Subtitle: A Reference Guide - With a new Preface
Author: Robert F. Williams
Subject: New Jersey Studies/Law
Paperback ISBN 0-8135-2499-7
Pages: 200 pp.
Description: This comprehensive reference guide provides an in-depth study of New Jersey's constitution.

"Robert Williams" scholarly tracing of constitutional development in New Jersey is an important and refreshing discussion of the events that led from our first constitution in 1776 to the present day. . . . His constitutional commentary, which examines the interpretation of each constitutional provision in the period since 1947, [is] essential reading for all who seek to understand New Jersey's constitution."- Richard J. Hughes, from the Foreword

The year 1997 marks the fiftieth anniversary of New Jersey's well-regarded state constitution. State constitutions, although the highest source of law within a state, are not well understood by citizens, government officials, historians, political scientists, lawyers, or even judges.

This book is the first single volume to combine a detailed review of New Jersey's constitutional history and analysis of each section of the current constitution. It is the standard work on New Jersey constitutional development and law. Divided into two parts, the book first covers the historical development of the constitutions of 1776, 1844, the Constitutional Commission of 1873, and the current constitution written in 1947. It then traces the origins and major judicial interpretations of each section of the present-day constitution. It concludes with an exhaustive bibliographical essay which organizes the most complete listing of primary and secondary sources to date.

Originally published in 1990 as part of a fifty-state series, The New Jersey State Constitution has a new preface, updating developments to 1997, for this paperback edition.

Robert F. Williams is Distinguished Professor of Law at Rutgers University, Camden.