Supreme Court of New Jersey, 1971

Smith v. Hayes

Supreme Court of New Jersey · Decided September 13, 1971 · Per Curiam

281 A.2d 276; 59 N.J. 236; 1971 N.J. LEXIS 174 (Atlantic Reporter, Second Series)

Cases that cite this one

7 later published cases cite this decision.

Lawson v. Davis (N.J. Super. Ct. App. Div. 1971)
Madden v. Hegadorn (N.J. Super. Ct. App. Div. 1989)
Friends of Jim Usry v. Matthews (N.J. Super. Ct. App. Div. 1982)
In re Petition of Hartnett (N.J. Super. Ct. App. Div. 1978)
Coleman v. Wilson (N.J. Super. Ct. App. Div. 1973)
In re Ross Petition (N.J. Super. Ct. App. Div. 1971)
In re Atlantic County Bd. of Elections (N.J. Super. Ct. App. Div. 1971)

This list shows which later cases cite this one. It does not say how they treated it, and no review of that has been done. Not a substitute for Shepard’s or KeyCite — verify before relying.

Opinion

Pee Ctjeiam

These are election matters and because of the inherent time limitations, we heard argument on petitions for certification as if they had been granted. Certification is granted and the matters remanded for further proceedings in accordance herewith.

The single question is whether N. J. S. A. 19:13-7 is arbitrary in its request that the signatures on a nominating petition shall be supported by the affidavits of 5 of the signers that they “saw all the signatures made thereto.” No criticism is levelled against the requirement for verification as such but it is insisted that to demand five such affiants serves no public purpose and is therefore unwarranted. We agree. The legitimate statutory objective may be met by a single verification, and the statute will be construed to require such verification and no more. This result brings the statute into harmony with other statutory provisions dealing with the verification of nominating petitions.

Mr. Justice Mountain votes to affirm for the reasons expressed in the opinions of the Appellate Division in these matters. (Smith v. Hayes, 116 N. J. Super. 133, 1971; Carbone v. Kugler, 116 N. J. Super. 130, 1971).

*238 For remandment—Chief Justice Weintbaub and Justices Jacobs, Ebanois, Pboctob, Hall and Schettino—6.

For affirmance—Justice Mountain—1.

Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.