Law of New Jersey


The law of New Jersey consists of several levels, including constitutional, statutory, regulatory, case law, and local law.

Constitution

The foremost source of state law is the Constitution of New Jersey. The New Jersey Constitution in turn is subordinate to the Constitution of the United States, which is the supreme law of the land.

Legislation

Pursuant to the state constitution, the New Jersey Legislature has enacted legislation. Its session laws are published in the Acts of the Legislature of the State of New Jersey, commonly known as the Laws of New Jersey. They are in turn codified in the New Jersey Statutes, also referred to as the Revised Statutes. The New Jersey Statutes are published in the official New Jersey Statutes Annotated by West.

Regulations

Pursuant to certain statutes, state agencies have promulgated regulations, also known as administrative law. The New Jersey Register is the official journal of state agency rulemaking containing the full text of agency proposed and adopted rules, notices of public hearings, gubernatorial orders, and agency notices of public interest. The New Jersey Administrative Code is a compilation of all rules adopted by state agencies.
All state rulemaking notices are reviewed and processed by the Division of Administrative Rules within the New Jersey Office of Administrative Law for publication in the New Jersey Register, published twice a month. Following publication of adopted rules in the New Jersey Register, the rules are incorporated into the New Jersey Administrative Code. Both are published by LexisNexis. New Jersey Administrative Code updates are currently issued once a month.

Case law

The legal system of New Jersey is based on the common law. Like all U.S. states except Louisiana, New Jersey has a reception statute providing for the "reception" of English law. All statutes, regulations, and ordinances are subject to judicial review. Pursuant to common law tradition, the courts of New Jersey have developed a large body of case law through the decisions of the New Jersey Supreme Court, Appellate Division of the New Jersey Superior Court, New Jersey Tax Court and trial courts.
The published opinions of New Jersey's courts are contained in three different sets of books. The opinions of the New Jersey Supreme Court are contained in a collection of tan hardcover books called the New Jersey Reports. Significant opinions of the Appellate Division of the Superior Court, and the New Jersey trial courts, are contained in a set of green hardcover books called the New Jersey Superior Court Reports. And the opinions of the Tax Court are contained in blue hardcover books called the New Jersey Tax Court Reports.

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