Bill of Rights
- All political power is inherent in the people; and government
is instituted for their protection, security, and benefit, and to
promote their general welfare; and they have the right to alter or
reform the same whenever the public good may require it: Provided,
such change be not repugnant to the Constitution of the United
States.
- All persons have the inherent right to life, liberty, the
pursuit of happiness, and the enjoyment of the gains of their own
industry.
- The people have the right peaceably to assemble for their own
good, and to apply to those invested with the powers of government
for redress of grievances by petition, address, or
remonstrance.
- No power, civil or military, shall ever interfere to prevent
the free exercise of the right of suffrage by those entitled to
such right.
- No public money or property shall ever be appropriated,
applied, donated, or used, directly or indirectly, for the use,
benefit, or support of any sect, church, denomination, or system of
religion, or for the use, benefit, or support of any priest,
preacher, minister, or other religious teacher or dignitary, or
sectarian institution as such.
- The courts of justice of the State shall be open to every
person, and speedy and certain remedy afforded for every wrong and
for every injury to person, property, or reputation; and right and
justice shall be administered without sale, denial, delay, or
prejudice.
- No person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property,
without due process of law.
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- All persons shall be bailable by sufficient sureties, except
that bail may be denied for:
- capital offenses when the proof of guilt is evident, or the
presumption thereof is great;
- violent offenses;
- offenses where the maximum sentence may be life imprisonment or
life imprisonment without parole;
- felony offenses where the person charged with the offense has
been convicted of two or more felony offenses arising out of
different transactions; and
- controlled dangerous substances offenses where the maximum
sentence may be at least ten (10) years imprisonment.
On all offenses specified in paragraphs 2 through 5 of this
section, the proof of guilt must be evident, or the presumption
must be great, and it must be on the grounds that no condition of
release would assure the safety of the community or any
person.
- The provisions of this resolution shall become effective on
July 1, 1989.
- Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines
imposed, nor cruel or unusual punishments inflicted.
- The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall never be
suspended by the authorities of this State.
- Every person elected or appointed to any office or employment
of trust or profit under the laws of the State, or under any
ordinance of any municipality thereof, shall give personal
attention to the duties of the office to which he is elected or
appointed. Drunkenness and the excessive use of intoxicating
liquors while in office shall constitute sufficient cause for
impeachment or removal therefrom.
- No member of Congress from this State, or person holding any
office of trust or profit under the laws of any other State, or of
the United States, shall hold any office of trust or profit under
the laws of this State.
- Beginning January 1, 1995 persons wanting to become a candidate
for election to the United States Congress from this State for a
term beginning on or after January 1, 1995, shall be subject to the
following provisions:
- Any person seeking to have his or her name placed on the ballot
for election to the United States House of Representatives shall be
ineligible if, by the end of the then current term of office, that
person has served in that office for three (3) two-year terms.
- Any person seeking to have his or her name placed on the ballot
for election to the United States Senate shall be ineligible if, by
the end of the then current term of office, that person has served
in that office for two (2) six-year terms.
- A person elected to serve as a member of the United States
Congress shall be eligible to serve as a Representative for a total
of six (6) years and as a Senator for a total of twelve (12) years
for a maximum total of eighteen (18) years as a member of Congress
from this State.
- The provisions of this section shall not be applicable to or
include:
- The years served by any person as a member of the United States
House of Representatives or as a member of the United States Senate
which began prior to the election at which this measure was
enacted.
- The years served by a person who has been appointed to complete
the remainder of a vacated term.
- The provisions of this Section shall not be construed so as to
prevent casting a ballot for any person regardless of the number of
years previously served in the United States Congress by writing
the name of that person on the ballot, or from having such ballot
counted or to prevent a person from campaigning by means of a
"write- in" campaign if that procedure is otherwise authorized in
this Constitution or by law.
- Imprisonment for debt is prohibited, except for the non-payment
of fines and penalties imposed for the violation of law.
- The military shall be held in strict subordination to the civil
authorities. No soldier shall be quartered in any house, in
time of peace, without the consent of the owner, nor in time of
war, except in a manner to be prescribed by law.
- No bill of attainder, ex post facto law, nor any law impairing
the obligation of contracts, shall ever be passed. No
conviction shall work a corruption of blood or forfeiture of
estate: Provided, that this provision shall not prohibit the
imposition of pecuniary penalties.
- Treason against the State shall consist only in levying war
against it or in adhering to its enemies, giving them aid and
comfort. No person shall be convicted of treason, unless on
the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or on
confession in open court.
- No person shall be prosecuted criminally in courts of record
for felony or misdemeanor otherwise than by presentment or
indictment or by information. No person shall be prosecuted
for a felony by information without having had a preliminary
examination before an examining magistrate, or having waived such
preliminary examination. Prosecutions may be instituted in courts
not of record upon a duly verified complaint.
- A grand jury shall be composed of twelve (12) persons, any nine
(9) of whom concurring may find an indictment or true bill. A
grand jury shall be convened upon the order of a district judge
upon his own motion; or such grand jury shall be ordered by a
district judge upon the filing of a petition therefor signed by
qualified electors of the county equal to the number of signatures
required to propose legislation by a county by initiative petition
as provided in Section 5 of Article V of the Oklahoma Constitution,
with the minimum number of required signatures being five hundred
(500) and the maximum being five thousand (5,000); and further
providing that in any calendar year in which a grand jury has been
convened pursuant to a petition therefor, then any subsequent
petition filed during the same calendar year shall require double
the minimum number of signatures as were required hereunder for the
first petition; or such grand jury shall be ordered convened upon
the filing of a verified application by the Attorney General of the
State of Oklahoma who shall have authority to conduct the grand
jury in investigating crimes which are alleged to have been
committed in said county or involving multicounty criminal
activities; when so assembled such grand jury shall have power to
inquire into and return indictments for all character and grades of
crime. All other provisions of the Constitution or the laws
of this state in conflict with the provisions of this
constitutional amendment are hereby expressly repealed.
The Legislature shall enact laws to prevent corruption in making,
filing, circulating and submitting petitions calling for convening
a grand jury.
- The right of trial by jury shall be and remain inviolate,
except in civil cases wherein the amount in controversy does not
exceed One Thousand Five Hundred Dollars ($1,500.00), or in
criminal cases wherein punishment for the offense charged is by
fine only, not exceeding One Thousand Five Hundred Dollars
($1,500.00). Provided, however, that the Legislature may
provide for jury trial in cases involving lesser amounts.
Juries for the trial of civil cases, involving more than Ten
Thousand Dollars ($10,000.00), and felony criminal cases shall
consist of twelve (12) persons. All other juries shall
consist of six (6) persons. However, in all cases the parties
may agree on a lesser number of jurors than provided herein.
In all criminal cases where imprisonment for more than six (6)
months is authorized the entire number of jurors must concur to
render a verdict. In all other cases three-fourths (3/4) of
the whole number of jurors concurring shall have power to render a
verdict. When a verdict is rendered by less than the whole
number of jurors, the verdict shall be signed by each juror
concurring therein.
- In all criminal prosecutions the accused shall have the right
to a speedy and public trial by an impartial jury of the county in
which the crime shall have been committed or, where uncertainty
exists as to the county in which the crime was committed, the
accused may be tried in any county in which the evidence indicates
the crime might have been committed. Provided, that the venue may
be changed to some other county of the state, on the application of
the accused, in such manner as may be prescribed by law. He
shall be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation against
him and have a copy thereof, and be confronted with the witnesses
against him, and have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in
his behalf. He shall have the right to be heard by himself
and counsel; and in capital cases, at least two days before the
case is called for trial, he shall be furnished with a list of the
witnesses that will be called in chief, to prove the allegations of
the indictment or information, together with their postoffice
addresses.
- No person shall be compelled to give evidence which will tend
to incriminate him, except as in this Constitution specifically
provided; nor shall any person, after having been once acquitted by
a jury, be again put in jeopardy of life or liberty for that of
which he has been acquitted. Nor shall any person be twice
put in jeopardy of life or liberty for the same offense.
- Every person may freely speak, write, or publish his sentiments
on all subjects, being responsible for the abuse of that 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 of the matter alleged to be libelous may be given in evidence
to the jury, and if it shall appear to the jury that the matter
charged as libelous be true, and was written or published with good
motives and for justifiable ends, the party shall be
acquitted.
- No private property shall be taken or damaged for private use,
with or without compensation, unless by consent of the owner,
except for private ways of necessity, or for drains and ditches
across lands of others for agricultural, mining, or sanitary
purposes, in such manner as may be prescribed by law.
- Private property shall not be taken or damaged for public use
without just compensation. Just compensation shall mean the
value of the property taken, and in addition, any injury to any
part of the property not taken. Any special and direct
benefits to the part of the property not taken may be offset only
against any injury to the property not taken. Such
compensation shall be ascertained by a board of commissioners of
not less than three freeholders, in such manner as may be
prescribed by law. Provided however, in no case shall the
owner be required to make any payments should the benefits be
judged to exceed damages. The commissioners shall not be
appointed by any judge or court without reasonable notice having
been served upon all parties in interest. The commissioners
shall be selected from the regular jury list of names prepared and
made as the Legislature shall provide. Any party aggrieved
shall have the right of appeal, without bond, and trial by jury in
a court of record. Until the compensation shall be paid to
the owner, or into court for the owner, the property shall not be
disturbed, or the proprietary rights of the owner divested.
When possession is taken of property condemned for any public use,
the owner shall be entitled to the immediate receipt of the
compensation awarded, without prejudice to the right of either
party to prosecute further proceedings for the judicial
determination of the sufficiency or insufficiency of such
compensation. The fee of land taken by common carriers for
right of way, without the consent of the owner, shall remain in
such owner subject only to the use for which it is taken. In
all cases of condemnation of private property for public or private
use, the determination of the character of the use shall be a
judicial question.
- The legislature shall pass laws defining contempts and
regulating the proceedings and punishment in matters of contempt:
Provided, that any person accused of violating or disobeying, when
not in the presence or hearing of the court, or judge sitting as
such, any order of injunction, or restraint, made or entered by any
court or judge of the State shall, before penalty or punishment is
imposed, be entitled to a trial by jury as to the guilt or
innocence of the accused. In no case shall a penalty or
punishment be imposed for contempt, until an opportunity to be
heard is given.
- The right of a citizen to keep and bear arms in defense of his
home, person, or property, or in aid of the civil power, when
thereunto legally summoned, shall never be prohibited; but nothing
herein contained shall prevent the Legislature from regulating the
carrying of weapons.
- Any person having knowledge or possession of facts that tend to
establish the guilt of any other person or corporation under the
laws of the state shall not be excused from giving testimony or
producing evidence, when legally called upon so to do, on the
ground that it may tend to incriminate him under the laws of the
state; but no person shall be prosecuted or subjected to any
penalty or forfeiture for or on account of any transaction, matter,
or thing concerning which he may so testify or produce
evidence. All other provisions of the Constitution or the
laws of this state in conflict with the provisions of this
constitutional amendment are hereby expressly repealed.
- The records, books, and files of all corporations shall be, at
all times, liable and subject to the full visitorial and
inquisitorial powers of the State, notwithstanding the immunities
and privileges in this Bill of Rights secured to the persons,
inhabitants, and citizens thereof.
- No person shall be transported out of the State for any offense
committed within the State, nor shall any person be transported out
of the State for any purpose, without his consent, except by due
process of law; but nothing in this provision shall prevent the
operation of extradition laws, or the transporting of persons
sentenced for crime, to other states for the purpose of
incarceration.
- The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses,
papers, and effects against unreasonable searches or seizures shall
not be violated; and no warrant shall issue but upon probable cause
supported by oath or affirmation, describing as particularly as may
be the place to be searched and the person or thing to be
seized.
- The right of the State to engage in any occupation or business
for public purposes shall not be denied nor prohibited, except that
the State shall not engage in agriculture for any other than
educational and scientific purposes and for the support of its
penal, charitable, and educational institutions.
- Perpetuities and monopolies are contrary to the genius of a
free government, and shall never be allowed, nor shall the law of
primogeniture or entailments ever be in force in this State.
- The enumeration in this Constitution of certain rights shall
not be construed to deny, impair, or disparage others retained by
the people.
- Victim's Rights
- To preserve and protect the rights of victims to justice and
due process, and ensure that victims are treated with fairness,
respect and dignity, and are free from intimidation, harassment, or
abuse, throughout the criminal justice process, any victim or
family member of a victim of a crime has the right to know the
status of the investigation and prosecution of the criminal case,
including all proceedings wherein a disposition of a case is likely
to occur, and where plea negotiations may occur. The victim or
family member of a victim of a crime has the right to know the
location of the defendant following an arrest, during a prosecution
of the criminal case, during a sentence to probation or
confinement, and when there is any release or escape of the
defendant from confinement. The victim or family member of a victim
of a crime has a right to be present at any proceeding where the
defendant has a right to be present, to be heard at any sentencing
or parole hearing, to be awarded restitution by the convicted
person for damages or losses as determined and ordered by the
court, and to be informed by the state of the constitutional rights
of the victim.
- An exercise of any right by a victim or family member of a
victim or the failure to provide a victim or family member of a
victim any right granted by this section shall not be grounds for
dismissing any criminal proceeding or setting aside any conviction
or sentence.
- The Legislature, or the people by initiative or referendum, has
the authority to enact substantive and procedural laws to define,
implement, preserve and protect the rights guaranteed to victims by
this section, including the authority to extend any of these rights
to juvenile proceedings and if enacted by the Legislature, youthful
offender proceedings.
- The enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights for
victims shall not be construed to deny or disparage other rights
granted by the Legislature or retained by victims.
- "Marriage" Defined - Marriage Between Persons of Same Gender Not Valid or Recognized
- Marriage in this state shall consist only of the union of one man and one woman. Neither this Constitution nor any other provision of law shall be construed to require that marital status or the legal incidents thereof be conferred upon unmarried couples or groups.
- A marriage between persons of the same gender performed in another state shall not be recognized as valid and binding in this state as of the date of the marriage.
- Any person knowingly issuing a marriage license in violation of this section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.