[HISTORY: Adopted by the Township Committee (now Mayor and Council)
of the Township of North Brunswick 9-6-1949. Section 168-7
amended at time of adoption of Code; see Ch. 1, General Provisions. Other
amendments noted where applicable.]
No person or persons having the ownership, management or control of
any theater, open-air, drive-in or otherwise, shall produce any performance,
show, motion picture or exhibition therein, or suffer or permit any performance,
show, motion picture or exhibition to be given therein, without a license
first had and obtained as hereinafter provided.
For the purpose of this chapter, the terms used herein are defined as
follows:
Any place devoted to public amusement wherein dramatic, operatic,
vaudeville or burlesque performance, motion picture exhibitions or other like
forms of amusement are provided for public entertainment for which an admission
fee is charged.
All applications for licenses under this chapter shall be made in writing
to the Clerk of the township and shall give such information as he may deem
requisite to determine the suitability of the premises and the fitness of
the applicant to conduct the same.
All such licenses shall be issued by the Township Clerk under his hand
and seal after approval of the issuance of the license by the Mayor and Council
and upon payment of the fee fixed therefor, and not otherwise, and all such
licenses shall respectively state the purpose for which the same shall have
been issued, the number of the license, the location of the premises and the
name of the persons licensed. The Commissioner of Police may, in his discretion,
after public hearing, suspend, revoke or annul such license whenever in his
opinion the public welfare requires that such action be taken.
A.
Whenever, in the judgment of the Commissioner of Police,
any entertainment, exhibition, play, act, motion picture or performance offends
against public decency or morals, or any such entertainment, exhibition, play,
motion picture, act or performance advertised to be given is objectionable
from a moral standpoint or likely to create public disorder, he shall notify
the manager of the theater wherein such entertainment, exhibition, play, act,
motion picture or performance is advertised to be produced that the entertainment,
exhibition, play, act, motion picture or performance shall not, pending a
public hearing, be given, and he may cause the same, in each case pending
public hearing, to be censored before being produced in public, and may order
any and all objectionable language and features eliminated before being produced
in public, or he may suppress such entertainment, exhibition, play, act, motion
picture or performance altogether if in his opinion the public good requires
such action. No person shall produce any entertainment, exhibition, play,
act, motion picture or performance, or permit the same to be produced, in
disregard of any notice given or order made by said Commissioner under the
authority conferred upon him by this section.
B.
Any licensee whose performance has been subjected to
an order of the Commissioner of Police as provided in this section may request
public hearing respecting the same, which hearing shall thereupon be designated
within a period of three days from the receipt of such request, filed with
the Commissioner of Police or the Clerk of the township, unless such licensee
shall request further time for the preparation for such hearing, in which
case it shall be held within a period of 10 days. After such hearing, the
Commissioner of Police may continue, modify or revoke any order respecting
objectionable performance theretofore made, which order, before becoming effective,
shall be approved by a majority of the members of the Township Council.
[Amended 9-6-1977; 4-17-2006
by Ord. No. 06-06]
Any person violating or failing to comply with any of the provisions
of this chapter shall, upon conviction thereof, be punishable by a fine of
not more than $2,000 or by imprisonment for a term not to exceed 90 days,
or by both such fine and imprisonment, in the discretion of the Judge. The
continuation of such violation on each successive day shall constitute a separate
offense, and the person or persons allowing or permitting the continuation
of the violation may be punished as provided above for each separate offense.