PART I VOL. II.

The Second Constitution.

There was a practical revolution in the Governmental machinery in 1851, with the adoption of the Second Constitution. Pursuant to the enabling and authorizing acts of the Forty eighth General Assembly, the people, at an election in 1850, chose the following delegates to a Constitutional Convention:

This body of men met in the hall of the House of Representatives on Monday, the sixth day of May, 1850, and organized as above, and began their deliberations. Two sessions of the convention were held, the first continued until the ninth day of July, when it met to reassemble at Cincinnati on Monday, December 2, 1850. The selection of a second place of meeting was for the reason that the Legislature would be in session at the date of the second reassembling, and it was desirable that the convention should reassemble elsewhere than at the State capital under the cir

cumstances.

The second session continued until the tenth day of March, 1851, when the Constitution was adopted as a whole. The following was the Constitution framed by the delegates, and afterward ratified by the people, with the amendments subsequently adopted and incorporated therein, and as it stands at the end of the century:

THE SECOND CONSTITUTION AND SUBSEQUENT AMENDMENTS. WE, the people of the State of Ohio, grateful to Almighty God for our freedom, to secure its blessings and promote our common welfare, do establish this Constitution.

ARTICLE I.

BILL OF RIGHTS.

SECTION I. All men are, by nature, free and independent, and have certain inalienable rights, among which are those of enjoying and defending life and liberty, acquiring, possessing, and protecting property, and seeking and obtaining happiness and safety.

SEC. 2. All political power is inherent in the people. Government is instituted for their equal protection and benefit, and they have the right to alter, reform, or abolish the same whenever they may deem it necessary; and no special privileges or immunities shall ever be granted that may not be altered, revoked, or repealed by the General Assembly.

SEC. 3. The people have the right to assemble together, in a peaceable manner, to consult for their common good, to instruct their Representatives, and to petition the General Assembly for the redress of grievances.

SEC. 4. The people have the right to bear arms for their defence and security; but standing armies, in time of peace, are dangerous to liberty, and shall not be kept up; and the military shall be in strict subordination to the civil power.

SEC. 5. The right of trial by jury shall be inviolate.

SEC. 6. There shall be no slavery in this State; nor involuntary servitude, unless for the punishment of crime.

SEC. 7. All men have a natural and indefeasible right to worship Almighty God according to the dictates of their own conscience. No person shall be compelled to attend, erect, or support any place of worship, or maintain any form of worship against his consent; and no preference shall be given, by law, to any religious society; nor shall any interference with the rights of conscience be permitted. No religioustest shall be required as a qualification for office, nor shall any person be incompetent to be a witness on account of his religious belief; but nothing herein shall be construed to dispense with oaths and affirmations. Religion, morality, and knowledge, however, being essential to good government, it shall be the duty of the General Assembly to pass suitable laws to protect every religious denomination in the peaceable enjoyment of its own mode of public worship, and to encourage schools and the means of instruction.

SEC. 8. The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless, in cases of rebellion or invasion, the public safety require it.

SEC. 9. All persons shall be bailable by sufficient sureties, except for capital offences where the proof is evident or the presumption great. Excessive bail shall not be required; nor excessive fines imposed; nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.

SEC. 10. Except in cases of impeachment, and cases arising in the army and navy, or in the militia when in actual service in time of war or public danger, and in cases of petit larceny and other inferior offences, no person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous, crime, unless on presentment or indictment of a grand jury. In any trial, in any court, the party accused shall be allowed to appear and defend in person and with counsel; to demand the nature and cause of the accusation against him, and to have a copy thereof; to meet the witnesses face to face, and to have compulsory process to procure the attendance of witnesses in his behalf, and a speedy public trial by an impartial jury of the county or district in which the offence is alleged to have been committed; nor shall any person be compelled, in any criminal case, to be a witness against himself, or be twice put in jeopardy for the same offence.

SEC. 11. Every citizen may freely speak, write and publish his sentiments on all subjects, being responsible for the abuse of the right; and no law shall be passed to restrain or abridge the liberty of speech, or of the press. In all criminal prosecutions.

for libel, the truth may be given in evidence to the jury, and if it shall appear to the jury that the matter charged as libelous is true, and was published with good motives, and for justifiable ends, the party shall be acquitted.

SEC. 12. No person shall be transported out of the State for any offence committed within the same; and no conviction shall work corruption of blood, or forfeiture of estate.

SEC. 13. No soldier shall, in time of peace, be quartered in any house without the consent of the owner; nor, in time of war, except in the manner prescribed by law.

SEC. 14. The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and possessions, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated; and no warrant shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, particularly describing the place to be searched and the person and things to be seized.

SEC. 15. No person shall be imprisoned for debt in any civil action, or mesne or final process, unless in cases of fraud.

SEC. 16. All courts shall be open, and every person, for an injury done him in his land, goods, person, or reputation, shall have remedy by due course of law, and justice administered without denial or delay.

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SEC. 17. No hereditary emoluments, honors, or privileges, shall ever be granted or conferred by this State.

SEC. 18. No power of suspending laws shall ever be exercised, except by the General Assembly.

SEC. 19. Private property shall ever be held inviolate, but subservient to the public welfare. When taken in time of war, or other public exigency, imperatively requiring its immediate seizure, or for the purpose of making or repairing roads, which shall be open to the public, without charge, a compensation shall be made to the owner, in money, and in all other cases where private property shall be taken for public use, a compensation thereof shall first be made in money, or first secured by a deposit of money, and such compensation shall be assessed by a jury, without deduction for benefits to any property of the owner.

SEC. 20. This enumeration of rights shall not be construed to impair or deny others restrained by the people; and all powers not herein delegated remain with the people.

ARTICLE II.

LEGISLATIVE. ·

SECTION I. The legislative power of this State shall be vested in a General Assembly, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.

SEC. 2.

Senators and Representatives shall be elected biennially by the electors of the respective counties or districts, on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November; their term of office shall commence on the first day of January next thereafter, and continue two years. [As amended October 13, 1885; 82 v. 446.]

SEC. 3. Senators and Representatives shall have resided in their respective counties or districts one year next preceding their election, unless they shall have been absent on the public business of the United States or of this State.

SEC. 4. No person holding office under the authority of the United States, or any lucrative office under the authority of this State, shall be eligible to, or have a seat in, the General Assembly; but this provision shall not extend to township officers, justice of the peace, notaries public, or officers of the militia.

SEC. 5. No person hereafter convicted of an embezzlement of the public funds shall hold any office in this State; nor shall any person holding public money for distribution or otherwise, have a seat in the General Assembly until he shall have accounted for and paid such money into the treasury.

SEC. 6. Each House shall be judge of the election, returns, and qualifications of its own members; a majority of all the members elected to each House shall be a quorum to do business; but a less number may adjourn from day to day, and compel the attendance of absent members, in such manner and under such penalties as shail be prescribed by law.

SEC. 7. The mode of organizing the House of Representatives at the commencement of each regular session shall be prescribed by law.

SEC. 8. Each House, except as otherwise provided by this Constitution, shall choose its own officers, may determine its own rules of proceeding, punish its members for disorderly conduct, and, with the concurrence of two-thirds, expel a member, but not the second time for the same cause; and shall have all other powers necessary to provide for its safety and the undisturbed transaction of its business.

SEC. 9. Each House shall keep a correct Journal of its proceedings, which shall be published. At the desire of any two members, the yeas and nays shall be entered upon the Journal; and, on the passage of every bill, in either House, the vote shall be taken by yeas and nays, and entered upon the Journal; and no law shall be passed in either House without the concurrence of a majority of all the members elected thereto.

SEC. 10. Any member of either House shall have the right to protest against any act or resolution thereof; and such protest, and the reason thereof, shall, without alteration, commitment, or delay, be entered upon the Journal.

SEC. 11. All vacancies which may happen in either House shall, for the unexpired term, be filled by election, as shall be directed by law.

SEC. 12. Senators and Representatives, during the session of the General Assembly, and in going to and returning from the same, shall be privileged from arrest in all cases except treason. felony, or breach of the peace; and for any speech or debate, in either House, they shall not be questioned elsewhere.

SEC. 13. The proceedings of both Houses shall be public, except in cases which,

in the opinion of two-thirds of those present, require secrecy.

SEC. 14. Neither House shall, without the consent of the other, adjourn for more than two days, Sundays excluded; nor to any other place than that in which the two Houses shall be in session.

SEC. 15. Bills may originate in either House; but may be altered, amended, or rejected in the other.

SEC. 16. Every bill shall be fully and distinctly read on three different days, unless, in case of urgency, three-fourths of the House in which it shall be pending shall dispense with this rule. No bill shall contain more than one subject, which shall be clearly expressed in its title, and no law shall be revived or amended unless the new act contain the entire act revived, or the section or sections amended, and the section or sections so amended shall be repealed.

SEC. 17. The presiding officer of each House shall sign publicly, in the presence of the House over which he presides, while the same is in session, and capable of transacting business, all bills and joint resolutions passed by the General Assembly.

SEC. 18. The style of the laws of this State shall be, "Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Ohio."

SEC. 19. No Senator or Representative shall, during the term for which he shall have been elected, or for one year thereafter, be appointed to any civil office under this State which shall be created or the emoluments of which shall have been increased during the term for which he shall have been elected.

SEC. 20.

The General Assembly, in cases not provided for in this Constitution, shall fix the term of office and the compensation of all officers; but no change therein shall effect the salary of any officer during his existing term, unless the office be abolished.

SEC. 21. The General Assembly shall determine, by law, before what authority and in what manner the trial of contested elections shall be conducted.

SEC. 22. No money shall be drawn from the treasury, except in pursuance of a specific appropriation made by law; and no appropriation shall be made for a longer period than two years.

SEC. 23. The House of Representatives shall have the sole power of impeachment, but a majority of the members elected must concur therein. Impeachments shall be tried by the Senate; and the Senators, when sitting for that purpose, shall be upon oath or affirmation to do justice according to law and evidence. No person shall be convicted without the concurrence of two-thirds of the Senators.

SEC. 24. The Governor, Judges, and all State officers may be impeached for any misdemeanor in office; but judgment shall not extend further than removal from office, and disqualification to hold any office under the authority of this State. The party impeached, whether convicted or not, shall be liable to indictment, trial and judgment, according to law.

SEC. 25. All regular sessions of the General Assembly shall commence on the first Monday of January, biennially.

SEC. 26. All laws of a general nature shall have a uniform operation throughout the State; nor shall any act, except such as relates to public schools, be passed to take effect upon the approval of any other authority than the General Assembly, except as otherwise provided in this Constitution.

SEC. 27. The election and appointment of all officers, and the filling of all vacancies not otherwise provided for by this Constitution, or the Constitution of the United States, shall be made in such manner as may be directed by law, but no ap