Researching
Older New Jersey Laws
Researchers often need to find the text of given
New Jersey statutes from their origins, before
amendments, or at given dates in the past. The
State Library law section is the ideal place
to do such research. We have superseded statute
volumes and pocket parts, all the older New Jersey
statutory compilations, and indexes of old laws,
right back to colonial times. Below is an explanation
of how to use these tools to research old New
Jersey laws.
The basic arrangement of the current New Jersey
statutes, with the addition of new titles and revisions,
originated with the Revised Statutes
of 1937. The chapter law notations
found immediately under statute text in Lexis, Westlaw or New
Jersey Statutes Annotated are to
any enactments or amendments since the 1937 revision,
or to amendments of titles revised since 1937.
These notations lead the researcher to the session
laws that amended or may have originated the statute.
The session laws provide the text to earlier versions
of the statute.
For enactments from 1996 to present, the session
laws can be found online at the New Jersey legislature's
website, www.njleg.state.nj.us .
Session laws from 1992 to present can be found
on Lexis, which is available
at one terminal in the law section. For earlier
dates, session laws scanned from the books are
available at the Rutgers Law Library's website, http://lawlibrary.rutgers.edu/njleg .
Session law volumes are available in the law section.
Another source of earlier versions of New Jersey
statutes since the 1937 revision is our collection
of superseded NJSA volumes
and annual pocket parts. With this material, the
researcher can see how a particular statute read
in a particular year.
If the statutory section was part of the 1937
revision, NJSA provides “historical
notes” under the section's text giving its
history. The “source” note usually
refers to the section where the statute appeared
in the 1937 revision. If the section is in a title
that's been revised since 1937, the “source” note
will be to a session law between 1937 and the date
of the revision. The “prior laws” note
refers to pre-1937 citations.
If the statute originated before 1878, the “source” note
will refer to the Revision of 1877.
The researcher can use the margin notes in that
revision for cites to even earlier laws.
In addition to the Revision of 1877,
pre-1937 New Jersey statutory revisions and compilations
in the library's collection include Paterson
's Laws of 1800, the Revision
of 1847, the General
Statutes of 1895 and the Compiled
Statutes of 1910.
Another useful tool in researching old laws is Hood's
Index of Colonial and State Laws of New Jersey
between the years 1663 and 1903.
The main part of this index covers the period
1776 to 1903, referring the researcher to page
numbers within the annual session law volumes.
Separate indexes for the colonial period refer
the researcher to pages in compilations from
the period: Leaming and Spicer's
Grants and Concessions, and Allinson's
Acts. Both of these compilations
are available at the State Library. |
