Thelaw ofOhio consists of several levels, including constitutional, statutory, and regulatory, local and common law. TheOhio Revised Code forms the general statutory law.
TheConstitution of Ohio is the foremost source of state law. Laws may be enacted through theinitiative process. Legislation is enacted by theOhio General Assembly, published in theLaws of Ohio, and codified in theOhio Revised Code. State agencies promulgate rules and regulations (sometimes called administrative law) in theRegister of Ohio, which are in turn codified in theOhio Administrative Code (OAC). Ohio's legal system is based oncommon law, which is interpreted by case law through the decisions of the Supreme Court, District Courts of Appeals, and trial courts, which are published in theOhio Official Reports. Counties, townships, and municipalities may also promulgatelocal ordinances. In addition, there are also several sources of persuasive authority, which are not binding authority but are useful to lawyers and judges insofar as they help to clarify the current state of the law.
The foremost source of state law is theConstitution of Ohio. The Ohio Constitution in turn is subordinate only to theConstitution of the United States, which is the supreme law of the land. The Ohio Constitution vests the legislative power of the state in theOhio General Assembly.
Pursuant to the state constitution, theOhio General Assembly has enacted various laws, called "pamphlet laws" or generically "slip laws".[1] These are published in the officialLaws of Ohio and are called "session laws".[2] These in turn have beencodified in theOhio Revised Code.[3] The only official publication of the enactments of the General Assembly is theLaws of Ohio; theOhio Revised Code is only a reference.[4]
A maximum 900 copies of theLaws of Ohio are published and distributed by theOhio Secretary of State; there are no commercial publications other than amicrofiche republication of the printed volumes.[5] TheOhio Revised Code is not officially printed, but there are several unofficial but certified (by the Ohio Secretary of State) commercial publications:Baldwin's Ohio Revised Code Annotated andPage's Ohio Revised Code Annotated areannotated, whileAnderson's Ohio Revised Code Unannotated is not.[6]Baldwin's is available online fromWestlaw andPage's is available online fromLexisNexis.
Pursuant to certain statutes, state agencies have promulgated rules and regulations (sometimes calledadministrative law). Notices and proposed rules are published in theRegister of Ohio.[7] TheOhio Administrative Code (OAC) contains the codified regulations, and is updated by theOhio Monthly Report.[8][9]
TheRegister of Ohio is not printed, but is published weekly online.[7][9]
Ohio's legal system is based oncommon law, which is interpreted bycase law. TheOhio State Reports,Ohio Appellate Reports, andOhio Miscellaneous Reports are part of theOhio Official Reports and contain the opinions of theSupreme Court, appellate courts, and trial courts, respectively.[10][11]
Ohio is divided into 88 counties. The territory of each county is divided into a total of1,309 townships as of 2011[update]. In addition, there may be two kinds of incorporated municipalities: cities and villages.[12] Municipalities have full home rule powers, and may adopt a charter for self-government.[13] Counties may adopt charters for home rule.[14] Townships may have limited home rule powers.[15]
Counties and townships may adopt resolutions, and municipalities may adopt ordinances and resolutions, for their government.[16] Municipal resolutions and ordinances of a general nature are required to be published.[17] County resolutions are not required to be published,[14] nor are township resolutions not adopted under self-government.[18] Counties and townships may pass zoning resolutions for the unincorporated areas, and county zoning resolutions prevail over township zoning resolutions unless township residents vote to overrule them.[19][20] Codified ordinances may or may not be found in a local law library,[21] and zoning resolutions may be purchased from the county recorder.[22]
With respect to thegovernment of Columbus, the codified ordinances are contained in the Columbus City Codes,[20] and all proceedings of the Columbus City Council such as ordinances and resolutions are published in the weekly Columbus City Bulletin.[21]
Court decisions freely available to the public online, in a consistent format, digitized from the collection of theHarvard Law Library
