New Jersey State Constitution
From Freepedia
The Constitution of the State of New Jersey is the highest law of the state.
Excepting the previous Royal Charters for both colonies (East and West Jersey) and the unified colony, there have been 3 constitutions of the state: The original 1776 one, the 1884 one, and the current one from 1947.
Contents |
Original constitution (1776)
The 1st constitution was adopted in 1776 and, amongst other things granted women and blacks who met property requirements the right to vote.
Second constitution (1844)
The later constitution revised the voting requirements to only white males, amongst other things.
Current constitution (1947)
Strangely, various provisions usually kept in other sections or unified in one section are spread throughout. For example, the provision banning ex post facto laws, which whould likely normally be in the enumeration of rights, is put in section VII.
Article I
Article I, as is usual for constitutions, deals with the rights and freedoms inherent people and relevant operation of the government. It also contains a Victims' Bill of Rights.
Article II
Article II sets up the basic rules for elections. Section I involves dates and qualifications, II proportions of the New Jersey Legislature and electoral districts.
Specific provisions
- "No idiot or insane person shall enjoy the right of suffrage." Section I, 6
Article III
The sole content of Article III is the statement to the usual effect of seperation of powers.
Article IIII
Article IIII sets up the New Jersey Legislature with 8 sections:
Section I
Section I gives the names of the legislature and requirements for office.
Section II
Section II defines the number of legislators (40 in the Senate (Paragraph 1), and 80 in the General Assembly (Paragraph 3)) and their apportionment amongst the state.
Section III
Section III creates the Apportionment Commission within the Legislature to modify the apportionment of legislative districts on a rolling basis, following every US Census.
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