Using Legislative Histories to Determine Legislative Intent in New Jersey

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This article deals with the use of legislative history documents by New Jersey state courts. New Jersey's position with respect to the admissibility of legislative histories evolved over time; a major shift occurred in the 1950s, when the courts began permitting the use of legislative history documents as extrinsic evidence of legislative intent when a statute was unclear. Today, New Jersey courts make regular use of the documents comprising a legislative history when confronted with unclear legislative enactments. A basic outline of the legislative process in New Jersey and a description of the types of New Jersey legislative history documents provide context to the section on the judicial use of legislative histories as extrinsic evidence of legislative intent in the process of statutory interpretation. A list of the major electronic sources of New Jersey legislative history material is also supplied.