<P> The first drinking age law in New Jersey was passed in 1846 . It allowed the parents of a student under 21 to sue for up to $10 ($270 in modern dollars) in damages against a tavern keeper or shopkeeper who supplied alcoholic beverages to their children . In 1880, a criminal statute was enacted, fining businesses that sold liquor to people under 18 if their parents had told the establishment not to sell to their child . The law was amended in 1888 to eliminate the parental consent provision, thus making it illegal in all cases for a tavern or liquor store to sell alcohol to person under 18 . In 1908, the penalties were increased so that a tavern keeper who served a minor could be jailed . Upon the start of Prohibition, New Jersey repealed its laws regarding the sale of alcohol to minors since the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibited almost all liquor sales . </P> <P> Upon repeal of Prohibition and the passage of the Alcoholic Beverage Control Law, the ABC issued regulations that prohibited bars and liquor stores from selling alcohol to a person under 21, which was considered the age of majority at that time . In 1939, it became a criminal offense to sell alcohol to a person under 21, and for a person under 21 to purchase or consume alcohol in a licensed establishment . The state criminalized the underage possession of alcohol in motor vehicles and other public areas in 1957, possibly in response to young New Jerseyans traveling to New York, where the drinking age was 18, and returning home with liquor . For many years laws against underage drinking and the serving of alcohol to minors did not apply on private property, though an adult who supplied a substantial amount of liquor to an underage person could possibly be prosecuted for contributing to the delinquency of a minor Furthermore, arrests and criminal prosecutions for underage drinking in bars or public areas were very uncommon before the 1980s . </P> <P> New Jersey's drinking age was lowered to 18 in 1973 as part of a broader legal change which reduced New Jersey's age of majority from 21 to 18 . Much of the impetus for lowering the drinking age to 18 was to grant returning Vietnam veterans the right to purchase alcohol . Possibly because of concerns about 18 - year - old high school students being able to legally purchase liquor, and then illegally consume it school, the state raised the drinking age to 19 in 1980 . Citing statistics that indicated an increase in car deaths among drivers under 21, the drinking age was raised back to 21 in 1983 . At the same time, the penalties for underage drinking were increased to include a mandatory driver's license suspension . In 1985, the state made it illegal for an adult to give alcohol to a person under 21, with exception for religious services and parents serving alcohol to their own children at home or in a private area . </P> <P> Historically, a few municipalities had ordinances against underage drinking on private property, but a class action lawsuit in 1998 against the town of Avalon nullified these laws . In 2000, the New Jersey Legislature passed a bill criminalizing underage consumption of alcoholic beverages on private property New Jersey Governor Christine Whitman pocket vetoed the bill over privacy concerns: "While I completely support the intent of the bill, I am concerned that the bill's prohibitions could be construed to apply to situations in which an underage person consumes even a small amount of alcohol under the watchful eye of an adult family member ." Later that year, Whitman signed a revised bill that allowed municipalities to pass ordinance prohibiting underage drinking on private property . Besides giving municipalities a choice on whether to implement such a policy, the revised bill imposed substantially lighter penalties on underage drinkers, and the new law made an exception for alcohol provided by any relative, not just a parent or guardian . </P>

When did nj drinking age changed to 21