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title-41•Title 41 — Oaths and Affidavits
Every person who is or shall be required by law to give assurance of fidelity and attachment to the Government of this State shall take the following oath of allegiance:
"I, , do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of New Jersey, and that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and to the Governments established in the United States and in this State, under the authority of the people So help me God."
The governor for the time being of this state, and every person who shall be appointed or elected to any office, legislative, executive or judicial, under the authority of this state, or to any office in the militia thereof, and every counselor, solicitor and attorney at law, shall, before he enters upon the execution of his trust, office or duty, take and subscribe the oath of allegiance prescribed by section 41:1-1 of this title.
Every person who shall be elected, or appointed to any public office in this State or in any county, municipality or special district other than a municipality therein, or in any department, board, commission, agency or instrumentality of any thereof, and is required to take and subscribe an oath of office shall, before he enters upon the execution of his said office take and subscribe the oath of allegiance set forth in R.S. 41:1-1 and, in addition, (a) any specially prescribed official oath, or (b) if no text is specially prescribed for such oath of office, the following official oath of office:
"I, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully, impartially and justly perform all the duties of the office of according to the best of my ability. So help me God."
It shall not be necessary to the solemnity or obligation of an oath administered in any court of justice or any legal proceeding, civil or criminal, in this state, for the person taking the oath to kiss the holy scriptures, but the taking of such oath, while the hand shall be held upon the book, shall answer all the purposes and requirements of the law, any usage or custom to the contrary heretofore notwithstanding. If any persons so sworn shall swear falsely they shall be guilty of perjury as though the book had been kissed.
Every person who shall be permitted or required to take an oath in any case, where, by law, an oath is allowed or required, may take the same with the ceremony of lifting up the hand and swearing by the ever-living God, instead of that of touching and kissing the book of the gospels; and every person who is or shall be empowered and required to tender and administer an oath in the usual form, shall be and is empowered and required, on request of the party to be sworn, to administer the same in the manner herein prescribed.
An oath, which shall be administered and taken agreeably to the mode prescribed in this section shall be as good and effectual as if the same had been administered and taken in the usual form of laying the hand on and kissing the gospels.
Every person, permitted or required to take an oath in any case, where, by law, an oath is allowed or required, and who shall allege that he is conscientiously scrupulous of taking an oath, shall, instead of an oath, be permitted to make solemn affirmation or declaration in one of the following forms, to wit:
"I, , do solemnly, sincerely and truly declare and affirm": or,
"I, , do declare, in the presence of Almighty God, the witness of the truth of what I say":
Either of which forms shall be as good and effectual in law, as an oath taken in the usual form. In the affirmation or declaration, the words "so help me God" , at the close of the usual oath, shall be omitted.
Every person empowered and required to tender and administer an oath in the usual form, is empowered and required to tender and administer the affirmation or declaration prescribed by this section, when requested so to do by any such scrupulous person.
It shall not be necessary to the validity or sufficiency of any oath, affirmation or affidavit, made or taken before any of the persons named in section 41:2-1 of this title, that the same shall be certified under the official seal of the officer before whom made.
All oaths, affirmations and affidavits required to be made or taken by law of this State, or necessary or proper to be made, taken or used in any court of this State, or for any lawful purpose whatever, may be made and taken before any one of the following officers:
The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court or any of the justices or judges of courts of record of this State;
Masters of the Superior Court;
Municipal judges;
Mayors or aldermen of cities, towns or boroughs or commissioners of commission governed municipalities;
Surrogates, registers of deeds and mortgages, county clerks and their deputies;
Municipal clerks and clerks of boards of chosen freeholders;
Sheriffs of any county;
Members of boards of chosen freeholders;
Clerks of all courts;
Notaries public;
Commissioners of deeds;
Members of the State Legislature;
Attorneys-at-law and counsellors-at-law of this State;
Certified court reporters, as defined in section 10 of P.L.1940, c.175 (C.45:15B-10).
This section shall not apply to official oaths required to be made or taken by any of the officers of this State, nor to oaths or affidavits required to be made and taken in open court.
The president of the senate, the speaker of the general assembly and the chairman of a committee of the whole, or of any select or standing committee of either house of the legislature, are respectively empowered to administer oaths and affirmations to witnesses, in any matter or case under their examination; and any person who shall willfully or corruptly swear or affirm falsely touching any matter or thing material to the point in question, whereto he shall be thus examined, shall be deemed guilty of perjury and punished accordingly.
a. A notary public who is a stockholder, director, officer, employee or agent of a financial institution or other corporation may administer an oath to any other stockholder, director, officer, employee or agent of the corporation.
b. A notary public employed by a financial institution may follow directions or policies of the employer which provide that during the hours of the notary public's employment by the financial institution the notary public shall not administer oaths except in the course of the business of the employer.
As used in this section, "financial institution" means a State or federally chartered bank, savings bank, savings and loan association or credit union.
County detectives and investigators attached to the office of the county prosecutor in the several counties of this State are hereby authorized and empowered to administer oaths; provided, however, that such oaths are administered only in relation to a matter involving a violation or an attempted violation of the criminal laws of this State.
Any court of judicature or any commissioned officer of the United Army, Navy or Marine Corps shall administer the oath of allegiance to such person as shall be by law required to take the same in such court; provided, that when said oath of allegiance shall be taken before a commissioned officer there shall be a recital that he is such commissioned officer including a recital of his rank and official designation as such and that the person taking such oath is in the military or naval service of the United States.
It shall be lawful for every court, body corporate, judge, magistrate, any commissioned officer of the United States Army, Navy or Marine Corps or other person, before whom it is or shall be incumbent for any person, elected or appointed to office, to take his official oath, to administer at the same time the oath of allegiance to such person, if he is or shall be required by law to take the same; provided, that when said official oath shall be taken before a commissioned officer there shall be a recital that he is such commissioned officer including a recital of his rank and official designation as such and that the person taking such oath is in the military or naval service of the United States.
Except as otherwise provided, where the oath of allegiance is or shall be required by law, without any official or other oath, the same may be administered by any justice, judge or magistrate of any court of this State, who shall administer the oath of allegiance to any person who shall apply to take the same.
The Chief Justice, or any associate justice of the Supreme Court, or any member of the Senate, shall be and is hereby authorized to administer the oaths of office and allegiance to the Governor, elect or acting, which oaths, if the Legislature be in session, shall be administered in the presence of the Senate and General Assembly at such place as they may designate.
Any member of the senate or of the general assembly may administer the oath of allegiance to his fellow members of the same house.
The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, any associate justice thereof, any judge of the Superior Court or judge of the tax court may administer the oaths of office and of allegiance to any person appointed to the office of Clerk of the Supreme Court, Clerk of the Superior Court, Secretary of State or Attorney General, and the aforesaid justices and judges and the Governor and members of the Legislature may administer the oaths of office and of allegiance to any person elected or appointed to any other elective or appointive office as to which no other provision is made by law.
The county clerk of each county or any commissioned officer of the United States Army, Navy or Marine Corps may administer the oath of office and allegiance to every person chosen or appointed as a coroner in or for said county; provided, that when said oaths of office and allegiance have been administered by a commissioned officer there shall be a recital that he is such commissioned officer including a recital of his rank and official designation as such and that the person taking such oath is in the military or naval service of the United States.
The county clerk shall enroll the name of every person to whom he shall administer the oaths mentioned in section 41:2-11 of this Title, together with the time of administering the same, to be by him filed in his office, and shall transmit, within twenty days after administering such oath, a copy of the enrollment to the Secretary of State to be by him filed in his office.
If the county clerk be absent, removed or dead, then any judge of the Superior Court may administer the oaths of office and allegiance to the persons, or any of them, required to take the same in and by section 41:2-11 of this Title. The judge shall report the name of the person to whom said oaths were administered, and the date thereof, to the said clerk or his successor, who shall enroll the same and transmit a copy of such enrollment to the Secretary of State, as is directed by section 41:2-12 of this Title.
In case of the absence, removal, death, or any other disability of the county clerk of any county, any judge of the Superior Court may administer the oaths of office and allegiance to commissioners of deeds, notaries public or other persons required to take the same before such clerk, and any official's oath so administered shall be as effectual in law as if taken in the manner prescribed by law.
Any judge of the Superior Court or any commissioned officer of the United States Army, Navy or Marine Corps may administer the oaths of office and allegiance to the person who shall be elected or appointed county clerk; and the clerk shall thereupon enroll his own name and the time of his being sworn into office, and transmit a copy of such enrollment to the Secretary of State to be by him filed in his office; provided, that when said oaths of office and allegiance have been administered by a commissioned officer there shall be a recital that he is such commissioned officer including a recital of his rank and official designation as such and that the person taking such oath is in the military or naval service of the United States.
Any oath, affirmation, or affidavit required or authorized to be taken in any suit or legal proceeding in this State, or for any lawful purpose whatever, except official oaths and depositions required to be taken upon notice, when taken out of this State, may be taken before any notary public of the state, territory, nation, kingdom, or country in which the same shall be taken, or before any officer who may be authorized by the laws of this State to take the acknowledgment of deeds in such state, territory, nation, kingdom, or country; and a recital that he or she is such notary or officer in the jurat or certificate of such oath, affirmation, or affidavit, and his or her official designation annexed to his or her signature, and attested under his or her official seal, shall be sufficient proof that the person before whom the same is taken is such notary or officer.
The president of the council of proprietors of West Jersey, or, in his absence, the vice president or president pro tempore, may administer oaths or affirmations to witnesses, touching any dispute or controversy that may come before said council for their adjudications.
Deputy surveyors of the western division of New Jersey may take depositions or affirmations of citations being duly served, as also, in relation to corner lines and boundaries of land, wherein they are called to survey or resurvey, which depositions or affirmations they are hereby authorized to administer.
All oaths and affirmations authorized to be administered by either section 41:2-18 or 41:2-19 of this title shall have the same force and effect as if they had been taken before a justice of the peace of the proper county. The officer administering any such oath or affirmation shall cause the name of the witness and the purpose for which he was sworn or affirmed to be entered on the journals of the council of proprietors.
The Chief Justice and each Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, each judge of the Superior Court and each judge of the tax court, before entering upon the duties of his office, shall take and subscribe the oath of allegiance prescribed by R. S. 41:1-1, and the oath of office required to be taken by judicial officers.
Any justice of the Supreme Court may administer the oath to a person appointed Chief Justice of the Supreme Court or Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, and any justice of the Supreme Court, judge of the Superior Court or judge of the tax court may administer the oath to a person appointed a judge of the Superior Court or judge of the tax court. Any judge of the Superior Court or judge of the tax court may administer the oath to a person appointed a judge of a municipal court and any surrogate, deputy surrogate or special deputy surrogate.
The oaths shall also be subscribed by the judicial officer taking the oaths and, if the judicial officer is a Supreme Court Justice, judge of the Superior Court or judge of the tax court, shall be filed in the office of the Secretary of State.
Section 41:2-9 of the Revised Statutes is repealed.
The Chief Justice, the Associate Justices of the Supreme Court, the judges of the Superior Court, the judges of the tax court, the judges of the municipal courts and the surrogates, deputy surrogates and special deputy surrogates shall, before entering upon the execution of their respective offices, take and subscribe the following oath:
"I..........................................., do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of this State and the Constitution of the United States, and will perform the duties of my office, faithfully, impartially and justly, to the best of my ability. So help me God."
If any person shall willfully and corruptly swear, affirm or declare falsely, in or by any oath, affirmation, declaration or affidavit, required to be made or taken by any statute of this state, or necessary or proper to be made, taken or used in any court of this state, or for any lawful purpose whatever, such person shall be deemed guilty of perjury and punished accordingly.
If any oath, affirmation or affidavit made or taken under authority of section 41:2-17 of this title, or any material part thereof, shall be untrue, any person who shall use or offer the same for any purpose whatever, knowing the same to be untrue, shall be guilty of a high misdemeanor, and shall upon conviction thereof suffer the same punishment as if convicted of subornation of perjury, and shall be subject to the same disabilities.
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