xt7r7s7htd2v https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dipstest/xt7r7s7htd2v/data/mets.xml New Jersey United States Works Progress Administration 1937 Other contributors include: Robert C. Lowe (Robert Chapin) and Helen R. Sherfey under the supervision of A. Ross Eckler; 11 pages, 27 cm; This bulletin is one of a series presenting state constitutional provisions affecting public welfare; Includes bibliographical references; UK holds archival copy for ASERL Collaborative Federal Depository Program libraries; Call number Y 3.W 89/2:36/N 42j books English Washington D.C.: Works Progress Administration Contact the Special Collections Research Center for information regarding rights and use of this collection. Analysis of Constitutional Provisions Affecting Public Welfare in the State of New Jersey text Analysis of Constitutional Provisions Affecting Public Welfare in the State of New Jersey 1937 1937 2015 true xt7r7s7htd2v section xt7r7s7htd2v • ` I "`
I
O
I WORKS PROGRESS ADMINISTRATION
• HARRY L. Hovxnus, ADMINISTRATOR
•
I Connrnsron GILL HOWARD B. mens, Dmecron
• ASSISTANT ADMINISTRATOR DIVISION OF SOCIAL RESEARCH
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ANALYSIS OF CONSTITUTIONAL PROVISIONS
° AFFECTING PUBLICWELFARE IN THE STATE OF
NEW JERSEY
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' JANUARY 1, 1957
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PnsrAne¤ av
Rcssnr C. Lowe Ann HeLsn R. SuanFev
LEGAL RessAncn Sscrson
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UNDER THE SUPERVISION OF
A. Ross ECKLER, COORDINATOR OF SPECIAL INOUIRIES
~ Duvassou or Soc•AL Rcsenncn
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I Preface
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‘ This bulletin is one of a series presenting
State constitutional provisions affecting public wel-
’ fare, prepared to supplement the State by State di-
gests of public welfare laws so as to provide 1n ab-
stract form the basis for the public welfare services
V of the several States.
The provisions quoted are those concerned
‘ • directly with public welfare administration and such
others as may substantially affect a public welfare
program, even though only indirectly related. It
would be impossible to consider within the limits of
» this study every remotely connected constitutional
provision. The indirectly related provisions in-
, eluded, therefore, have been restricted to those con-
‘ cernlng finance, legislation, and the methods of con-
, stitutional amendment.
O An attempt has been made, by a careful se-
lection of the most recent cases decided by the high-
est courts of the States, to indicate wherever possi-
• ble how these provisions have been construed. These
. cases are included in footnotes appended to the con-
, etltutional provisions shown.
4 It is hoped that these abstracts will be
useful to those interested in public welfare ques-
* tions in indicating how State and local public wel-
fare administration may be affected by constitutional
powers and limitations.
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New Jerseg
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V • TABLE OF CONTHTS
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Incidence of Responsibility for lelfare Prczfqm I
• Financial Powers and Limitations
. Taxation and Assessments l
· Exemptions 5
I Borrowing and Use of Credit 4
Other Income 6
• Appropriations and Expenditures 7
Provisions Affecting Legislation 7
Q Constitutional Amendment or Revision 10
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 A New Jersey l,
· ANALYSIS OF CONSTITUTIONAL PROVISIONS AFFECTING
• PUBLIC WELFARE IN NEW JERSEY 1/
I. Incidence of Responsibility for Welfare Program
i No provision. 2/
) • II. Financial Powers and Limitations
• A. Taxation and Assessments gf
I (1) state
) Property shall be assessed for taxes under general
 
* 1. Constitution of 1875 with revisions of 1897 and subsequent amend-
ments to November 15, 1936.
2. 'The police power extends to all the great public needs . . . V
Changing conditions necessarily impose a greater demand upon this
reserve power for such reasonable supervision and regulation as may
be essential for the common good and welfare . . . generally it may
• be exerted whenever necessary for the preservation of the public
health, morals, comfort, order, and safety.” State ex rel. State
A Board of Milk Control vs. Newark Milk Company, 118 N. J. Eq. 504,
' 179 Atl. 116 (1955).
3. The Legislature may provide for the appointment of officers to
assess and collect taxes, but the essential power of taxation,
• which is the power to levy a tax, is incapable of being delegated
by the Legislature; however, on the principle that for local pur-
poses the local authorities are the representatives of the people,
( the Legislature may confer upon the minor political subdivisions
* of the State power to impose and levy taxes and assessments to pro-
T vide revenue for the payment of local expenses, debts, and liabil-
ities. Inhabitants of Township of Bernards vs. Allen, 61 N. J. Law
° 228, 39 Atl. 716 (1898).
, Where an act providing that if the local boards of towns and
· municipalities neglected to levy taxes for specified purposes of
, local government, to wit, schools, fire department, public health,
support of poor, etc., or if there appeared a vacancy in the local A
l boards, the Governor should appoint three resident freeholders to
’ assess and leyy taxes as they deemed ezpedient within a certain
| maximum rate, the act was held unconstitutional as an unlawful
delegation of the legislative power of taxation to ministerial
officers of another branch of the government. The court stated
that only the Legislature itself or the local boards were competent
to determine whether taxes should be levied and at what rate and
• upon what property. Inhabitants of Township of Bernards vs. Allen,
61 N. J. Law 228, 39 Atl. 716 (1898).
See further Van Cleve et al., vs. Passaic Valley Sewerage
Commissioners, 71 N. J. Law 574, 6O Atl. 214 (1905).
•

 ' •
2. New Jersey
II. Financial Powers and Limitations (Cont'd) ·
A. Taxation and Assessments (Cont'd) •
(1) Stats (Cont'd)
laws, and by uniform rules 4/, according to its true value. 5/
4. The phrase "uniform rules" as used in this section does not refer H
to the procedure adopted by the taxing agencies, or to the methods ‘ ’ (
employed in the assessment and collection of taxes; it refers only
to the basic rules for taxation which settle how the public burden
is to be distributed including the selection of subjects for tax- •
ation and the rate by which taxes are to be laid. Central Railroad .
Company of N. J. vs. State Board of Assessors, 75 N. J. Law 120,
67 Atl. 672 (1907). —
5. Constitution, Art. IV, Sec. 7, Par. 12.
”The Legislature may create special taxing districts, defining
their limits in its discretion, or designate certain occupations, •
trades or employments as special subjects for taxation; or discrimi-
nate between different kinds of property in the rate of taxation;
or apportion the tax among the classes of persons or property
made liable to taxation, in such manner as may seem fit . . . But
when the taxing district has been defined, and the classes of persons .
or kinds of property specially set apart for taxation have been des1g— ·
nated, the tax must be apportioned among those who are to bear the
burden upon the rule of uniformity." State, Trustees of White House
School District vs. Readington Township Committee, 36 N. J'. Law 66 ·
(isvz).
Special assessments imposed upon property on which improvements
are bestowed are not taxes within the restriction of this section,
and therefore are imposed not according to ”value', but by measuring °
the benefit received from the improvement. State (Hsrrman et al.,)
vs. Town of Guttenberg, 62 N. J. Law 605, 43 Atl. 703 (1899),
affirmed, Id., 63 N. J. Law 616, 44 Atl. 758 (1899).
An act exempting from taxation for five years all improv msnte
to realty for dwelling purposes, to be erected between 1920 and 1922 I
was held unconstitutional under this section since the act did not •
classify the property so as to include all within the class - 1.0.,
all improvements used for dwelling purposes — but arbitrarily exem ted
such improvements as were erected during the two years. Such a
classification, based not upon use to which the property was to be
put, but upon construction within a certain time, would also violate
Art. IV, Sec. 7, par. ll ( for provisions of this section, eee page 3, • Q
footnote 6), relating to special acts. Koch vs. Essex County Board E
of Taxation, 97 N. J. Law 61, 116 Atl. 328 (1922). L
See page 3, footnote 8.
There is no restriction in the Constitution upon the power of
the Legislature to impose franchise and license taxes. Standard V
Under-Ground Cable Company vs. Attorney General, 46 N. J. Eq. 270, •
19 Atl. 733 (1890).
Such taxes are taxes upon a privilege, and are not taxes upon
(Footnote forwarded)
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New Jersey 5.
· II. Financial Powers and Limitations (Cont'd)
• A. Taxation and Assessments (Cont'd)
(2) County
No provision. 6/
(5) Other Local Units
•
No provision. 2/
• B. Lxemptions
No provision. 8/
(Footnote #5 - Continued)
property; they are not, therefore, subject to the requirement of
this section that property shall be assessed according to its true
• value. North Jersey Street Railway Company vs. Mayor, etc., 75
N. J. Law 481, 65 Atl. 855 (1906).
A tax levied upon property passing by will is not a property
tax but is a premium upon the right to receive such property, and
is not, therefore, affected by the requirements of this section.
Howell vs. Edwards, 88 N. J. Law 154, 96 Atl. 186 (1915), affirmed
, Id., 89 N. J. Law 715, 99 Atl. 1070 (1916).
6. See page 1, footnote 5 and page 2, footnote 5.
Art. IV, Sec. 7, Par. ll enumerates ten cases in which private,
· local, or special laws may not be passed. Among these are laws
relating to the internal affairs of counties and towns, and the
appointment of local officers or commissions to regulate municipal
affairs. The Legislature is limited to general laws in regard to
• these subjects and to all other subjects which, in its judgment,
may be provided for by general laws.
7. See page 1, footnote 5, and page 2, footnote 5.
A municipal body that seeks to tax its inhabitants must show
power to do so derived from positive statute. While it is not
necessary to have express authority to levy taxes for every
* specific purpose for which they are imposed, still the grant from
the Legislature must be unmistakable. Where the charter of a town
expressly provided that the fund for street improvements should be
raised by the issuance of improvement certificates, and a special
‘ assessment on the property benefited to redeem said certificates
at maturity, it was held that without any more definite grant of
* • authority the town could not levy a ggugrgl tax to pay the
i certificates where the special assessment fund for their
redemption had proved inadequate. State ex rel. Shackelton vs.
Guttenberg Board of Councilman, 59 N. J. Law 660 (1877).
, See footnote 5, above.
8. Exemptions from taxation are always strictly construed; a person
. • claiming im unity for his property must show affirmatively that
(Footnote forwarded)
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* 4. New Jersey
II. Financial Powers and Limitations (Cont'd) ·
( C. Borrowing and Use of Credit •
) (1) State
y (a) The credit of the state shall not be directly or
indirectly loaned in any case. 2/
(b) The legislature shall not, in any manner create ’
any debt or debts, liability or liabilities, of the state, which shall
singly or in the aggregate with any previous debts or liabilities at
any time exceed one hundred thousand dollars, except for purposes of •
war, or to repel invasion, or to suppress insurrection, unless the sam  -
shall be authorized by a law for some single object or work, to be
distinctly specified therein; which law shall provide the ways and
means, exclusive of loans, to pay the interest of such debt or liability
as it falls due, and also to pay and discharge the principal of such
debt or liability within thirty-five years from the time of the con- • *
tracting thereof, and shall be irrepealable until such debt or liability,
and the interest thereon, are fully paid and discharged; and no such law
shall take effect until it shall, at a general election, have been sub-
mitted to the people, and have received the sanction of a majority of
all the votes cast for and against it at such election; and all money to
be raised by the authority of such law shall be applied only to the O
specific object stated therein, and to the payment of the debt thereby
(Footnote #8 — Continued) V
it comes within the statutory exemption. State (Congregation of
Mission of St. Vincent de Paul, etc. ) vs. Brakely, 67 N. J. °
Law 176, so Ati. ses (1901).
Exemptions from taxation of property, real or personal, must
be based upon characteristics possessed by such property itself,
or upon the uses to which it is put, and not upon the personal
status of the owners of such property. Thus an act exempting up
to $500 all personal and real property of active firemen was held •
unconstitutional under Art. IV, Sec. 7, Par. 15, (page l, Sec. II,
par. A, (1)), which by implication requires that classifications
of property for purposes of exemption from taxation must be
accomplished under general laws operating uniformly upon all prop-
ert in the class. Tlppett vs. McGrath, 70 N. I- Law 110, 56
{tl. 134 (1903). • 4
Under an act exempting all buildings used exclusively for w
charitable purposes, it was held that buildings used by a chari- 4
table association for com ercial purposes were not exempt fr m _
taxation even though all the profits derived therefrom were devoted
to charity. State (Sisters of Peac•) vs. Isstervelt, 64 N. J. Law
S10, 45 Atl. 788 (1900). • _
9, Constitution, Art. IV, Sec. 6, Per. 3. '
See page 'L Sec. II, par. E, (1), (a).
•

 • I New Jersey 5_
" · II. Financial Powers and Limitations (Cont'd)
. C. Borrowing and Use of Credit (Cont'd)
‘ (1) State (Cont'd)
, created. This section shall not be construed to refer to any money that
` has been, or may be, deposited with this state by the government of the
_ United States. 10/
. •
( (2) Counties
• No county, city, borough, town, township or village
shall hereafter give any money or property, or loan its money or credit,
to or in aid of any individual, association or corporation, or become
security for or be directly or indirectly the owner of any stock or
bonds of any association or corporation. lg]
• l0. Constitution, Art. IV, Sec. 6, Par. 4.
Under an act of the Legislature authorizing the State Water
Supply Commission, a corporation, to acquire property for the
‘ purpose of conserving the potable waters of the State to the
common use of the inhabitants thereof, and to issue bonds, and pro-
vide for a sinking fund and a mortgage as the Com ission might see
fit to secure the payment of the bonds, said Com ission contracted
( • for the purchase of certain lands for $1,000,000 to be secured by
50 year bonds of the Com ission to that amount and a mortgage on
the lands, and further provided for a sinking fund into which
· should be placed any moneys which from time to time might be appro-
priated by any Legislature toward payment of the principal on said
bonds. This statute and the acts of the Commission thereunder were
• held invalid as in conflict with this section. The court, after
liberally defining the term "debts" as used in this section as
those "payable by legislative appropriation" rejected the con-
tention that the debt obligated only the Commission and not the
State, and concluded that the Commission acted as an agent of the
Legislature in creating the debt, further that the Legislature
• itself was unauthorized to create such a debt except by an act
which act would be subject to a referendum vote of the people.
Wilson vs. State Water Supply Commission et al., S4 N. J. Eq. 150,
95 Ati. vzz (1915).
ll. Constitution, Art. I, Sec. 19.
Resolutions of city commissioners authorizing the expenditure
• of city money to defend proceedings by landlords to dispossess
tenants in cases where ”unscrupulous owners have demanded un-
conscionable" rent, beyond the tenants' ability to pay was held un-
constitutional with reference to this section as an advancement of
public moneys in aid of private litigation. The court held that
the general welfare and good government of the city did not require
and would not tolerate the protection of one class of citizens at
° the expense of another. Stell vs. Mayor and Aldermen of Jersey
' City, 95 N. J. Law 58, lll Atl. 274 (1920).
(Footnote forwarded)
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6. New Jersey
II. Financial Powers and Limitations (Cont•d) . I
C. Borrowing and Use of Credit (Cont'd) •
(5) Other Local Units I
See page 5, PEP- (2)• a
D. Other Income V
Q 1
The fund for the support of free schools, and all money, I
stock and other property, which may hereafter be appropriated for
that purpose, or received into the treasury under the provision of any •
law heretofore passed to augment the said fund, shall be securely in-
vested, and remain a perpetual fund; and the income thereof, except
so much as it may be judged expedient to apply to an increase of the
capital, shall be annually appropriated to the support of public free ’
schools, for the equal benefit of all the people of the state 12/; and
it shall not be competent for the legislature to borrow, appropriate •
or use the said fund, or any part thereof, for any other purpose, I
under any pretense whatever . . . 15/
....................................................................... •
(Footnote #11 - Continued)
A statute providing for a policemen's pension fund main- ·
tained in part by enforced contributions by policemen, and in
part by moneys collected from taxes was held valid with refer-
ence to this section in view of the fact that the moneys paid
out for pensions were a part of the compensation for services °
rendered to the city by the police members, and were induce-
ments to their enlistments. Hayes vs. Mayor and Council of
City of Hoboken, 93 N. J. Law 432, 108 Atl. 868 (1919).
A public library association is a municipal agency serving
a public purpose and therefore does not come within the pro-
hibitions of this section or Art. I, Sec. 20 (page 7, Seo. II, *
par. E, (1), (a)), even though it is constituted a separate
corporate entity. Trustees of Free Public Library of Newark
vs. Civil Service Commission, 83 N. J. Law 196, 85 Atl. 980
(1912).
12. Income arising out of real estate which is a part of the school
fund may not be used to pay taxes to a municipality in which •
such real estate is located. State vs. Mayor etc. of Borough
of Rutherford, 98 N. J. Law 465, 120 Atl. 202 (1923).
15. Constitution, Art. IV, Sec. 7, Par. 6.
•
•

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New Jersey 7,
· II. Financial Powers and Limitations (Cont'd)
· E. Appropriations and Egpenditures
(1) State
(a) No donation of land or appropriation of money
shall be made by the state or any municipal corporation to or for the
· use of any society, association or corporation whatever. léf
(b) No money shall be drawn from the treasury but
for appropriations made by law. _l£>_/
•
(2) Counties
No provision.
(5) Other Local Units
•
See above, par. (a)-
III. Provisions Affecting Legislation
A. Reguiar Sessions of Legislature
• (1) The legislative power shall be vested in a senate
and general assembly. Ly
· (2) Members of the senate and general assembly shall be
elected yearly and every year, on the first Tuesday after the first
Monday in November; and the two houses shall meet separately on the
° ` second Tuesday in January next after the said day of election, at
which time of meeting, the legislative year shall commence; but the
time of holding such election may be altered by the legislature. _y_/
` (3) . . . He (The Governor) 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
recoansnd such measures as he may deem expedient; . . . gf
 
• 14. Constitution, Art. I, Sec. 20.
, See page 5, par. (2), and footnote 11.
, ? 15. Constitution, Art. IV, Sec. 6, Par. 2.
 Q 16. Constitution, Art. IV, Sec. 1, Per. 1.
e l 17. Constitution, Art. IV, Sec. 1, Par. 3.
18. Constitution, Art. V, Sec. 6.
•
•

 8. New Jersey •
III. Provisions Affecting Legislation (Cont•d)  
B. Special Sessions of Legislature ·
. . . He (The Governor) shall have power to convene the
legislature, or the senate alone, whenever in his opinion public
necessity requires it; . . . 12/
C. Powers of Initiative and Referendum
e
See page 4, par. (b).
D. Legislative Enactment •
(1) All bills for raising revenue shall originate in the
house of assembly; but the senate may propose or concur with amendments,
as on other bills. 20/ _
(2) All bills and joint resolutions shall be read three •
times 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 body personally present and agreeing thereto 21/; and
the yeas and nays of the members voting on such final passage—shall be
entered on the journal. 22/ (
19. Constitution, Art. V, Sec. 6. °
20. Constitution, Art. IV, Sec. 6, Par. 1.
Where a revenue bill introduced and passed by the Senate after
the prescribed three readings, was referred to the House Coumittee ·
on Taxation, and that com ittee reported a ”substitute” bill,
substantially identical with the Senate bill, and the ”substitute*
bill was read and passed in both houses as a bill originating in •
the House, the court upheld the act as sufficiently complying with —
this section. In re Ross, 86 N. J. Law 587, 94 Atl. 504 (1914).
21. This provision has been practically construed to require the con-
currence of a majority of the entire membership of each House.
Ross vs. Miller, 115 N. J. Law 61, 178 Atl. 771 (1955).
22. Constitution, Art. IV, Sec. 4, Par. 6. •
The decision in State ex rel. Pangborn vs. Young, 52 N. I.
Law 29 (1866), held that where an act had been duly filed with X
the Secretary of State and sealed with the official seal, the °
judiciary might not call into question the legislative journals
to determine whether or not the constitutional requirements had ‘
been met. This decision, however, in Ex parte Hague, 104 N. J. ·
Eq. 51, 144 Atl. 546 (1929), was held to be limited in its appli- g
cation to public laws, and not applicable to joint resolutions or §
special acts on the theory that the latter are of less solemmity
than public laws. The effect of State ex rel. Pangborn vs. Young
is further minimized by a statute, held constitutional in re *An
Act to Amend an Act", etc., 85 N. J. Law 505, 84 Atl. 706 (1912), •
which provides that whenever the Governor shall have reason to be-
lieve that any law or joint resolution has not been duly passed or `
approved in accordance with the Constitution, he may, in his dis-
(Footnote forwarded) ·
•

 , • New Jersey 9,
. III. Provisions Affecting Legislation (Cont'd)
• D. Legislative Enactment (Cont'd)
(3) To avoid improper influences which may result from
intemmixing in one and the same act such things as have no proper rela-
tion to each other, every law shall embrace but one object, and that
shall be expressed in the title. No law shall be revived or amended
by reference to its title only, but the act revived, or the section or
• sections amended, shall be inserted at length. 2§/ No general law
shall embrace any provision of a private, special or local character.
No act shall be passed which shall provide that any existing law, or
• any part thereof, shall be made or deemed a part of the act, or which
shall enact that any existing law, or any part thereof, shall be
applicable, except by inserting it in such act. 24/
(4) No private, special or local bill shall be passed,
unless public notice of the intention to apply therefor, and of the
O general object thereof, shall have been previously given. 25/ The
legislature, at the next session after the adoption hereof, and from
time to time thereafter, shall prescribe the time and mode of giving
such notice, the evidence thereof, and how such evidence shall be
preserved. géf
(Footnote #22 - Continued) _
cretion, direct the Attorney General within one year from the
· passage of such law or joint resolution, to institute a pro-
ceeding in the Supreme Court to test its validity.
25. An act providing for the regulation of slaughterhouses and fix-
' ing a penalty for violation of the act or for violation of an
earlier act securing the purity of foods and beverages, without
inserting at length the sections of the earlier act thereby
amended, was held invalidated only as to the objectionable part,
since the main object of the act was intelligent and consti-
tutional, standing alone. Board of Health of New Jersey vs.
• Schwarz Brothers Company, 86 N. J. Law 170, 90 Atl. 1061 (1914).
24. Constitution, Art. IV, Sec. 7, Par. 4.
25. The question whether the requisite notice has been given of an
intention to apply for the passage of a local law is a subject
matter for judicial inquiry. State (Inhabitants of Ewing Town-
ship) vs. Inhabitants of City of Trenton, 57 N. J. Law 318, 51
• Atl. 225 (1895).
26. Constitution, Art. IV, Sec. 7, Par. 9.
The Constitution enumerates ten cases in which private,
local, or special laws may not be passed. Among these are laws
relating to local government, granting of privileges and immunities,
management of free public schools, and the laying out of highways.
• The Legislature is limited to general laws in regard to these sub-
jects and all other subjects which, in its judgment, may be provided
for by general laws. Art. IV, Sec. 7, Par. ll.
•

 10. New Jersey • Q
2
· I
III. Provisions Affecting Legislation (Cont'd) ·  
D. Legislative Enactment (Cont'd)
•
(5) 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 . . . 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,. . . 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 27/; . . . 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. 28/ If any bill presented to the governor contain (
several items of appropriations of money, he may object to one or more of .
such items while approving of the other portions of the bill. In such`
case he shall append to the bill, at the time of signing it, a statement
of the items to which he objects, and the appropriation so objected to
shall not take effect. If the legislature be in session he shall trans-
mit to the house in which the bill originated a copy of such statement,
and the items objected to shall be separately reconsidered. If, on re-
consideration, one or more of such items be approved by a majority of U
the members elected to each house, the same shall be a part of the law,
notwithstanding the objections of the governor. All the provisions of
this section in relation to bills not approved by the governor shall ·
apply to cases in which he shall withhold his approval from any item or
items contained in a bill appropriating money. 22/
•
IV. Constitutional Amendment or Revision
A. By Proposal of Legislature or People
Any specific amendment or amendments to the constitution
may be proposed in the senate or general assembly, and if the same shall •
27. This provision has been interpreted to mean that no matter in
which`House the bill originated, the House of origin shall not vote
upon the Governor's veto on the same day on which he returns the
bill to that House. The house to which the bill is referred may
vote upon it the same day on which it is received. In re Session
Laws (1925), C. 184, 98 N. I. Law 586, 121 Atl. 736 (1925). •
28. The meaning of this provision is that gpy adjournment of the house
of origin of a bill, whether temporary or final, for more than five
days after such bill has been presented to the Governor, will pre-
vent the return of the bill and destroy its validity; the purpose
of the framers of the Constitution in inserting this provision was
to prevent the Legislature, by adjourment, from nullifying the •
G0vernor's constitutional right of veto. In re ”An Act to Amend
an Act', etc., 83 N. J. Law 303, 84 Atl. 706 (1912).
29. Constitution, Art. V, Sec. 7.
•

 · New Jersey l1_
· IV. Constitutional Amendment or Revision (Cont'd)
· A. By Proposal of Legislature or People (Cont•d)
be agreed to by a majority of the members elected to each of the two
houses, such proposed amendment or amendments shall be entered on their
journals, with the yeas and nays taken thereon, and referred to the
legislature then next to be chosen, and shall be published for three
months previous to making such choice, in at least one newspaper of
• each county, if any be published therein; and if in the legislature
next chosen, as aforesaid, such proposed amendment or amendments, or
any of them, shall be agreed to by a majority of all the members elected
• to each house, then it shall be the duty of the legislature to submit
such proposed amendment or amendments . . . as have been agreed to as
aforesaid by the two legislatures, to the people, in such manner and
i at such time, at least four months after the adjournment of the legis-
lature, as the legislature shall prescribe 50/; and if the people at
a special election to be held for that purpose only, shall approve and
, ratify such amendment or amendments, or any of them, by a majority of
the electors qualified to vote for members of the legislature voting
thereon 51/, such amendment or amendments so approved and ratified shall
‘ become part of the constitution; provided, that if more than one amend-
‘ ment be submitted, they shall be submitted in such manner and form that
the people may vote for or against each amendment separately and dis-
· tinctly; but no amendment or amendments shall be submitted to the people
by the legislature oftener than once in five years. 52/
· B. By Constitutional Convention
No provision.
•
 
50. In inquiring as to the constitutionality of the adoption of a pro-
posed amendment, the judiciary has authority to go behind the
Governor's proclamation of adoption, and call into question the
action of the State Board of Canvassers, a statutory board set up
° to canvass and estimate the votes given for and against a proposed
amendment. State (Bott) vs. Wurts, 65 N. J. Law 289, 45 Atl. 744
(1899), affirmed, Id., 65 N. J. Law 289, 45 Atl. 881 (1899).
51. This provision has been interpreted to mean a majority of all the
electors voting on each proposed amendment, not a majority of all
the electors qualified to vote for members of the Legislature, nor
° even a majority of all those electors casting ballots for or against
all proposed amendments. State (Bott) vs. Wurts, 65 N. J. Law 289,
45 Atl. 744 (1899), affirmed, Id., 65 N. J. Law 289, 45 Atl. 881
(1899).
52. Constitution, Art. IX.
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