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Ohio Constitution Limitations

Decent Essays

The Ohio Constitution is a massive document that not only details the rights of individuals as one would expect, but it also details how the state and local governments are to be set up as well as conduct business including their limitations. It begins with five pages of the Bill of Rights for every Ohio citizen with many mirroring the US Constitution. Most were enacted in 1851 with only four amended or created within the last century. The most shocking is the §10a Rights of Victims of Crime that was not added to the Bill of Rights until 1994. This section leaves me puzzled and trying to determine if it is because it is included as a Right or the fact that it was not included before 1994. It would seem unconscionable that a victim of crime …show more content…

It also outlines what requirements need to be fulfilled by the people to amend the Constitution, purpose a new law, or challenge a law. Two sections stood out to me. First would be §30 New Counties. I was not aware that the Ohio Constitution controlled how they were determined and when a new county could be created or a current one divided (p. 17). The second would be §37 Workday and Workweek on Public Projects. I was unaware that there was a limit to work hours on state employees or contracted work. Nonetheless, the words “extraordinary emergency” seems to leave this section open to broad interpretation …show more content…

In Article IX §1, it states “All citizens…” with no gender clarification to who “shall be subject to enrollment in the militia and the performance of military duty…” (p. 92). I was under the assumption that this would be where the male gender would be specified since they are required to sign up for service in case of a draft. Among these last few Articles is where the Constitution lays out how and when the state is allowed to tax its citizens. In three short pages, it manages to lay out how property, real estate, estates, motor vehicles and fuel, income, inheritance, and food can be taxed. While researching Ohio’s Constitution, I was particularly amazed at how many section have not been updated since the document was adopted in 1851. Some of the wording used in those days would be considered offensive by a majority of citizens, yet they have updated many sections around them and left those certain ones untouched. With today’s society crying foul over less offensive words, it makes me wonder how many Ohio citizens have ever read their own states Constitution to know their rights or why and how their state

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