Ohio Law and Legislation

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Ohio

Law and Legislation

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• Historic Ohio Statutory Law at The Advancing Genealogist – Includes links to Ohio territorial and state session laws and compiled statutes found online.
• Historic Ohio Case Law Digests at The Advancing Genealogist – Links to case law digests
• Historic Ohio Legal Newspapers at The Advancing Genealogist - Law journals online which include information about cases and updates to laws.
• American Law Sources online - For Ohio

Vital Records Laws

• "The first law regulating marriages in the Territory was published in the fall of 1788, at Marietta.

Section 1. Provided that males of the age of fourteen, and not prohibited by the laws of God, might be joined in marriages.

Section 2. Provided that any of the Judges of the General Court or Common Pleas or ministers of any religious society within the district in which they resided, might solemnize marriages.

Section 3. Provided that before being joined in marriage, the parties should give notice of their intentions by having them proclaimed the preceding Sabbath in their congregation; or notices in writing under the hand and seal of one of the Judges before mentioned, or a Justice of the Peace of the county, and posted in some public place in the town where the parties respectively resided or a license might be obtained from the Governor, under his hand and seal, authorizing the marriage without the publication aforesaid.

• A supplementary act was passed August I, 1792, empowering every Justice of the Peace to solemnize marriages in their respective counties, after publication aforesaid, or upon license."

• "Ohio's marriage laws have changed over time, including the age of marriage, common law marriage, and miscegenation laws.

Marriage age

1824: An act was passed regulating marriages

1869: The minimum age for marriage was raised from 14 to 16 years old

1870: An amendment required a father or guardian to consent to the marriage of males under 21

Common law marriage

Before 1991

Ohio recognized common law marriages, but required specific factors to be met

1991 and after

Ohio does not recognize common law marriages, but does recognize those that were valid before 1991

Miscegenation laws

1861: Ohio had laws that banned interracial marriage and intercourse

1887: The state government repealed miscegenation laws and other Black laws

Marriage records

Before 1899: Marriage records did not include the names of parents or birthplace

After 1899: Marriage records included the names, ages, residences, and birthplaces of each spouse"