WHAT THE WORDS MEAN

Also called meeting notice, Sunshine Law notice

The notice to the public a body gives before holding a meeting. Without it, a meeting is held only on the affirmative vote of three quarters of the members present for a matter so urgent that delay for notice would likely cause substantial harm to the public interest.

Also called spousal support

Support a court may award to either party: open durational, rehabilitative, limited duration or reimbursement.

Also called Consumer Fraud Act, treble damages

A loss of money or property from an unlawful practice, which lets a person sue under the consumer fraud law for threefold the damages, plus reasonable attorneys' fees, filing fees and costs of suit.

Also called data breach, breach notice

What a business or public entity reports first to the Division of State Police, and then discloses to each affected customer in the most expedient time possible and without unreasonable delay. If more than 1,000 persons are notified at one time, the consumer reporting agencies are told too.

Also called self help repossession limit

The one condition on a secured party that takes collateral back without judicial process, such as a car bought on credit. It may do that only if it proceeds without breach of the peace.

Also called car seat, booster seat

A restraint meeting the federal standard that a child rides in, in a rear seat, by the steps the section sets: rear facing under the age of two years and less than 30 pounds, then forward facing with a harness, then a booster seat until the age of eight years or 57 inches.

Also called executive session

A portion of a meeting from which the public may be excluded, limited to the matters the section lists, such as collective bargaining, pending or anticipated litigation, and personnel matters about a specific officer or employee.

Also called rent receivership, rent deposit

The administrator with whom tenants in substandard housing deposit their rent until the dwelling meets minimum standards of safety and sanitation, in a proceeding a tenant or a public officer may bring.

Also called use of force

Force justifiable in an arrest only by a peace officer, or someone summoned to assist one, who reasonably believes it creates no substantial risk to innocent persons, that the crime was one of the serious crimes the section lists, and that there is an imminent threat of deadly force or the force is needed to stop the crime or prevent an escape.

Also called trespass, trespassing

Entering or remaining in a place, knowing one has no right to be there, after notice against trespass by actual communication or posting. A petty disorderly persons offense.

Also called crime of the third degree, indictable offense

How the code grades a crime, from first degree down to fourth. A crime of the third degree carries between three years and five years and a fine up to $15,000.00.

Also called disturbing the peace

With purpose to cause public inconvenience, annoyance or alarm, or recklessly risking it, fighting, threatening, behaving violently or tumultuously, or creating a hazardous condition with no legitimate purpose. A petty disorderly persons offense.

Also called DP, disorderly persons

The grade below the crimes, punishable by not more than 6 months and a fine up to $1,000.00.

Also called DV

One of the listed offenses, among them assault, harassment, stalking, terroristic threats, criminal mischief, trespass and cyber-harassment, committed against a protected person by an adult or emancipated minor.

Also called double the deposit

What a court awards a tenant who wins an action for the return of a deposit: double the amount owed, with full costs and, in the court's discretion, reasonable attorney's fees.

Also called DWI, drunk driving

Operating a motor vehicle under the influence of liquor or a narcotic, hallucinogenic or habit producing drug, or with a blood alcohol concentration of 0.08 percent or more.

Also called mandated reporter, child abuse report

The duty of any person having reasonable cause to believe a child has been subjected to child abuse, including sexual abuse, to report it immediately to the Division of Child Protection and Permanency, by telephone or otherwise.

Also called sick time, paid sick leave

Leave every employer provides, one hour for every 30 hours worked, for the employee's own or a family member's illness or preventive care, or for help after domestic or sexual violence.

Also called fleeing police, flight

Knowingly fleeing or trying to elude an officer after a signal to stop, in a vehicle or vessel: a crime of the third degree, or the second if it creates a risk of death or injury.

Also called Good Samaritan, helping at an accident

Care any individual, including a licensed health professional or a volunteer first aid or rescue squad member, renders in good faith at the scene of an accident or emergency, or while transporting the victim to a place of treatment. The individual is not liable for any civil damages from acts or omissions in rendering it.

Also called dividing property

The court's division of property in a divorce, weighing factors such as the length of the marriage, each party's income and earning capacity, any written agreement, and each party's contribution, including as a homemaker.

Also called clearing a record, expunge

Clearing the records of an arrest or conviction. When charges are dismissed, or the person is acquitted or discharged without a conviction, the court orders it at the time.

Also called hazing medical amnesty, calling for help

A person, and anyone acting with them, who was the first to call for medical help for someone hurt by hazing, gave their name, and stayed with the person until help arrived, cooperating on the scene. That person is immune from prosecution for hazing.

Also called good cause eviction, Anti-Eviction Act

One of the grounds the statute lists, without which the Superior Court may not remove a residential tenant: unpaid rent, disorderly conduct or broken rules continued after written notice to cease, damage to the premises, habitual late rent, and others.

Also called quitting for good cause

The reason for quitting that keeps unemployment benefits. A person who left without it is disqualified until reemployed, working eight weeks and earning at least ten times the weekly benefit rate.

Also called late fee grace period

Five business days to pay rent due on the first of the month, which no late charge may include.

Also called texting while driving, phone while driving

The only lawful way to use a wireless phone or electronic communication device while driving a moving vehicle on a public road, placed so it does not interfere with required safety equipment.

Also called harassing

With purpose to harass, making communications anonymously, at extremely inconvenient hours, in offensively coarse language or in another way likely to cause annoyance or alarm, or offensive touching or threatening it. A petty disorderly persons offense.

Also called initiation, pledging

Knowingly or recklessly, in connection with initiation into a student or fraternal organization, causing another to break the law or consume a harmful substance, or subjecting them to physical, mental, emotional or sexual abuse, or to any other activity reasonably likely to cause bodily injury.

Also called interlock device

A device installed in a vehicle before a person convicted of driving while intoxicated, or of refusing the breath test, drives again. On a first offense, the person may not drive until one is installed in the vehicle they most often drive.

Also called breath test refusal, refusal

Anyone who drives on a public road is deemed to consent to breath samples when an officer has reasonable grounds to believe they were driving while intoxicated. The officer reads a standard statement of the consequences of refusing.

Also called insurance card, proof of insurance

One of three documents a driver has whenever in charge of a vehicle on the highways, with the license and the registration certificate, shown when a police officer or judge asks in the course of duty.

Also called wiretapping

Purposely intercepting a wire, electronic or oral communication without being a party or having a party's consent, or disclosing or using its contents knowing they came from an interception. A crime of the third degree.

Also called IDRC

The program a person convicted of driving while intoxicated attends: for a first offense, 12 to 48 hours.

Also called public intoxication, drunk in public

A facility a police officer may assist a person intoxicated in a public place to, as an alternative to their residence. A person assisted there is not considered arrested, and no record may show an arrest.

Also called no fault divorce

A ground for divorce: differences that have caused the breakdown of the marriage for six months and make it appear the marriage should be dissolved with no reasonable prospect of reconciliation.

Also called joint legal custody, shared custody

Custody both parents hold. The court may order joint legal or physical custody, with the child living with one parent or with each, and in any custody proceeding the rights of both parents are equal.

Also called dog bite liability

Present on a dog owner's property by express or implied invitation, or carrying out a duty under state or federal law or postal regulations. An owner is liable for a bite there as in a public place.

Also called hit and run

A driver knowingly involved in a crash who does not stop at once and stay until they have given name and address, shown license and registration, and rendered reasonable assistance to anyone injured.

Also called lemon

The rule that a defect reported in a new vehicle during the first 24,000 miles or two years after delivery, whichever comes first, is repaired by the manufacturer within a reasonable time, or the vehicle is taken back for a full refund.

Also called unpaid wage penalty

An amount on top of unpaid wages, up to 200 percent of them, that an employee who sues for wages due may recover, with costs and reasonable attorney's fees.

Also called fired for cause

Improper, intentional conduct within a person's control that deliberately refuses the employer's lawful and reasonable rules or disregards standards the employer can reasonably expect. A discharge for it disqualifies for that week and the five weeks that follow.

Also called reporting a work injury

Notice to the employer of a work injury. Unless the employer already knows of it, no compensation is due until the notice is given, and given within fourteen days, compensation runs from the injury.

Also called cooling off period, cancel a sale

The buyer's notice, by certified mail, return receipt requested, postmarked not later than 5 p.m. of the third business day after signing, that undoes a sale over $25 made somewhere other than the seller's place of business.

Also called cease notice

A written notice telling a tenant to stop disorderly conduct, breaking reasonable rules or lease terms, or habitually paying late. Those grounds for eviction exist only when the conduct continues after it.

Also called termination notice

The written notice before an eviction action that specifies in detail the cause of the termination, served in person, left with a family member above the age of 14 years, or sent by certified mail.

Also called recording consent

The rule that a person not acting under color of law may intercept a wire, electronic or oral communication when they are a party to it, or one of the parties has given prior consent, unless it is done to commit a crime, a tort or another injurious act.

Also called open bottle

A container with a broken original seal, or one that is not the original, such as a cup, glass, box or bag. No occupant of a motor vehicle on a public highway may possess one holding alcohol, or an unsealed cannabis item meant for smoking, vaping or aerosolizing.

Also called carry permit, concealed carry

The permit that authorizes carrying a handgun in a holster concealed on the person throughout the state, except where the law prohibits. One permit covers all the holder's handguns, and it expires two years from issuance.

Also called ROR, own recognizance

Release on the defendant's own promise to appear. The court orders it, or an unsecured appearance bond, when release would reasonably assure appearance, safety and that the defendant will not obstruct justice.

Also called PDP, petty disorderly

The lowest grade, punishable by not more than 30 days and a fine up to $500.00.

Also called bail, Criminal Justice Reform Act

The decision, made no later than 48 hours after a defendant is committed to jail, whether and on what conditions to release them before trial. The law relies primarily on release by non-monetary means.

Also called public portion, speaking at a meeting

The portion of every meeting, of a length the body decides, that a municipal governing body and a board of education set aside for comment on any governmental or school district issue a member of the public feels may concern the residents.

Also called reckless

Driving heedlessly, in willful or wanton disregard of the rights or safety of others, in a way that endangers or is likely to endanger a person or property.

Also called OPRA, custodian of records

The official who grants or denies a request for government records, as soon as possible and no later than seven business days after receiving it.

Also called redemption, get the car back

To get collateral back by tendering fulfillment of all obligations it secures, plus the reasonable expenses and attorney's fees the Code describes. A debtor, a secondary obligor, or another secured party or lienholder may do it.

Also called final paycheck, last paycheck

A payday set in advance. An employer pays the full wages due at least twice each calendar month on regular paydays.

Also called retaliation, retaliatory eviction

A notice to quit, a suit for possession, or a substantial change in the tenancy, including refusing to renew without cause, because a tenant enforced rights, complained in good faith about health or safety, or joined a lawful organization.

Also called resisting

Purposely preventing, or trying to prevent, an arrest, graded by how: by other means a disorderly persons offense, by flight a crime of the fourth degree, by force or threat of force a crime of the third degree.

Also called deposit

A deposit of no more than 1 1/2 times one month's rent, which stays the tenant's property: held in trust in an interest bearing account, never mingled with the landlord's own, with the interest belonging to the tenant.

Also called retail theft

Taking or concealing merchandise, switching price tags or containers, or taking a shopping cart, graded by the full retail value, with values from one scheme added together.

Also called assault

Attempting to cause, or purposely, knowingly or recklessly causing, bodily injury; negligently causing bodily injury with a deadly weapon; or trying by physical menace to put someone in fear of imminent serious bodily injury.

Also called voucher discrimination, Section 8

Any lawful income used for rent or mortgage payments, including housing vouchers, rental assistance, disability and veterans' benefits, child support and alimony, and cash, check or money order. Refusing to accept it is barred.

Also called course of conduct

Purposefully or knowingly engaging in a course of conduct directed at a specific person that would cause a reasonable person to fear for their safety or someone else's, or suffer other emotional distress. A crime of the fourth degree.

Also called time limit, time to sue

The time to sue or to prosecute: six years for a contract not under seal, two years for an injury to the person, and, unless the statute provides otherwise, five years for a crime and one year for a disorderly persons offense.

Also called TRO, restraining order

An emergency order for a victim of domestic violence, available even when the courts are closed from an assigned Family Part or municipal judge. A final hearing follows in the Family Part within 10 days.

Also called stealing, larceny

Unlawfully taking, or exercising unlawful control over, another's movable property with purpose to deprive them of it, graded by the amount involved: less than $200 is a disorderly persons offense.

Also called lockout, self help eviction

Entering and holding a home without the consent of the person in possession, outside the eviction procedures the law provides. A person who does it to rental property is a disorderly person.

Also called marijuana, weed

What a person 21 years of age or older may possess, display, buy or transport, up to one ounce (28.35 grams), where it came from a licensed retailer or delivery service, shown by its original packaging or a receipt.

Also called wage garnishment, garnishment

An order taking part of a judgment debtor's wages, salary or other earnings, which may not exceed 10%, unless the debtor's income is more than 250 % of the poverty level for their family size.