In Re Bond Printing Co. Inc.

• Citation: 48 A.2d 291
• Parties: In re BOND PRINTING CO., Inc.
• Decision Date: 30 July 1946
• Court: New Jersey Circuit Court

48 A.2d 291

In re BOND PRINTING CO., Inc.

Circuit Court of New Jersey, Monmouth County.

July 30, 1946.

Proceeding in the matter of the application of the Bond Printing Company, Inc., trading as Asbury Park Sun, for a declaratory judgment for a determination of its rights, status and other legal relations under the statutes relating to legal advertising.

Judgment in accordance with opinion.

Vincent P. Keuper, of Asbury Park, and Joseph Lanigan, of Trenton, for applicant.

Morgan R. Seiffert, of New Brunswick, for defendant New Jersey Press Ass'n.

KINKEAD, Judge.

The Bond Printing Company, Inc., trading as the Asbury Park Sun, has filed a petition for a declaratory judgment pursuant to the provisions of R.S. 2:26-66 et seq., N.J.S.A., adjudging the rights, status and legal relations of the Asbury Park Sun under R.S. 35:1-2.1 and 35:1-2.2, as amended by Chapter 409, Pamph.L.1941, N.J.S.A.

By consent of the petitioner, the New Jersey Press Association has been admitted as a party defendant to the proceeding for the reason that it has an interest therein, because the newspaper publishing business is concerned and affected by the legal question involved in this proceeding.

For many years, a newspaper known as the Red Bank Daily Standard was published in the Borough of Red Bank, which borough is approximately 15 miles from the City of Asbury Park. In the latter part of 1945, the Bond Printing Company, Inc. was formed, and it purchased the assets of the Red Bank Daily Standard. In the month of December 1945, an announcement was published in the Red Bank Daily Standard that said newspaper would thereafter be known as the Asbury Park Sun. Furthermore, pursuant to the provisions of R.S. 35:1-3, N.J.S.A., there was filed and duly recorded in the office of the clerk of Monmouth County and in the office of the Secretary of State a certificate, whereby the name The Red Bank Daily Standard was changed to that of the Asbury Park Sun.

The publication office of the newspaper was moved from Red Bank to Asbury Park. For a short period of time thereafter, no newspaper was published, but finally during the month of January 1946, the Asbury Park Sun commenced publication.

The two statutes involved in this application specify the qualifications which are necessary to render any newspaper eligible for state, county or municipal legal advertising. The two statutes are practically identical, with the exception that R.S. 35:1-2.1, N.J.S.A., applies to state advertising, and R.S. 35:1-2.2, N.J.S.A., applies to county and municipal advertising.

The requisites qualifying any newspaper for legal advertising are substantially as follows:

1. It shall be entirely printed in the English language.

2. It shall be printed and published within the State of New Jersey.

3. It shall be a newspaper of general circulation, possessing an average news content of not less than thirty-five per centum.

4. It shall have been published continuously in the municipality where its publication office is situate for not less than two years. (Italics supplied.)

5. It shall have been entered for two years as second class mail matter under the postal laws and regulations of the United States.

In this proceedings, we are principally concerned with the interpretation of the fourth qualification as above specified.

In December 1945, the Red Bank Daily Standard had possessed for many years all of the statutory qualifications requisite for legal advertising. Furthermore, it could have changed its name to the Asbury Park Sun without affecting its status, if it had continued to maintain its publication office in Red Bank.

The issue, therefore, which this proceeding presents for decision is as to whether the Standard, after changing its name to the Asbury Park Sun, can also proceed to change its publication office from Red Bank to Asbury Park without affecting its statutory qualifications.

There is nothing in the respective statutes which prohibits any legally qualified newspaper from doing what the Standard has done in the instant case, and there is nothing therein which sanctions such a course.

There are no cases in this state, or in any other jurisdiction, which are dispositive of the issue. There are a limited number of decisions which bear remotely on the points involved. In Lewis v. City of Newark, 74 N.J.L. 308, 65 A. 1039, the Newark Advertiser, an evening paper, published a morning paper called the Morning Star. This latter paper had been published for only two months, whereas the legislative act required that a newspaper must be continuously published for one year in order to qualify for publication of legal notices and proceedings. It was argued that the Advertiser published the Star as a morning edition, and thus it was in effect the same newspaper. The court held that the titles were different and that the newspapers were separate and distinct within the contemplation of the laws governing the publication of ordinances.

In Montesano v. Liberty Warehouse Co., 121 N.J.L. 124, 1 A.2d 462, 463, the Jersey Observer was printed in Hoboken and had its main office there. A branch office was established in Union City, to which some of the newspapers were dispatched and from there locally distributed. It was conceded that the printing was not done at the branch office, but it was also conceded that a newspaper may be published where it is not printed. The Court of Errors and Appeals held that the newspaper was not published in Union City and gave the definition that ‘the place of publication of a newspaper is where the paper is first put into circulation, where it is first issued to be delivered or sent, by mail or otherwise, to its subscribers.’

In Bayer v. Mayor, etc., of Hoboken, 44 N.J.L. 131, a newspaper known as the Hoboken Advertiser had its office in Hoboken. In addition, the entire matter for the newspaper was composed, set up and placed in forms in Hoboken, after which the forms were sent over to New York City where the press work was done. The papers were then brought back to the office in Hoboken from whence they were issued to subscribers. The Supreme Court held that the newspaper, within the reason and spirit...