Murley v. Township of Raritan

Supreme Court of New Jersey

Murley v. Township of Raritan

188 A. 739, 117 N.J.L. 357, 1937 N.J. Sup. Ct. LEXIS 341

CourtSupreme Court of New Jersey

DecidedJanuary 6, 1937

StatusPublished

Cited by9 cases

This text of 188 A. 739 (Murley v. Township of Raritan) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of New Jersey primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook

Murley v. Township of Raritan, 188 A. 739, 117 N.J.L. 357, 1937 N.J. Sup. Ct. LEXIS 341 (N.J. 1937).

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Opinion

Lloyd, J.

The writ is to review the action of the Common Pleas judge in reversing an order of the police commissioner of Raritan township suspending a policeman for a period of six months.

The sole question is one of jurisdiction. Chapter 29, Pamph. L. 1935, p. 67, amends the Home Rule act of 1917, chapter 152, by inserting a new section in article XVI after section 3 to be numbered 3A, which enacts that “if any person shall be removed from office or employment in any such police department or from the police force of any municipality, * * * such person may appeal such removal to the Court of Common Pleas of the County in which such municipality is situated, and such court shall hear such case de novo and may order such person reinstated in his office or employment if such court shall find that such person was not guilty of the charges upon which he was removed.”

It is contended by the prosecutor that the act applies only io cases of complete removal from office and not to suspension, and with this coniention we agree.

*358 The language of the act' is “removal from office or employment,” meaning of course removal of an officer from his office or of an employe from his employment. The officer was not removed from office but suspended in its exercise. He is still a policeman holding his office subject to the suspension. Suspension is the “temporary forced withdrawal from the exercise of office;” removal is the “dismissal from office.” (Webster’s International Dictionary.)

Suspensions are a matter of daily occurrence in the discipline of policemen. We think it was not the purpose of the act to give judicial review and trial de novo of every petty infraction of the police rules established (as in this case they were) under the authority of paragraph 1 of this same article of the Home Rule act where the power of suspension is exercised, and the statute is not to be extended beyond the plain words of its enactment.

The judgment is reversed, with costs to be paid by the respondent.

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Lloyd, J.

The writ is to review the action of the Common Pleas judge in reversing an order of the police commissioner of Raritan township suspending a policeman for a period of six months.

The sole question is one of jurisdiction. Chapter 29, Pamph. L. 1935, p. 67, amends the Home Rule act of 1917, chapter 152, by inserting a new section in article XVI after section 3 to be numbered 3A, which enacts that “if any person shall be removed from office or employment in any such police department or from the police force of any municipality, * * * such person may appeal such removal to the Court of Common Pleas of the County in which such municipality is situated, and such court shall hear such case de novo and may order such person reinstated in his office or employment if such court shall find that such person was not guilty of the charges upon which he was removed.”

It is contended by the prosecutor that the act applies only io cases of complete removal from office and not to suspension, and with this coniention we agree.

*358 The language of the act' is “removal from office or employment,” meaning of course removal of an officer from his office or of an employe from his employment. The officer was not removed from office but suspended in its exercise. He is still a policeman holding his office subject to the suspension. Suspension is the “temporary forced withdrawal from the exercise of office;” removal is the “dismissal from office.” (Webster’s International Dictionary.)

Suspensions are a matter of daily occurrence in the discipline of policemen. We think it was not the purpose of the act to give judicial review and trial de novo of every petty infraction of the police rules established (as in this case they were) under the authority of paragraph 1 of this same article of the Home Rule act where the power of suspension is exercised, and the statute is not to be extended beyond the plain words of its enactment.

The judgment is reversed, with costs to be paid by the respondent.

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Bluebook (online)

188 A. 739, 117 N.J.L. 357, 1937 N.J. Sup. Ct. LEXIS 341, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/murley-v-township-of-raritan-nj-1937.

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