N.J. Stat. § 2A:55-1
Where persons are jointly indebted to any other person upon any joint contract, obligation or matter, and in an action thereon by the creditor any of such joint debtors shall be served with process, those served shall answer to the plaintiff, and if judgment shall pass for the plaintiff, he shall have his judgment and execution against those served. The judgment and execution shall be as effective, as to the joint debtor or debtors served, as if all of them had been served and the judgment had been entered against all of them.
Judgment in the action may be entered, also, against the other joint debtor or debtors if he or they are named in the process and served by publication or otherwise, as an absent defendant or defendants, in accordance with the practice of the superior court in cases in which the action affects specific property within the jurisdiction of the court; but if such other debtor or debtors do not appear in the action, said judgment shall be special as to them, to be made as to them only of their interest in real and personal property within the state jointly owned by all such joint debtors.
N.J.S. § 2A:55-1