The Second Constitution of the State of Ohio.

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.

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 therefor 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 retained by the people; and all powers, not herein delegated, remain with the people.

ARTICLE II.

LEGISLATIVE.

SEC. 1. 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, justices 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,

The Second Constitution of the State of Ohio.

holding public money for disbursement, 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 shall 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 in 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 reasons therefor, shall, without alteration, commitment, or delay, be entered upon the journal.

SEC. II. 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,

The Second Constitution of the State of Ohio.

SEC. 16. Every bill shall be fully and distinctly read three different days, unless in case of urgency three-fourths of the house in which it shall be pending, shall dispense with the 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.

If

Every bill passed by both houses of the General Assembly shall, before said bill can become law, be presented to the governor. he approves he shall sign said bill and thereupon said bill shall be law. If he object he shall not sign and shall return said bill, together with is objection thereto in writing, to the house wherein said bill originated, which house shall enter at large upon its journal said objection and shall proceed to reconsider said bill. If, after said reconsideration, at least two-thirds of the members-elect of that house vote to repass said bill it shall be sent, together with said objection, to the other house, which shall enter at large upon its journal said objection and shall proceed to to reconsider said bill. If, after said reconsideration, at least two-thirds of the members-elect of that house vote to pass said bill it shall be law, otherwise it shall not be law. The votes for the repassage of said bill shall in each house respectively be no less than those given on the original passage. If any bill passed by both houses. of the General Assembly and presented to the governor is not signed and is not returned to the house wherein it originated and within ten days after being so presented, exclusive of Sunday and the day said bill was presented, said bill shall be law as in like manner as if signed, unless final adjournment of the General Assembly prevents such return, n which case shall be law, unless objected to by the Governor and filed, together with is objection thereto in writing, by him in the office of the Secretary of State within the prescribed ten days; and the Secretary of State shall at once make public said fact and shall return said bill, together with said objection, upon the opening of the next following session of the General Assembly, to the house wherein said bill originated, where it shall be treated in like manner as if returned within the prescribed ten days.

If any bill passed by both houses of the General Assembly and presented to the Governor contains two or more sections, or two or more items of appropriation of money, he may object to one or more of said. sections or to one or more of said items of appropriation oof mney, and approve the other portion f said bill, in which case said approved portion may be signed and then shall be law; and such section or sections, item or items of appropriation of money objected to shall be returned within the time and in the manner prescribed for, and shall be separately reconsidered as in the case of, a whole bill; but if final adjournment of

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the General Assembly prevents such return the Governor shall file said section or sections, item or items of appropriation of money, together with his objection thereto in writing, with the Secretary of State as in the case of a whole bill, and the Secretary of State shall then make public said fact but shall not further act as in the case of a whole bill. [As amended November, 1903.]

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 affect 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 the 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. The first session, under this constitution, shall commence on the first Monday of January,

The Second Constitution of the State of Ohio.

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 appointing power shall be exercised by the General Assembly, except as prescribed in this constiution, and in the election of the United States senators; and in these cases the vote shall be taken "viva voce."

SEC. 28. The General Assembly shall have no power to pass retroactive laws, or laws impairing the obligation of contracts; but may, by general laws, authorize courts to carry into effect, upon such terms as shall be just and equitable, the manifest intention of parties, and officers, by curing omissions, defects, and errors, in instruments and proceedings, arising out of their want of conformity with the laws of this

state.

SEC. 29. No extra compensation shall be made to any officer, public agent, or contractor, after the service shall have been rendered, or the contract entered into; nor shall any money be paid, on any claim, the subject matter of which shall not have been provided for by pre-existing law, unless such compensation, or claim, be allowed by two-thirds of the members elected to each branch of the General Assembly.

SEC. 30. No new county shall contain less than four hundred square miles of territory, nor shall any county be reduced below that amount; and all laws creating new counties, changing county lines, or removing county seats, shall, before taking effect, be submitted to the electors of the several counties to be affected thereby, at the next general election after the passage thereof, and be adopted by a majority of all the electors voting at such election, in each of said counties; but any county now or hereafter containing one hundred thousand inhabitants, may be divided, whenever a majority of the voters residing in each of the proposed divisions shall approve of the law passed for that purpose; but no town or city within the same shall be divided, nor shall either of the divisions contain less than twenty thousand inhabitants.

SEC. 31. The members and officers of the General Assembly shall receive a fixed compensation, to be prescribed by law, and no other allowance or perquisites, either in the payment of postage or otherwise; and no change in their compensation shall take effect during their term of office.