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The Legislative Service Commission staff updates the Revised Code on an ongoing basis, as it completes its act review of enacted legislation. Updates may be slower during some times of the year, depending on the volume of enacted legislation.

Chapter 2331 | Execution Against The Person

 
 
 
Section
Section 2331.01 | Execution against person.
 

An execution against the person of a judgment debtor shall require the officer to arrest such debtor and commit him to the jail of the county until he pays the judgment, or is discharged according to law.

Section 2331.02 | Execution may issue.
 

An execution against the person of a debtor may be issued upon any judgment for the payment of money:

(A) When the judgment debtor has removed, or begun to remove, any of his property out of the jurisdiction of the court, with intent to prevent the collection of the money due on the judgment;

(B) When the judgment debtor has property, rights in action, evidences of debt, or interest or stock in a corporation or company, which he fraudulently conceals with like intent;

(C) When the judgment debtor has assigned or disposed of any of his property or rights in action, or has converted them into money, with intent to defraud his creditors, or with the intent to prevent such property from being taken in execution;

(D) When the judgment debtor fraudulently contracted the debt or incurred the obligation upon which the judgment was rendered;

(E) When the judgment was rendered for money, or other valuable thing, lost by playing at any game or by means of any bet or wager;

(F) When the judgment debtor was arrested on an order before judgment and has not been discharged as an insolvent debtor, or the order has not been set aside.

Section 2331.03 | Allowance of execution.
 

An execution against the person of the debtor, except as prescribed in section 2331.05 of the Revised Code, can be issued only when allowed by the supreme court, court of appeals, court of common pleas, probate court, or any judge of such courts, upon being satisfied, by the affidavit of the judgment creditor or his attorney, and such other evidence as is presented, of the existence of one or more of the particulars mentioned in section 2331.02 of the Revised Code.

Section 2331.04 | Execution issued by county court judge.
 

A judge of a county court may issue an execution against the person of a judgment debtor, upon being satisfied of the existence of one or more of the particulars mentioned in section 2331.02 of the Revised Code, by affidavit and evidence as required in section 2331.03 of the Revised Code.

Section 2331.05 | Execution issued as a matter of course.
 

When the judgment debtor was arrested before judgment and has not been released from imprisonment by an application for relief as an insolvent debtor, and the order for such arrest has not been adjudged improper, an execution against the person of such judgment debtor may issue as a matter of course.

Section 2331.06 | Discharge by delivery of property.
 

A person taken in execution as provided in sections 2331.01 to 2331.05, inclusive, of the Revised Code, must be discharged by delivering or setting off to the officer who serves the writ, if issued from a court of record, real or personal property, or if issued by a judge of a county court, personal property only, sufficient to satisfy the judgment and costs for which the writ was issued.

Section 2331.07 | Execution may issue against property.
 

A person imprisoned under sections 2331.01 to 2331.10, inclusive, of the Revised Code, is entitled to prison bounds, as prescribed by sections 2331.15 and 2331.16 of the Revised Code. In case the person is out of jail in prison bounds, the judgment creditor, upon whose judgment he was imprisoned, is entitled to execution against the lands and tenements, and goods, and chattels of the debtor, and all other remedies prescribed by law for the collection of debts.

Section 2331.08 | Death of debtor no satisfaction of judgment.
 

The death of a person under arrest in an action shall not satisfy the judgment, but an execution may issue thereon as if no arrest had been made.

Section 2331.09 | One arrested before judgment.
 

If a person who is imprisoned under an order of arrest made before judgment is not charged in execution within ten days after judgment, he shall be discharged from such imprisonment.

Section 2331.10 | Debtor may be discharged.
 

A person imprisoned under sections 2331.01 to 2331.10, inclusive, of the Revised Code, or upon an order of arrest before judgment in civil cases, who is unable to perform the act or endure the imprisonment, may be discharged therefrom upon such terms as are just by the court out of which the process was issued, or a judge thereof, or by the court in which the judgment was or might have been rendered, or a judge thereof.

Section 2331.11 | Privilege from arrest.
 

(A) The following persons are privileged from arrest:

(1) Members, the chief administrative officer of the house of representatives, the clerk of the house of representatives, clerks, sergeants at arms, and staff of the senate and house of representatives, during the sessions of the general assembly, and while traveling to and from such sessions;

(2) Electors, while going to, returning from, or in attendance at elections;

(3) Judges of the courts, while attending court, and also during the time necessarily employed in going to, holding, and returning from the court that it is their duty to attend;

(4) Attorneys, bailiffs, clerks of courts, sheriffs, coroners, constables, plaintiffs, defendants, jurors, and witnesses, and other officers or employees of the court, while going to, attending, or returning from court;

(5) Persons who, on their traditional day of worship, are within, going to, or returning from their place of worship, are worshipping at a service, or are going to or returning from a service.

(B) Whoever arrests a person in violation of division (A) of this section shall pay one hundred dollars, to be recovered by civil action, in the name and for the use of the person injured.

Section 2331.12 | Days on which arrests may not be made.
 

No person shall be arrested during a sitting of the senate or house of representatives, within the hall where such session is being held, or in any court of justice, during the sitting of such court, or on Sunday, or on the fourth day of July.

Section 2331.13 | Application.
 

Sections 2331.11 to 2331.14, inclusive, of the Revised Code do not extend to cases of treason, felony, or breach of the peace, nor do they privilege any person specified in such sections from being served with a summons or notice to appear. Arrests not contrary to such sections made in any place or on any river or watercourse within or bounding upon this state are lawful.

Section 2331.14 | Discharging prisoner.
 

A person arrested contrary to sections 2331.11 to 2331.14, inclusive, of the Revised Code, shall be discharged by a writ of habeas corpus, or in a summary way, by motion before the court from which the process issued, at the cost of the party who sued out the process.

Section 2331.15 | Prison bounds fixed.
 

A person imprisoned for debt is entitled to the privilege of prison bounds, which shall be coextensive with the limits of the county. Such prisoner shall not pass over or without such limits.

Section 2331.16 | Prisoner entitled to benefit of prison bounds.
 

A prisoner is not entitled to the privilege of prison bounds until he gives bond to the creditors, with two or more sureties, resident in the county, approved by the judge or mayor who issued the process, or, in other cases, by the probate judge, in double the sum for which he stands committed, for his safe continuance in the custody of the jailer within the limits of the prison bounds, until legally discharged, which bond shall be deposited with the sheriff until the creditor demands it. When the condition of the bond is broken, the creditor may put it in suit and have judgment entered against the sureties for the debt, interest, and costs for which the prisoner stands committed.