in New Jersey: A Guide for Advocates (Education Law Center, 2002)
- Students Rights Handbook (ACLU-NJ)
- You Have the Right! Your Rights as a Young Person in New Jersey (Association for Children of New Jersey, 2001)
New Jersey Taxpayer's Bill of Rights (from Div. of Taxation)
Women's Guide to Rights & Resources in New Jersey (from League of Women Voters)