Chapter § 2.7

• Jurisdiction: Oregon

§ 2.7 ARTICLE X, SECTION 2: CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTION

Article X, section 1, of the Oregon Constitution creates a state militia, and the right of conscientious objection to service in the militia was recognized from the beginning of statehood in Article X, section 2. Article X, section 2, read as follows in the constitution of 1857: "Persons whose religious tenets, or conscientious scruples forbid them to bear arms shall not be compelled to do so in time of peace; but shall pay an equivalent for personal service."

"Apparently the delegates discussed section 2 at some length" (Claudia Burton, A Legislative History of the Oregon Constitution of 1857—Part III (Mostly Miscellaneous: Articles VIII-XVIII), 40 Willamette L Rev 225, 286 (2004)), but the reports of that discussion reprinted...