Supreme Court of New Jersey
Henry J. Behnke, Plaintiff-Appellant v. New Jersey Highway Authority, Theodore D. Parsons, Attorney-General of the…
May 25, 195313 N.J. 14
Summary
The Supreme Court of New Jersey affirmed the Superior Court's judgment that the 1952 Guaranty Act, which obligates the State to unconditionally guarantee the bonds of the New Jersey Highway Authority for the Garden State Parkway, does not violate the constitutional prohibition on loaning the State's credit. The Court held that the prohibition in Article VIII, Section II, paragraph 1 must be read in conjunction with paragraph 3, which permits debt or liability for a single, voter‑approved public project. A dissenting opinion argued that the guaranty nonetheless constitutes an impermissible loan of state credit.