OFFSPRING. The word offspring in its proper and natural sense extends to any de gree of lineal descendants and has the same meaning as issue. 32 L. J. Ch. 373.
can Union.
Massachusetts, Connecticut and Virginia claimed, under their respective charters, the territory lying northwest of the river Ohio. At the solicitation of the continental congress, these claims were, soon after the close of the war of independence, ceded to the United States. Virginia, however, reserved the ownership of the soil of three million seven hundred thousand acres between the Scioto and the Little Miami rivers, for military bounties to the soldiers of her line who had served in the revolutionary war ; and Connecticut reserved three million six hundred and sixty-six thousand acres in north ern Ohio, now usually called the "Western Reserve." The history of these reservations, and of the several "purchases" under which land-titles have been ac quired in Various parts of the state, will be found in Albacbi's Annals of the West, in the Preliminary Sketch of the History of Ohio, in the first volume of Chase's Statutes of Ohio, and in Swan's Land Laws of Ohio. The conflicting titles of the states having been 'extinguished, congress, on July.13, 1187, passed the celebrated ordinance for the government of the territory northwest of the river Ohio. 1 Curw. Rev. Stat, of Ohio 86. It provided for the equal distribu tion of the estates of intestates among their chil dren, gave the widow dower as at 'common law, regulated the execution of wills and deeds, secured perfect religious toleration, the right of trial by jury, judicial proceedings according to the course of the common law, the benefits of the writ of habeas corpus, security against cruel and unusual punishments, the right of reasonable bail, the in violability of contracts and of private property, and declared that "there shall be neither slavery nor involuntary eervitnde in the eaid territory, other wise than in the punishment of crimes whereof the party shall have been duly convicted." These provisions have been, in substance, incor porated Into the constitution and laws of Ohio, as well as of the other states which have since keen formed within "the territory." The ordinance has
been held to be a mere temporary statute, which was abrogated by the adoption of the `constitution of the United States. Palmer v. Cuyahoga Co., 3 McLean 226, Fed. Cas. No. 10,618; Pollard v. Hagan, 3 How. (U. S.) 212, 11 L. Ed. 565; Strader v. Grah am, 10 Haw. (U. S.) 82, 13 L. Ed. 337. See ORDINANCE OF 1787.
On the 30th of October, 1802, congress passed an act making provision for the formation of a state constitution, under which, in 1803, Ohio was ad mitted into the Union, under the name of "the State of Ohio." This constitution was never sub mitted to a vote of the people. It continued to be the organic law of Ohio until September 1, 1851, when it was abrogated by the adoption of the present constitution.
The bill of rights which forms a part of this con stitution contains the provisions common to such instruments in the constitutions of the different states. Such are the prohibitions against any laws impairing the right of peaceably assembling to con suit for the common good, to bear arms, to have a trial by jury, to worship according to the dictates of one's own conscience, to have the benefit of the writ of habeas corpus, to be allowed reasonable ball, to be exempt from excessive fines and cruel and unusual punishment, not to be held to answer for a capital or otherwise infamous crime unless on pre sentment or indictment of a grand jury, to have a copy of the indictment, the aid of counsel, compul sory process for witnesses, a speedy and public trial, to be privileged from testifying against one's self, or from being twice put in jeopardy for the same offence. Provision is also made against the existence of slavery, against transporting offenders out of the state, against imprisonment for debt unless in cases of fraud, against granting heredi tary honors, against quartering soldiers in private houses, for the security of persons from unreason able arrest or searches, and for the freedom of speech and the press. Extensively amended in 1912.