The Township Act of 1798 ("An Act incorporating the Inhabitants of Townships, designating their Powers, and regulating their Meetings", PL 1798, p. 289) is an Act passed by New Jersey Legislature on February 21, 1798, that formally incorporated 104 municipalities in 13 counties in New Jersey.
[2] At the annual town meeting, people were able to vote if they met all of the following criteria The Act explicitly allowed the town meetings to manage the town by improving common land, pass municipal laws and ordinances, and to maintain the roads.
The people also elected officials for one year: a clerk, tax collector, at least three "freeholders", and a judge.
The number in the brackets indicate the year the township was originally founded or of its earliest mention.
The town meeting, a staple of towns for the past 101 years, was eliminated in favor of consolidating in the hands of a greatly strengthened township committee, which were given policy-making power.