ORDAIN. To ordain is to make an ordinance, to enact a law.
2. In the constitution of the United States, the preamble. declares that the people "do ordain and establish this constitution for the United States of America." The 3d article of the same constitution declares, that "the judicial power shall be vested in one supreme court, and in such inferior courts as the congress may from time to time ordain and establish. "See 1 Wheat. R. 304, 324; 4 Wheat: R. 316, 402.
ORDEAL. An ancient superstitious mode of tribal. When in a criminal case the accused was arraigned, be might select the mode of trial either by God and his country, that is, by jury; or by God only, that is by ordeal.
2. The trial by ordeal was either by fire or by water. Those who were tried by the former passed barefooted and blindfolded over nine hot glowing ploughshares; or were to carry burning irons in their hands; and accordingly as they escaped or not, they were acquitted or condemned. The water ordeal was performed either in hot or cold water. In cold water, the parties suspected were adjudged innocent, if their bodies were not borne up by the water contrary to the course of nature; and if, after putting their bare arms or legs into scalding water they came out unhurt, they were taken to be innocent of the crime.
3. It was impiously supposed that God would, by the mere contrivance of man, exercise his power in favor of the innocent. 4. Bl. Com. 342; 2 Am. Jur. 280. For a detailed account of the trial by ordeal, see Herb. Antiq. of the Inns of Court, 146.
ORDER, government. By this expression is understood the several bodies which compose the state. In ancient Rome, for example, there were three distinct orders; namely, that of the senators, that of the patricians, and that of the plebeians.
2. In the United States there are no orders of men, all men are equal in the eye of the law, except that in some states slavery has been entailed on them while they were colonies, and it still exists, in relation to some of the African race but these have no particular rights. Vide Rank.
ORDER, contracts. An indorsement or short writing put upon the back of a negotiable bill or note, for the purpose of passing the title to it, and making it payable to another person.
2. When a bill or note is payable to order, which is generally expressed by this formula, "to A B, or order,"or" to the order of A B," in this case the payee, A B may either receive the money secured by such instrument, or by his order, which is generally done by a simple indorsement, (q. v.) pass the right to receive it to another. But a bill or note wanting these words, although not negotiable, does not lose the general qualities of such instruments. 6 T. R. 123; 6 Taunt. 328; Russ. & Ry. C. C. 300; 3 Caines, 137; 9 John. 217. Vide Bill of Exchange; Indorsement.
3. An informal bill of exchange or a paper which requires one person to pay or deliver to another goods on account of the maker to a third party, is called an order.
ORDER, French law. The act by which the rank of preferences of claims among creditors who have liens over the price which arises out of the sale of an immovable subject, is ascertained, is called order. Dalloz, Dict. h. t.
ORDER OF FILIATION. The name of a judgment tendered by two justices, having jurisdiction in such case, in which a man therein named is adjudged to be the putative father of a bastard child; and it is farther adjudged that he pay a certain sum for its support.
2. The order must bear upon its face, 1st. That it was made upon the complaint of the township, parish, or other place, where the child was born and is chargeable. 2d. That it was made by justices of the peace having jurisdiction. Salk. 122, pl. 6; 2 Ld. Raym. 1197. 3d. The birth place of the child; 4th. The examination of the putative father and of the mother; but, it is said, the presence of the putative father is not requisite, if he has been summoned. Cald. It. 308. 5th. The judgment that the defendant is the putative father of the child. Sid. 363; Stile, 154; Dalt. 52; Dougl. 662. 6th. That he shall maintain, the child as long as he shall be chargeable to the township, parish, or other place, which must be named. Salk. 121, pl. 2; Comb. 232. But the order may be that the father shall pay a certain sum weekly as long as the child is chargeable to the public. Stile, 134; Vent. 210. 7th. It must be dated, signed, and, sealed by the justices. Such order cannot be vacated by two other justices. 15 John. R. 208; see 8 Cowen, R. 623; 4 Cowen, R. 253; 12 John. R. 195; 2 Blackf. R. 42.
ORDER NISI. A conditional order which is to be confirmed unless something be done, which has been required, by a time specified. Eden. Inj. 122.
ORDERS. Rules made by a court or other competent jurisdiction. The formula is generally in those words: It is ordered, &c.
2. Orders also signify the instructions given by the owner to the captain or commander of a ship which he is to follow in the course of the vovage.
ORDINANCE, legislation. A law, a statute, a decree.
2. This word is more usually applied to the laws of a corporation, than to the acts of the legislature; as the ordinances of the city of Philadelphia. The following account of the difference between a statute and an ordinance is extracted from Bac. Ab. Statute, A. "Where the proceeding consisted only of a petition from parliament, and an answer from the king, these were entered on the parliament roll; and if the matter was of a public nature, the whole was then styled an ordinance; if, however, the petition and answer were not only of a public, but a novel nature, they were then formed into an act by the king, with the aid of his council and judges, and entered on the statute roll." See Harg. & But. Co. Litt. l59 b, notis; 3 Reeves, Hist. Eng. Law, 146.
3. According to Lord Coke, the difference between a statute and an ordinance is, that the latter has not had the assent of the king, lords, and commons, but is made merely by two of those powers. 4 Inst. 25. See Barr. on Stat. 41, note (x).
ORDINANCE OF 1787. An act of congress which regulates the territories of the United States. It is printed in 3 Story, L. U. S. 2073. Some parts of this ordinance were designed for the temporary government of the territory north-west of the river Ohio while other parts were intended to be permanent, and are now in force. 1 McLean, R. 337; 2 Missouri R. 20; 2 Missouri R. 144; 2 Missouri R. 214; 5 How. U. S. R. 215.
ORDINARY, civil and eccles. law. An officer who has original jurisdiction in his own right and not by deputation.
2. In England the ordinary is an officer who has immediate jurisdiction in ecclesiastical causes. Co. Litt. 344.
3. In the United States, the ordinary possesses, in those states where such officer exists, powers vested in him by the constitution and acts of the legislature, In South Carolina, the ordinary is a judicial officer. 1 Rep. Const. Ct. 26; 2 Rep. Const. Ct. 384.
ORDINATION, civil and eccles. law. The act of conferring the orders of the church upon an individual. Nov. 137.
ORE TENUS. Verbally. orally. Formerly the pleadings of the parties were ore tenus, and the practice is said to have been retained till the reign of Edward the Third, 3 Reeves, 95; Steph. Pl. 29; and vide Bract. 372, b.
2. In chancery practice, a defendant may demur at the bar ore tentus; 3 P. Wms. 370; if he has not sustained the demurrer on the record. 1 Swanst. R. 288; Mitf. Pl. 176; 6 Ves. 779; 8 Ves. 405; 17 Ves. 215, 216,
OREGON. The name of a territory of the United States of America. This territory was established by the act of congress of August 14, 1848; and this act is the fundamental law of the territory.
2. - Sect. 2. The executive power and authority in and over said territory of Oregon shall be vested in a governor who shall hold his office for four years, and until his successors shall be appointed and qualified, unless sooner removed by the president of the United States. The governor shall reside within said territory, shall be commander-in-chief of the militia thereof, shall perform the duties and receive the emoluments of superintendent of Indian affairs; he may grant pardons and respites for offences against the laws of said territory, and reprieves for offences against the laws of the United States until the decision of the president can be made thereon; he shall commission all officers who shall be appointed to office under the laws of the said territory, where, by law, such commissions shall be required, and shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed.
3. - Sect. 3. There shall be a secretary of said territory, who shall reside therein, and hold his office for five years, unless sooner removed by the president of the United States; he shall record and preserve all the laws and proceedings of the legislative assembly hereinafter constituted, and all the acts and proceedings of the governor in his executive department; he shall transmit one copy of the laws and journals of the legislative assembly within thirty days after the end of each session, and one copy of the executive proceedings and official correspondence, semi-annually, on the first days of January and July, in each year, to the president of the United States, and two copies of the laws to the president of the senate and to the speaker of the house of representatives for the use of congress. And in case of the death, removal, resignation, or absence of the governor from the territory, the secretary shall be, and he is hereby, authorized and required to execute and perform all the powers and duties of the governor during such vacancy or ab- sence, or until another governor shall be duly appointed and qualified to fill such vacancy.
4. - Sect. 4. The legislative power and authority of said territory shall be vested in a legislative assembly. The legislative assembly shall consist of a council and house of representatives. The council shall consist of nine members, having the qualifications of voters as hereinafter prescribed, whose term of service shall continue three years. Immediately after they shall be assembled, in consequence of the first election, they shall be divided as equally as may be into, three classes. The seats. of the members of council of the first. class shall be vacated at the expiration of the first year; of the second class at the expiration of the second year; and of the third class at the expiration of the third year, so that one-third may be chosen every year, and if vacancies happen by resignation or otherwise, the same shall be filled at the next ensuing election. The house of representatives shall, at its first session, consist of eighteen members, possessing the same qualifications as prescribed for memers of the council, and whose term of serice shall continue one year. The number of representatives may be increased by the legislative assembly from time to time, in proportion to the increase of qualified voters: Provided, That the whole number shall never exceed thirty. An apportionment shall be made, as nearly equal as practicable, among the several counties or districts, for the election of the council andrepresentatives, giving to each section of the territory representation in the ratio of its qualified voters, as nearly as may be. And the members of the council and of the house of representatives shall reside in and be inhabitants of the district, or county or counties, for which they may be elected respectively. Previous to the first election, the governor shall cause a census or enumeration of the inhabitants and qualified voters of the several counties and districts of the territory to be taken by such persons, and in such mode as the governor shall designate and appoint; and the persons so appointed shall receive a reasonable compensation therefor; and the first election shall be held at such time and places, and be conducted in such manner, both as to the person who shall superintend such election, and the returns thereof, as the governor shall appoint and direct; and he shall, at the same time, declare the number of members of the council and house of representatives to which each of the counties or districts shall be entitled under this act; and the governor shall, by his proclamation, give at least sixty days previous notice of such apportionment, and of the time, places, and manner of holding such election. The persons having the highest number of legal votes in each of said council districts for members of the council shall be declared by the governor to be duly elected to the council; and the persons having the highest number of legal votes for the house of representatives shall be declared by the governor to be duly elected members of said house; Provided, That, in case two or more persons voted for shall have an equal number of votes and in case a vacancy shall otherwise occur, in either branch of the legislative assembly, the governor shall order a new election, and the persons thus elected to the legislative assembly shall meet at such place, and on such day, within ninety days after such elections, as the governor shall appoint; but, thereafter, the time, place, and manner of holding and conducting all elections by the people, and the apportioning the representation in the several counties or districts to the council and house of representatives, according to the number of qualified voters, shall be prescribed by law, as well as the day of the commencement of the regular sessions of the legislative assembly: Prodided, That no session in any one year shall exceed the term of sixty days, except the first session, which shall not be prolonged beyond one hundred days.
5. - Sect, 5. Every white male inhabitant, above the age of twenty-one years, who shall have been a reident of said territory at the time of the passage of this act, and shall possess the qualifications hereinafter prescribed, shall be entitled to vote at the first election, and shall be eligible to any office within the said territory; but the qualifications of voters and of holding office, at all subsequent elections, shall be such as shall be prescribed by the legislative assembly: Provided, That the right of suffrage and of holding office shall be exercised only by citizens United States above the age of twenty-one years, and those above that age who shall have declared, on oath, their intention to become such, and shall have taken an oath to support the constitution of the UnitedStates, and the provisions of this act: And, further, provided, That no officer, soldier, seaman, or marine, or other person in the army or navy of the United States, or attached to troop's in the service of the United States, shall be allowed to vote in said territory, by reason of being on service therein, unless said territory is and has been for the period of six months, his permanent domicil: Provided, further, That no person belonging to the army or navy of the United States shall ever be elected to, or hold any civil office or appointment in, said territory.
6. - Sect. 6. The legislative power of the territory shall extend to all rightful subjects of legislation not inconsistent with the constitution and laws of the United States; but no law shall be passed interfering with the primary disposal of the soil; no tar shall be imposed upon the property of the United States; nor shall the lands or other property of non-residents be taxed higher than the lands or other property of residents. All the laws passed by the legislative assembly shall be submitted to the congress of the United States, and, if disapproved, shall be null and of no effect: Provided, That nothing in this act shall be construed to give power to incorporate a bank, or any institution with banking powers, or to borrow money in the name of the territory, or to pledge the faith of the people of the same for any loan whatever, either directly or indirectly. No charter granting any privilege of making, issuing, or putting into circulation any notes or bills in the likeness of bank notes, or any bonds scrip, drafts, bills of exchange, or obligations, or granting anyother banking powers or privileges, shall be passed by the legislative assembly; nor shall the establishment of any branch or agency of any such corporation, derived from other authority, be allowed in said territory; nor shall said legislative assembly authorize the issue of any obligation, scrip, or evidence of debt by said territory, in any mode or manner whatever, except certificates for services to said territory; and all such laws, or any law or laws inconsistent with the provisions of this act, shall be utterly null and void; and all taxes shall be equal and uniform and no distinction shall be made in the assessments between different kinds of property, but the assessments shall be according to the value thereof. To avoid improper influences which may result from intermixing in one and the same act, such things as have no proper relation to each other, every law shall embrace but one object and that shall be expressed in the title.
7. - Sect. 7. All township, district, and county, officers, not herein otherwise provided for, shall be appointed or elected, in such manner as shall be provided by the legislative assembly of the territory of Oregon.
8. - Sect. 8. No member of the legislative assembly shall hold, or be appointed to, any office which shall have been created, or the salary or emoluments of which shall have been increased, while he was a member, during the term for which he was elected, and for one year after the expiration of such term; but this restriction shall not be applicable to members of the first legislative assembly; and no person holding a commission, or appointment under the United States shall be a member of the legislative assembly, or shall hold any office under the government of said territory.
9. The 16th section of the act authorizes the qualified voters to elect a delegate to the house of representatives of the United States, who shall have and exercise all the rights and privileges as have been heretofore exercised and enjoyed by the delegates from the other territories of the United States to the said house of representatives. Vide Courts of the United States.