New Jersey, ordinances, statutes, and codes are primarily designed to govern municipal and state-level government operations and regulation.

New Jersey, ordinances, statutes, and codes are primarily designed to govern municipal and state-level government operations and regulations

Yes, in New Jersey, ordinances, statutes, and codes are primarily designed to govern municipal and state-level government operations and regulations. Ordinances are local laws enacted by municipal governing bodies, while statutes are laws passed by the state legislature, and codes are compilations of these laws, often organized by subject. 

Here's a more detailed explanation:

• Ordinances:

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  Local governments like cities and towns use ordinances to create and enforce rules specific to their jurisdiction, such as zoning regulations or traffic laws. 
• Statutes:

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  State statutes are laws passed by the New Jersey legislature (General Assembly and Senate) and apply statewide, covering areas like criminal law, public safety, and education. 
• Codes:

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  Codes are compilations of laws, both state and local, that are organized and updated for easier reference and enforcement by government agencies. 

For example, a local ordinance might regulate noise levels in residential areas, while a state statute might define the penalties for speeding. The New Jersey Code of Criminal Justice, for instance, is a compilation of state statutes related to criminal offenses and procedures. 

In summary, ordinances, statutes, and codes form the legal framework for government action in New Jersey, ensuring order and regulation within the state and its municipalities. 

Yes, it's generally understood in New Jersey that ordinances, rules, statutes, and codes are all part of the legal framework that governs the state and its municipalities. These different types of laws work together to provide a structure for how the government operates and how citizens are governed. 

Here's a more detailed breakdown:

• Statutes:

  These are laws passed by the New Jersey Legislature (the state government) and are compiled in the New Jersey Statutes Annotated. 
• Ordinances:

  These are local laws passed by municipalities (cities, towns, etc.) to address specific issues within their boundaries. Municipalities can only enact ordinances on matters allowed by state law. 
• Rules:

  These are regulations created by state agencies to implement and interpret statutes. They are compiled in the New Jersey Administrative Code. 
• Codes:

  This term can refer to a variety of things, including the New Jersey Administrative Code, local zoning codes, or other sets of regulations. 

In essence, these different types of laws work together to create a comprehensive legal system for New Jersey. The New Jersey State Constitution outlines the powers of the state and local governments, and statutes and ordinances provide the specific rules and regulations for how those powers are exercised. 

The Optional Municipal Charter Law or Faulkner Act (N.J.S.A 40:69A-1, et seq.) provides New Jersey municipalities with a variety of models of local government. This legislation is called the Faulkner Act in honor of the late Bayard H.

The Walsh Act in New Jersey, enacted in 1911, permits municipalities to adopt a non-partisan commission form of government. This act provides for a commission composed of either three or five members, each serving four-year terms. The commissioners also act as department heads, with one commissioner elected as mayor who presides over the commission. 

The Faulkner Act was created to provide municipalities with greater flexibility than provided in New Jersey's traditional forms of government (city, township, borough, town and village) and to expand on the reforms provided in the Walsh Act and the 1923 Municipal Manager Law.

As originally enacted in 1950, the Faulkner Act provided for three forms of government: mayor–council, council–manager, and small municipality. Within each form, letter codes designated predefined aspects of each form and its individual arrangement of options, such as partisan or nonpartisan elections, concurrent or staggered terms, all at large or a combination of ward and at large seats.

In 1981, the Faulkner Act was significantly amended. The letter codes were eliminated, and the number of varieties within each plan was greatly increased. The council–manager plan was amended to include the option of having a mayor chosen by the electorate. A new form, mayor–council–administrator, was added. Municipalities were also given greater flexibility to amend their Faulkner Act charter without having to place the entire charter on the ballot.

Forms of government

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There are four forms available to municipalities through the Faulkner Act:

Mayor–council

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The mayor–council form features a mayor with strong powers and a city council with five to nine members. Municipalities under this plan establish three to ten executive departments, headed by a director appointed by the mayor with the consent of the council.

This form of government provides for election of a mayor and five, seven, or nine council members. All council members may be elected at large, or some may be elected by wards; they may be partisan or nonpartisan, and serve four-year concurrent or staggered terms. There may be up to ten administrative departments.^[3] Mayors in this system are vested with broad executive power.

The following municipalities have adopted mayor–council system under the Faulkner Act:

40:49-4. Revision and codification of ordinances

40:49-4. The governing body may provide, from time to time, for the revision and codification of its ordinances. Where there are two or more bodies in any municipality having power to pass ordinances, the body having charge of the finances may provide for the revision and codification of all the ordinances of the municipality.

The work of revision and codification shall be done under the direction of the municipal counsel or attorney or some other counsellor-at-law employed by the governing body, which shall have power to provide adequate compensation therefor. Nothing herein shall prevent the governing body from providing that the work of revision and codification be done, under the direction of the municipal counsel or attorney, by any person, partnership or corporation engaged in the business of codifying and revising municipal ordinances. In case the work is done by the counsel or attorney of the municipality, the governing body of the municipality may compensate the counsel or attorney for such work in addition to any salary paid. Such revision and codification of the ordinances when completed shall be submitted to each municipal body having power to pass ordinances. Each such body shall consider the same and make such changes in such revision and codification of its own ordinances, as it shall deem proper, and may then accept and adopt the same.

All the provisions of this chapter relating to the adoption, approval and advertising of ordinances, shall apply to the ordinance adopting such compilation and revision, but it shall not be necessary to publish said revised and compiled ordinances prior to or after their adoption as herein provided, or to set forth the same at length in the ordinance by which they are adopted: provided, that such compilation and revision of ordinances is so described in said adopting ordinance as clearly to identify it and the effect of proposed changes be fully explained, and it is stated in said adopting ordinance that a copy of such compilation and revision has been filed in the office of the municipal clerk, there to remain for the use and examination of the public until final action is taken on said adopting ordinance and thereafter while the same shall be in effect, if such ordinance shall be adopted; and provided, that said copy of said compilation and revision of ordinances shall be and remain on file accordingly.

Such ordinances, when so revised and codified and finally adopted, shall be reported by the person in charge of the revision to the body in charge of the finances, which shall order the same, or so much thereof as are of a general nature to be published in book form, and when so published and certified to by the seal of the municipality, shall be received in all courts of this State as evidence of the ordinances contained in such compilation and revision as fully as if the original ordinances were produced. Printed copies of such ordinances as so revised and codified shall be made available to citizens.

Nothing herein shall operate to repeal any ordinances not included in such revision and codification, except by necessary implication, or those expressly repealed. The governing body may provide for the printing and distribution or sale of its ordinances in book form.

There may be included in any printed book of ordinances the charter of the municipality or such of the general laws of the State relating to the municipality as the governing body may direct to be included therein.

Amended 1950,c.232; 1991,c.362,s.1.

2024 New Jersey Revised Statutes
Title 40 - Municipalities and Counties
Section 40:69A-10 - Report of charter commission; copies

Universal Citation:

NJ Rev Stat § 40:69A-10 (2024)

Learn moreThis media-neutral citation is based on the American Association of Law Libraries Universal Citation Guide and is not necessarily the official citation.

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40:69A-10. Report of charter commission; copies

The charter commission shall report its findings and recommendations to the citizens of the municipality in accordance with section 1-7 within 9 calendar months from the date of its election. For this purpose it shall file with the municipal clerk an original signed copy of any final report containing said findings and recommendations made by any member of the commission. It shall also deliver to the municipal clerk sufficient copies of any such report to permit distribution to any interested citizen. The municipal clerk shall deliver a copy of any such report to each member of the governing body. If the charter commission, or any member or members thereof shall recommend the adoption of any of the optional plans of government as authorized in section 1-12(a) or 1-13, such report shall contain the complete plan as recommended.

L.1950, c. 210, p. 463, s. 1-10. Amended by L.1953, c. 254, p. 1742, s. 2; L.1960, c. 88, p. 571, s. 1, eff. July 5, 1960.

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