The New Jersey Court of Common Pleas was a civil

court of general jurisdiction {{Globalize, article, USA, 2name=the United States, date=December 2010 A court of general jurisdiction is a court with authority to hear cases of all kinds – criminal law, criminal, civil law (common law), civil, family law, family, probate, an ...

, which existed in

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

from 1704 until 1947. The Court of Common Pleas was established by an ordinance promoted by New Jersey's first royal governor Edward Hyde, Lord Cornbury, and modeled on a similar ordinance passed in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

in the previous decade. When the courts of New Jersey were established under this ordinance, the English name of Court of Common Pleas, already used in West New Jersey, was given to the civil side of the County Court or Court of Sessions. The ordinance provided that justices of the peace would have jurisdiction over civil cases of debt or trespass to the value of forty shillings, with power to determine such cases without a jury, subject to an appeal to the Justices at the next Court of Sessions in cases for over twenty shillings. Next there was established a Court of Common Pleas to be held in each county at the place where the general Court of Sessions is usually kept, to "begin immediately after the Sessions of the Peace does end and terminate". It was thus assumed rather than ordained that the judges of the Common Pleas should be the same as the judges of the sessions, and these latter had always been the justices of the peace of the county. The Court of Common Pleas was given general civil jurisdiction at common law, and there was a right of appeal or removal where the judgment was more than twenty pounds, and in cases where the title to land came in question. Edward Quinton Keasbey, ''The Courts and Lawyers of New Jersey 1661-1912, Volume 1'' (1912), p. 206. Successive ordinances preserved this court through the

American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revolut ...

and the establishment of the

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. The Courts of Common Pleas were eliminated when the most recent

New Jersey State Constitution The Constitution of the State of New Jersey is the basic governing document of the State of New Jersey. In addition to three British Royal Charters issued for East Jersey, West Jersey and united New Jersey while they were still colonies, the sta ...

was adopted in 1947.

References

{{reflist New Jersey state courts Legal history of New Jersey 1704 establishments in New Jersey 1947 disestablishments in New Jersey Courts and tribunals established in 1704 Courts and tribunals disestablished in 1947