CHAPTER 7: PROCESS; PUBLICATION

Process shall be under the seal of the court from which it issues, shall be styled “The State of Ohio,. . . . . . . . . . County,” shall be signed by the clerk of such court, and shall bear the date of the day it actually is issued.

Effective Date: 10-01-1953

For the publication of advertisements, notices, and proclamations, except those relating to proposed amendments to the Ohio constitution, required to be published by a public officer of the state, county, municipal corporation, township, school, benevolent or other public institution, or by a trustee, assignee, executor, or administrator, or by or in any court of record, except when the rate is otherwise fixed by law, publishers of newspapers may charge and receive for such advertisements, notices, and proclamations rates charged on annual contracts by them for a like amount of space to other advertisers who advertise in its general display advertising columns.

Legal advertising, except that relating to proposed amendments to the Ohio constitution, shall be set up in a compact form, without unnecessary spaces, blanks, or headlines, and printed in not smaller than six point type. The type used must be of such proportions that the body of the capital letter M is no wider than it is high and all other letters and characters are in proportion.

Except as provided in section 2701.09 of the Revised Code, all legal advertisements or notices shall be printed in newspapers published in the English language only.

Effective Date: 09-23-1977

For publication of proposed amendments to the Ohio constitution, ballot language, and explanations and arguments both for and against proposed amendments, referenda, or laws proposed by initiative petitions, publishers of newspapers may charge and receive rates charged on annual contracts by them for a like amount of space to other advertisers who advertise in its general display advertising columns.

Legal advertising of proposed amendments to the constitution shall be printed in display form and shall meet the following specifications. The advertisements shall contain a headline entitled “proposed amendment to the Ohio constitution” printed in not smaller than thirty point type. The ballot language, and explanations and arguments both for and against the proposed amendments, shall be printed in type not smaller than ten point type. For referenda and laws proposed by initiative petitions, the advertisement shall contain a headline entitled “referendum” or, when appropriate, “proposed law” printed in not smaller than thirty point type. All advertisements shall contain such normal spaces and blanks as contribute to clarity and understanding and the entire section of each publication shall be enclosed by a black border line of the same point type size as corresponds to the type size of the ballot language. The notice shall be printed in two or more columns if necessary to contribute to clarity or understanding or if necessary to accommodate the black border outline.

All legal advertisements or notices under this section shall be printed in newspapers published in the English language only.

Effective Date: 03-23-1981

A proclamation for an election, an order fixing the time of holding court, notice of the rates of taxation, bridge and pike notices, notice to contractors, and such other advertisements of general interest to the taxpayers as the county auditor, county treasurer, probate judge, or board of county commissioners deems proper shall be published in two newspapers of opposite politics of general circulation as defined in section 5721.01 of the Revised Code at the county seat if there are such newspapers published thereat. If there are not two newspapers of opposite politics and of general circulation published in said county seat, such publication shall be made in one newspaper published in said county seat and in any other newspaper of general circulation in said county as defined in section 5721.01 of the Revised Code, wherever published, without regard to the politics of such other newspaper. In counties having cities of eight thousand inhabitants or more, not the county seat of such counties, additional publication of such notice shall be made in two newspapers of opposite politics and of general circulation in such city as defined in such section. For purposes of this section, a newspaper independent in politics is a newspaper of opposite politics to a newspaper of designated political affiliation. Sections 7.10 to 7.13, inclusive, of the Revised Code, do not apply to the publication of notices of delinquent and forfeited land sales.

The cost of any publication authorized by this section which is printed in display form shall be the commercial rate charged by such newspaper.

Effective Date: 09-09-1961

Whenever any legal publication is required by law to be made in a newspaper published in a municipal corporation, county, or other political subdivision, the newspaper shall also be a newspaper of general circulation in the municipal corporation, county, or other political subdivision, without further restriction or limitation upon a selection of the newspaper to be used. If no newspaper is published in such municipal corporation, county, or other political subdivision, such legal publication shall be made in any newspaper of general circulation therein. If there are less than two newspapers published in any municipal corporation, county, or other political subdivision in the manner defined by this section, then any legal publication required by law to be made in a newspaper published in a municipal corporation, county, or other political subdivision may be made in any newspaper regularly issued at stated intervals from a known office of publication located within the municipal corporation, county, or other political subdivision. As used in this section, a known office of publication is a public office where the business of the newspaper is transacted during the usual business hours, and such office shall be shown by the publication itself.

In addition to all other requirements, a newspaper or newspaper of general circulation, except those publications performing the functions described in section 2701.09 of the Revised Code for a period of one year immediately preceding any such publication required to be made, shall be a publication bearing a title or name, regularly issued as frequently as once a week for a definite price or consideration paid for by not less than fifty per cent of those to whom distribution is made, having a second class mailing privilege, being not less than four pages, published continuously during the immediately preceding one-year period, and circulated generally in the political subdivision in which it is published. Such publication must be of a type to which the general public resorts for passing events of a political, religious, commercial, and social nature, current happenings, announcements, miscellaneous reading matter, advertisements, and other notices.

Effective Date: 10-07-1977

The publication of an advertisement, notice, or proclamation, required by law to be published in a newspaper by a trustee, assignee, executor, administrator, receiver, or other officer of the court or a party in a case or proceeding, shall be approved by the court or clerk thereof and allowed as a part of the costs in the case or proceeding.

Effective Date: 10-01-1953

When it is provided by statute that a notice shall be published in a newspaper and no such newspaper is published in the county or other place mentioned, or if it is published there and, on tender of his usual charge for a similar notice, the publisher refuses to insert it in his newspaper, then a publication in a newspaper of general circulation in the county or other place mentioned is sufficient.

Effective Date: 10-01-1953

In any action brought in any court, other than the probate court, in which service by publication is made, the party causing such publication to be made shall deposit with the clerk or other proper officer of such court an amount of money as determined by the clerk to be sufficient to cover the cost of such publication, and the clerk may pay from such deposit the cost of such publication upon its completion and the filing of proof of publication. If court costs are taxed against a party to such action, other than the party making such deposit, the clerk or other proper officer may, upon the payment of such costs, return said deposit to the party who made it.

Effective Date: 10-01-1953