Former Prosecutors
The roots of the Morris County Prosecutor's Office are forever bound to the birth of the county. Until 1739, what we know as Morris County was part of Hunterdon County with the county seat at Trenton. There were numerous complaints about the distance to the county seat. Therefore, by an act of the colonial legislature, a new separate county was born. The county was named for Colonel Lewis Morris, the first governor of the Royal Province of New Jersey after its separation from New York in 1738. This act was passed on March 15, 1739.
The county, which included present day Sussex and Warren counties consisted of four townships: Morris, Hanover, Pequannock, and Greenwich (in modern Sussex). The village of New Hanover, in Morris Township, was selected as the county seat and renamed Morristown. The first county court met on March 25, 1740 in Jacob Ford's tavern. One of the first orders of the day was to create the four townships.
There were very few lawyers in the 1700's. Often people went to the court without representation and were subject to only the judge and jury. The prosecuting officers were court employees who drafted indictments and sent them to the Grand Jury. Just prior to 1822 the Attorney General would have represented the State in county trials and in his absence the court appointed some lawyer from the county to act in the place of the Attorney General. At this time court was held in the tiny Morris County Court House located on the Morristown Green close to the First Presbyterian Church (a marker stands on the site today).
Our modern idea of the County Prosecutor did not arise until 1822 when the 47th General Assembly of the State of New Jersey passed "An Act Respecting Deputies to the Attorney General" that the officer of Prosecutor of the Pleas was established. The Court of Quarter Session appointed a Prosecutor of Pleas to each county once every five years. On December 20, 1824, George K. Drake became the first Prosecutor of the Pleas for Morris County. Years later, the Governor of the State of New Jersey rather than the Court of Quarter Sessions was designated to appoint the Prosecutor of Pleas.
Throughout the nineteenth century and into the early twentieth century, the Prosecutor dealt with crimes ranging from petty theft to murder and robbery. Legislative changes to the criminal laws during the mid-twentieth century reclassified many criminal offenses which generally left the more serious crimes for the attention of the County Prosecutor and lesser crimes to the municipal courts.
The title and role of the Prosecutor of Pleas continued until 1948 when a statutory change (N.J.S.A. 2A:158-2) stated that "In any statute in which the designation Prosecutor of the Pleas is used, it shall be continued to mean the County Prosecutor." John D. Collins, the twenty-third Prosecutor, is the first in the line of our modern idea of the County Prosecutor.