Chapter § 18.1

• Jurisdiction: Oregon

§ 18.1 INTRODUCTION AND HISTORY

This chapter identifies the rights protected in Article I, section 26, of the Oregon Constitution and the method of determining whether laws violate that section. The case law on section 26 is limited. The most recent Oregon Supreme Court case addressing section 26, State v. Babson, 355 Or 383, 326 P3d 559 (2014), continues the court's practice of using the same analysis developed for Article I, section 8.

Article I, section 26, provides: "No law shall be passed restraining any of the inhabitants of the State from assembling together in a peaceable manner to consult for their common good; nor from instructing their Representatives; nor from applying to the Legislature for redress of greviances [sic]."

Article I, section 26, is part of the original Bill of Rights in the Oregon Constitution of 1857. Section 26 was copied verbatim from the Indiana Constitution of 1851. W.C. Palmer, The Sources of the Oregon Constitution, 5 Or L Rev 200, 202 (1926); Charles Henry Carey...