1947 – The Modern Constitution of New Jersey Adopted by Constitutional Convention

Article XI

Schedule 

Section I.

1. This Constitution shall supersede the Constitution of one thousand eight hundred and forty-four as amended.
2. The Legislature shall enact all laws necessary to make this Constitution fully effective.
3. All law, statutory and otherwise, all rules and regulations of administrative bodies and all rules of courts in force at the time this Constitution or any Article thereof takes effect shall remain in full force until they expire or are superseded, altered or repealed by this Constitution or otherwise.
4. Except as otherwise provided by this Constitution, all writs, actions, judgments, decrees, causes of action, prosecutions, contracts, claims and rights of individuals and of bodies corporate, and of the State, and all charters and franchises shall continue unaffected notwithstanding the taking effect of any Article of this Constitution.
5. All indictments found before the taking effect of this Constitution or any Article may be proceeded upon. After the taking effect thereof, indictments for crime and complaints for offenses committed prior thereto may be found, made and proceeded upon in the courts having jurisdiction thereof.

Section II.

1. The first Legislature under this Constitution shall meet on the second Tuesday in January, in the year one thousand nine hundred and forty-eight.
2. Each member of the General Assembly, elected at the election in the year one thousand nine hundred and forty-seven, shall hold office for a term beginning at noon of the second Tuesday in January in the year one thousand nine hundred and forty-eight and ending at noon of the second Tuesday in January in the year one thousand nine hundred and fifty. Each member of the General Assembly elected thereafter shall hold office for the term provided by this Constitution.
3. Each member of the Senate elected in the years one thousand nine hundred and forty-five and one thousand nine hundred and forty-six shall hold office for the term for which he was elected. Each member of the Senate elected in the year one thousand nine hundred and forty-seven shall hold office for a term of four years beginning at noon of the second Tuesday in January following his election. The seats in the Senate which would have been filled in the years hereinafter designated had this Constitution not been adopted shall be filled by election as follows: of those seats which would have been filled by election in the year one thousand nine hundred and forty-eight, three seats, as chosen by the Senate in the year one thousand nine hundred and forty-eight, shall be filled by election in that year for terms of five years, and three, as so chosen, shall be filled by election in that year for terms of three years, and those seats which would have been filled by election in the year one thousand nine hundred and forty-nine shall be filled by election in that year for terms of four years, so that eleven seats in the Senate shall be filled by election in the year one thousand nine hundred and fifty-one and every fourth year thereafter for terms of four years, and the members of the Senate so elected and their successors shall constitute one class to be elected as prescribed in paragraph 2 of Section II of Article IV of this Constitution, and ten seats shall be filled by election in the year one thousand nine hundred and fifty-three and every fourth year thereafter for terms of four years, and the members of the Senate so elected and their successors shall constitute the other class to be elected as prescribed in said paragraph of this Constitution.
4. The provisions of Paragraph 1 of Section V of Article IV of this Constitution shall not prohibit the nomination, election or appointment of any member of the Senate or General Assembly first organized under this Constitution, to any State civil office or position created by this Constitution or created during his first term as such member.

Section III.

1. A Governor shall be elected for a full term at the general election to be held in the year one thousand nine hundred and forty-nine and every fourth year thereafter.
2. The taking effect of this Constitution or any provision thereof shall not of itself affect the tenure, term, status or compensation of any person then holding any public office, position or employment in this State, except as provided in this Constitution. Unless otherwise specifically provided in this Constitution, all constitutional officers in office at the time of its adoption shall continue to exercise the authority of their respective offices during the term for which they shall have been elected or appointed and until the qualification of their successors respectively. Upon the taking effect of this Constitution all officers of the militia shall retain their commissions subject to the provisions of Article V, Section III
3. The Legislature, in compliance with the provisions of this Constitution, shall prior to the first day of July, one thousand nine hundred and forty-nine, and may from time to time thereafter, allocate by law the executive andadministrative offices, departments and instrumentalities of the State government among and within the principal departments. If such allocation shall not have been completed within the time limited, the Governor shall call a special session of the Legislature to which he shall submit a plan or plans for consideration to complete such allocation; and no other matters shall be considered at such session.

Section IV.

1. Subsequent to the adoption of this Constitution the Governor shall nominate and appoint, with the advice and consent of the Senate, a Chief Justice and six Associate Justices of the new Supreme Court from among the persons then being the Chancellor, the Chief Justice and Associate Justices of the old Supreme Court, the Vice Chancellors and Circuit Court Judges. The remaining judicial officers enumerated and such Judges of the Court of Errors and Appeals as have been admitted to the practice of law in this State for at least ten years, and are in office on the adoption of the Constitution, shall constitute the Judges of the Superior Court. The Justices of the new Supreme Court and the Judges of the Superior Court so designated shall hold office each for the period of his term which remains unexpired at the time the Constitution is adopted; and if reappointed he shall hold office during good behavior. No Justice of the new Supreme Court or Judge of the Superior Court shall hold his office after attaining the age of seventy years, except, however, that such Justice or Judge may complete the period of his term which remains unexpired at the time the Constitution is adopted.
2. The Judges of the Courts of Common Pleas shall constitute the Judges of the County Courts, each for the period of his term which remains unexpired at the time the Judicial Article of this Constitution takes effect.
3. The Court of Errors and Appeals, the present Supreme Court, the< Court of Chancery, the Prerogative Court and the Circuit Courts shall be abolished when the Judicial Article of this Constitution takes effect; and all their jurisdiction, functions, powers and duties shall be transferred to and divided between the new Supreme Court and the Superior Court according as jurisdiction is vested in each of them under this Constitution.
4. Except as otherwise provided in this Constitution and until otherwise provided by law, all courts now existing in this State, other than those abolished in paragraph 3 hereof, shall continue as if this Constitution had not been adopted, provided, however, that when the Judicial Article of this Constitution takes effect, the jurisdiction, powers and functions of the Court of Common Pleas, Orphans’ Court, Court of Oyer and Terminer, Court of Quarter Sessions and Court of Special Sessions of each county, the judicial officers, clerks and employees thereof, and the causes pending therein and their files, shall be transferred to the County Court of the county. All statutory provisions relating to the county courts aforementioned of eachcounty and to the Judge or Judges thereof shall apply to the new County Court of the county and the Judge or Judges thereof, unless otherwise provided by law. Until otherwise provided by law and except as aforestated, the judicial officers, surrogates and clerks of all courts now existing, other than those abolished in paragraph 3 hereof, and the employees of said officers, clerks, surrogates and courts shall continue in the exercise of their duties, as if this Constitution had not been adopted.
5. The Supreme Court shall make rules governing the administration and practice and procedure of the County Courts; and the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court shall be the administrative head of these courts with power to assign any Judge thereof of any county to sit temporarily in the Superior Court or to sit temporarily without the county in a County Court.
6. 6. The Advisory Masters appointed to hear matrimonial proceedings and in office on the adoption of this Constitution shall, each for the period of his term which remains unexpired at the time the Constitution is adopted, continue so to do as Advisory Masters to the Chancery Division of the Superior Court, unless otherwise provided by law.
7. All Special Masters in Chancery, Masters in Chancery, Supreme Court Commissioners and Supreme Court Examiners shall, until otherwise provided by rules of the Supreme Court, continue respectively as Special Masters, Masters, Commissioners and Examiners of the Superior Court, with appropriate similar functions and powers as if this Constitution had not been adopted.
8. When the Judicial Article of this Constitution takes effect:
   1. All causes and proceedings of whatever character pending in the Court of Errors and Appeals shall be transferred to the new Supreme Court;
   2. All causes and proceedings of whatever character pending on appeal or writ of error in the present Supreme Court and in the Prerogative Court and all pending causes involving the prerogative writs shall be transferred to the Appellate Division of the Superior Court;
   3. All causes and proceedings of whatever character pending in theSupreme Court other than those stated shall be transferred to the Superior Court;
   4. All causes and proceedings of whatever character pending in the Prerogative Court other than those stated shall be transferred to the Chancery Division of the Superior Court;
   5. All causes and proceedings of whatever character pending in all other courts which are abolished shall be transferred to the SuperiorCourt.

For the purposes of this paragraph, paragraph 4 and paragraph 9, a cause shall be deemed to be pending notwithstanding that an adjudication has been entered therein, provided the time limited for review has not expired or the adjudication reserves to any party the right to apply for further relief.

9. The files of all causes pending in the Court of Errors and Appeals shall be delivered to the Clerk of the new Supreme Court; and the files of all causes pending in the present Supreme Court, the Court of Chancery and the Prerogative Court shall be delivered to the Clerk of the Superior Court. All other files, books, papers, records and documents and all property of the Court of Errors and Appeals, the present Supreme Court, the Prerogative Court, the Chancellor and the Court of Chancery, or in their custody, shall be disposed of as shall be provided by law.
10. Upon the taking effect of the Judicial Article of this Constitution, all the functions, powers and duties conferred by statute, rules or otherwise upon the Chancellor, the Ordinary, and the Justices and Judges of the courts abolished by this Constitution, to the extent that such functions, powers and duties are not inconsistent with this Constitution, shall be transferred to and may be exercised by Judges of the Superior Court until otherwise provided by law or rules of the new Supreme Court; excepting that such statutory powers not related to the administration of justice as are then vested in any such judicial officers shall, after the Judicial Article of this Constitution takes effect and until otherwise provided by law, be transferred to and exercised by the Chief Justice of the new Supreme Court.
11. Upon the taking effect of the Judicial Article of this Constitution, the Clerk of the Supreme Court shall become the Clerk of the new Supreme Court and shall serve as such Clerk until the expiration of the term for which he was appointed as Clerk of the Supreme Court, and all employees of the Supreme Court as previously constituted, of the Clerk thereof and of the Chief Justice and the Justices thereof, of the Circuit Courts and the Judges thereof and of the Court of Errors and Appeals shall be transferred to appropriate similar positions with similar compensation and civil service statusunder the Clerk of the new Supreme Court or the new Supreme Court, or the Clerk of the Superior Court or the Superior Court, which shall be provided by law.
12. Upon the taking effect of the Judicial Article of this Constitution, the Clerk in Chancery shall become the Clerk of the Superior Court and shall serve as such Clerk until the expiration of the term for which he was appointed as Clerk in Chancery, and all employees of the Clerk in Chancery, the Court of Chancery, the Chancellor and the several Vice Chancellors shall be transferred to appropriate similar positions with similar compensation and civil service status under the Clerk of the Superior Court or the Superior Court, which shall be provided by law.
13. Appropriations made by law for judicial expenditures during the fiscal year one thousand nine hundred and forty-eight – one thousand nine hundred and forty-nine may be transferred to similar objects and purposes required by the Judicial Article.
14. The Judicial Article of this Constitution shall take effect on the fifteenth day of September, one thousand nine hundred and forty-eight, except that the Governor, with the advice and consent of the Senate, shall have the power to fill vacancies arising prior thereto in the new Supreme Court and the Superior Court; and except further that any provision of this Constitution which may require any act to be done prior thereto or in preparation therefor shall take effect immediately upon the adoption of this Constitution.

Done in Convention, at Rutgers University, the State University of New Jersey, in New Brunswick, on the tenth day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and forty-seven, and of the independence of the United States of America the one hundred and seventy second.

Robert C. Clothier, President of the Convention

Oliver F. Van Camp, Secretary of the Convention

Delegates To The Convention

Charles K. Barton


Jane Barus

Franklin H. Berry


Thomas J. Brogan


A.J. Cafiero


Percy Camp


Robert Carey


Dominic A. Cavicchia

Alfred C. Clapp


Robert C. Clothier


Marion Constantine


Joseph W. Cowgill


Allan R. Cullimore


Joseph A. Delaney


Amos F. Dixon


Lester A. Drenk

John Drewen


William A. Dwyer


William J. Dwyer


Frank H. Eggers


Sigurd A. Emerson


Frank S. Farley


Milton A. Feller


Leland F. Ferry


Arthur R. Gemberling

Ronald D. Glass


Myra C. Hacker


William L. Hadley


Lewis G. Hansen


Albert H. Holland


Charles P. Hutchinson


Nathan L. Jacobs


Christian J. Jorgensen


Marie H. Katzenbach

Henry T. Kays


Wesley L. Lance


Leon Leonard


Arthur W. Lewis


Milton C. Lightner


Francis V. D. Lloyd


Thorn Lord


Edward A. McGrath


Wayne D. McMurray

Gene W. Miller


Spencer Miller, Jr.


John Milton
John L. Montgomery
J.

Francis Moroney


John L. Morrissey


Francis D. Murphy


Frank J. Murray


George T. Naame

Edward J. O’Mara


William J. Orchard


Lawrence N. Park


Winston Paul


Henry W. Peterson


Pauline H. Peterson


Haydn Proctor


John H. Pursel


H. Rivington Pyne

John J. Rafferty


Oliver Randolph


William T. Read


Olive C. Sanford


Wilbour E. Saunders


John F. Schenk

Frank G. Schlosser


Ralph J. Smalley


George F. Smith

J. Spencer Smith


Frank H. Sommer


Francis A. Stanger, Jr.


Ruth C. Streeter


Clyde W. Struble


Wesley A. Taylor

David Van Alstyne, Jr.


George H. Walton


Elmer H. Wene


Walter G. Winne


David Young, 3rd

Attest:


Alfred Eastlack Driscoll, Governor of New Jersey


J. Lindsay deValliere, The Secretary to the Governor.