Opinion ID: 1963229
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: jurisdiction over the subject-matter

Text: The defendant's preliminary question involved calls for a determination whether the Superior Court, Law Division, has jurisdiction over the subject matter of the plaintiff's action. The action as framed in the complaint was filed to obtain a judicial declaration of the status of lands, i.e., whether the specific 20.70 acres purportedly owned by the defendant were acquired or designated as cemetery lands by defendant under a valid statute and, if so, in conformity with the procedure prescribed therein. The purpose of the plaintiff in seeking this declaration is to establish the existence or non-existence of an important factor in relation to the value of these 20.70 acres, which have been taken by the State (for highway purposes) in the exercise of the sovereign power of eminent domain. Jurisdiction over the subject matter does not depend upon the sufficiency of a complaint in a particular case, nor the technical manner in which the cause is pleaded. Baron v. Peoples National Bank of Secaucus, 9 N.J. 249, 258 (1952). It is the power of the court to hear and determine cases of the class to which the one to be adjudicated is relegated. Petersen v. Falzarano, 6 N.J. 447, 454 (1951). The sources to be searched in the quest for the answer to the inquiry whether jurisdiction over the subject matter is vested in a given court are the Constitution, the statutes and the common law, and now, where the power has been so placed in New Jersey by N.J. Const. 1947, the rules promulgated by this court. (For example see the provisions expressed in N.J. Const. 1947, Art. VI, Sec. III, pars. 3, 4; Sec. V, par. 4). N.J. Const. 1947, in Art. VI, Sec. III, par. 2, provides that the Superior Court shall have original general jurisdiction throughout the State in all causes and in Art. XI, Sec. I, par. 3, provides that All law, statutory and otherwise,    in force at the time this Constitution or any Article thereof takes effect shall remain in full force until they expire or are superseded, altered or repealed by this Constitution or otherwise, and Art. XI, Sec. IV, par. 3, provided that the jurisdiction of the former Supreme Court and Court of Chancery shall be transferred to    the Superior Court according as jurisdiction is vested in the Superior Court under this Constitution. These provisions, read together, vested in the Superior Court constitutional jurisdiction over all causes within the jurisdiction of the former Supreme Court and former Court of Chancery, subject only to the express alterations thereof contained in the 1947 charter. One of these alterations was the power vested in this court by rule to declare the causes to be heard in the Appellate Division, the Law Division and the Chancery Division, N.J. Const. 1947, Art. VI, Sec. III, par. 3, supra. R.S. 2:26-68 on September 15, 1948, the effective date of the Judicial Article of the New Jersey Constitution of 1947, provided that all courts of record in this State shall, within their respective jurisdictions, have power to declare rights, status and other legal relations, whether or not further relief is or could be claimed. The source of this statutory provision was L. 1924, c. 140, secs. 1, 5, pp. 312, 313, of which the former Court of Errors and Appeals said, in McCrory Stores Corp. v. S.M. Braunstein, Inc., 102 N.J.L. 590, 592 ( E. & A. 1926): The Declaratory Judgment Act    confers upon our courts of record, within their respective jurisdictions, power to declare rights, status, or other legal relations, although no further relief is or could be claimed   . This declaration of the former Court of Errors and Appeals in the decision in the McCrory case, supra, was based (102 N.J.L., at page 593) upon the philosophy inherent in an 1873 statute declared constitutional in In re Public Utility Board, 83 N.J.L. 303, 304-308 ( Sup. Ct. en banc, 1912). The act is a remedial one that broadens the rationale of remedies long cognizable in the several courts of record in this State. New Jersey Turnpike Authority v. Parsons, 3 N.J. 235, 239 (1949). The revision of Title 2 of the Revised Statutes effective January 1, 1952, has effected no change in the general purpose or philosophy of the act. R.S. 2:26-68, supra, is now designated as N.J.S. 2 A :16-52. The matter before us in effect seeks a declaration that the defendant has not lawfully subjected the 20.70 acres of land in question to cemetery use. No judgment setting aside the instruments or voiding the formal acts taken to achieve the result of subjection of these lands to cemetery use is sought. The plaintiff appears not to question defendant's title, only the existence of its right to designate these acres as cemetery lands. Were the plaintiff a party having the right to prevent such use his action might be for injunctive relief (an equitable remedy) or certiorari to test the authority of the Clerk of the Township of Woodbridge to accept for filing the certificates and maps relative thereto (a remedy formerly pursued by prerogative writ, in the former Supreme Court). These are not the sole causes of action that might have been considered as emanating from the alleged noncompliance by the defendant with L. 1941, c. 227, p. 645 ( N.J.S.A. 8:3-4.2), supra. They serve merely to demonstrate that jurisdiction to review the constitutionality of the statute and efficacy of proceedings taken thereunder might have been found within the general jurisdiction of either the former Supreme Court or the former Court of Chancery. It is clear that the Superior Court has jurisdiction of the subject matter. In exercising that jurisdiction it has the power to grant the declaratory relief detailed in the Uniform Declaratory Judgments Law, in any of its three Divisions. No limiting rule under N.J. Const. 1947, Art. VI, Sec. III, pars. 3 and 4, supra, has been promulgated. R.R. 4:58-1 and R.R. 4:58-2 apply equally to the Law and Chancery Divisions and are not restrictive of the statutory provisions. R.R. 4:88-10 et seq., insofar as actions in which declaratory judgments may be sought are affected thereby, relate only to matters involving the validity of any administrative rule promulgated by any state agency. R.R. 4:93-2 and R.R. 4:98-1 require declaratory judgment actions concerning the validity of marriage to be tried in the Chancery Division. In the absence of any other rule, there is no doubt of the fact that the Law Division of the Superior Court has jurisdiction of the subject matter involved in the complaint in this case. This is not to be deemed to mean that the Chancery Division does not also have such jurisdiction. That question is not before us.