State v. Marain
Decision Date | 29 June 1999 |
Citation | 322 N.J. Super. 444,731 A.2d 109 |
Parties | STATE of New Jersey, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. Allan MARAIN, Defendant-Appellant. |
Court | New Jersey Superior Court |
Allan Marain, defendant-appellant pro se.
T.K. Shamy, Assistant City Attorney, cause for plaintiff-respondent (William J. Hamilton, Jr., City Attorney, attorney; Mr. Shamy, on the brief).
Before Judges Long, Kestin and Wefing.
The opinion of the court was delivered by KESTIN, J.A.D.
Defendant appeals from the Law Division judgment, on de novo on the record appeal, R. 3:23-8(a), adjudicating him guilty of violating a parking ordinance of the City of New Brunswick. Fines and costs totalling $32 previously ordered by the New Brunswick Municipal Court were reimposed, along with $7.75 costs on the de novo appeal. We affirm.
After reviewing the record in the light of the arguments advanced by the parties, we are in substantial agreement with the reasons for decision orally articulated by Judge Figarotta on May 27, 1994.
The nub of defendant's argument is that N.J.S.A. 39:3-42 confers exclusive authority on the State to "license or permit" the use or operation of motor vehicles, except as explicitly provided by statute or administrative leave; and that the ordinance in question, by regulating an essential aspect of motor vehicle use—parking— derogates that statutory principle. We note also, as Judge Figarotta did, that N.J.S.A. 39:4-8a invalidates any ordinance "regulating or governing traffic or traffic conditions" which has not been approved by the Commissioner of Transportation.
These statutes may not bear the unqualified reading that defendant proposes. See Librizzi v. Plunkett, 126 N.J.L. 17, 16 A.2d 280 (Sup.Ct.1940); Morristown-Madison Auto Bus Co. v. Borough of Madison, 85 N.J.L. 59, 88 A. 829 (Sup.Ct.1913). In any event, Judge Figarotta was manifestly correct in viewing them as having no direct connection with the municipality's power to regulate parking, which is based upon another statutory provision's explicit conferral of authority. See N.J.S.A. 39:4-8c.1
Where it is proposed that two or more existing statutes relating to similar subject matters are inconsistent, it is incumbent on a court to construe them, to the extent reasonably possible, so as to avoid a conflict. Oches v. Township of Middletown Police Dept., 155 N.J. 1, 5, 713 A.2d 993 (1998) (); Loboda v. Clark Twp., 40 N.J. 424, 435, 193 A.2d 97 (1963) (quoting Henninger v. Board of Chosen Freeholders, County of Bergen, 3 N.J. 68, 71, 68 A.2d 833 (1949)); Sutherland, Statutory Construction § 51.02 (Norman J. Singer ed., 5th ed. 1992) ("Statutes for the same subject, although in apparent conflict, are construed to be in harmony if reasonably possible."). Thus, even in the terms propounded by defendant, a reasonable reading of N.J.S.A. 39:4-8c leads to the conclusion that it is one of the...
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