''"In but not of"'' or ''"In, but not of"'' is a term used in
New Jersey statutory law.
Legal background
Article V, section IV, paragraph 1, of the
Constitution of New Jersey, adopted in 1947, states:
:''All executive and administrative offices, departments, and instrumentalities of the State government, including the offices of Secretary of State and Attorney General, and their respective functions, powers and duties, shall be allocated by law among and within not more than twenty principal departments, in such manner as to group the same according to major purposes so far as practicable. Temporary commissions for special purposes may, however, be established by law and such commissions need not be allocated within a principal department.''
This means that, unlike the
US federal government, New Jersey does not allow for the creation of
independent agencies of the
Executive branch
The Executive, also referred as the Executive branch or Executive power, is the term commonly used to describe that part of government which enforces the law, and has overall responsibility for the governance of a State (polity), state.
In poli ...
that exist outside of a
Cabinet
Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to:
Furniture
* Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers
* Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets
* Filing ...
department. To get around this restriction (without having to amend the State Constitution), the
New Jersey Legislature
The New Jersey Legislature is the legislative branch of the government of the U.S. state of New Jersey. In its current form, as defined by the New Jersey Constitution of 1947, the Legislature consists of two houses: the General Assembly and the ...
coined the term ''in but not of'' as a
legal fiction
A legal fiction is a fact assumed or created by courts, which is then used in order to help reach a decision or to apply a legal rule. The concept is used almost exclusively in common law jurisdictions, particularly in England and Wales.
Deve ...
.
[In re Plan for the Abolition of the Council on Affordable Hous.]
214 N.J. 444 ( New Jersey Supreme Court 2013) The
statute creating an agency will state that the agency is nominally organized ''in but not of'' a Cabinet department, but the Cabinet department head has no oversight authority over the agency.
In effect, the agency reports directly to the
Governor of New Jersey.
Examples
Amistad Commission in but not of
New Jersey Department of Education
The New Jersey Department of Education (NJ DOE) administers state and federal aid programs affecting more than 1.4 million public and non-public elementary and secondary school children in the state of New Jersey. The department is headquartered ...
*
New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory Commission, in but not of
New Jersey Department of the Treasury
The mission of the New Jersey Department of the Treasury is to formulate and manage the state's budget, generate and collect revenues, disburse the appropriations used to operate New Jersey state government, manage the state's physical and financia ...
Governor Murphy Signs Legislation to Dramatically Reform New Jersey's Medical Marijuana Program, Expand Patient Access
press release, July 2, 2019
* Council on Affordable Housing, in but not of New Jersey Department of Community Affairs
References
New Jersey law
American legal terminology
Legal fictions
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