page_title: Supreme Court of New Jersey
section_title: Constitutional law
hierarchical_section_title: Supreme Court of New Jersey / Important cases / Constitutional law
caption_attribution_description: English: David Brearly. Signer of the American Declaration of Independence.Deutsch: David Brearly. Unterzeichner der Unabhängigkeitserklärung der USA.
context_page_description: The Supreme Court of New Jersey is the highest court in the U.S. state of New Jersey. In its current form, the Supreme Court of New Jersey is the final judicial authority on all cases in the state court system, including cases challenging the validity of state laws under the state constitution. It has the sole authority to prescribe and amend court rules and regulate the practice of law, and it is the arbiter and overseer of the decennial legislative redistricting. One of its former members, William J. Brennan Jr., became an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.
  It has existed in three different forms under the three different state constitutions since the independence of the state in 1776. As currently constituted, the court replaced the prior New Jersey Court of Errors and Appeals, which had been the highest court created under the Constitution of 1844. Now, the Supreme Court hears appeals from the Appellate Division and, on rare occasions, other cases from within the judicial and administrative system directly, by order of the Court.
context_section_description: The principle of judicial review in New Jersey was the result of then Chief Justice David Brearley's opinion in Holmes v. Walton (1780 or 1779). While the case was decided against the plaintiff, the court's consideration of the matter asserted its ability to determine constitutionality. This was followed up by the federal Supreme Court's case of Marbury v. Madison.
  In State v. Post and State v. Van Beuren 20 N.J.L. 368, decided together, the constitutionality of slavery in the state was challenged on the grounds that the first article of the first section of the newly passed (1844) state constitution ("All men are by nature free and independent...") precluded it. The court by two to one (with one absence), rejected this stating that "the constitution has not ... abolished slavery." Slavery was abolished nationwide by the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution in 1865.
caption: David Brearley, author of the precedent setting Holmes v. Walton
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