The law of Texas is derived from its constitution, statutes, regulations, and case law. The key sources of Texas law are: 1. The Texas Constitution, which is the foremost legal authority in the state. 2. Legislation enacted by the Texas Legislature and codified in the Texas Statutes. 3. Regulations published by state agencies in the Texas Register and Texas Administrative Code. 4. Case law established by precedents set in rulings of the Texas Supreme Court, Court of Criminal Appeals, and Courts of Appeals. Local governments may also promulgate ordinances. The legal system is based on common law and separation of powers among the legislative, executive, and judicial branches

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Law of Texas
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The law of Texas is derived from the Constitution of Texas and consists of several levels, including
constitutional, statutory, and regulatory law, as well as case law and local laws and regulations.
Contents
1 Sources
1.1 Constitution
1.2 Legislation
1.3 Regulations
1.4 Case law
1.5 Local ordinances
2 Age of criminal responsibility
3 Murder statutes
4 See also
4.1 Topics
4.2 Other
5 References
6 External links
Sources
See also: Government of Texas
Title page of the Revised Civil Statutes from 1925
The Constitution of Texas is the foremost source of state law. Legislation is enacted by the Texas
Legislature, published in the General and Special Laws, and codified in the Texas Statutes. State agencies
publish regulations (sometimes called administrative law) in the Texas Register, which are in turn codified in
the Texas Administrative Code. The Texas legal system is based on common law, which is interpreted by
case law through the decisions of the Supreme Court, the Court of Criminal Appeals, and the Courts of
Appeals, which are published in the Texas Cases and South Western Reporter. Counties and municipal
governments may also promulgate local ordinances.
Constitution
The Constitution of Texas is the foundation of the government of Texas and vests the legislative power of
the state in the Texas Legislature. The Texas Constitution is subject only to the sovereignty of the people of
Texas as well as the Constitution of the United States, although this is disputed.
Article I of the Constitution of Texas contains the following provisions related to limitations on legislative
power:
Sec. 16 prohibits bills of attainder, ex post facto or retroactive laws, or laws "impairing the obligations of
contracts."
Sec. 29 provides that "no power of suspending laws in this State shall be exercised except by the Legislature.
Article II of the Constitution of Texas mandates the separation of powers in to three distinct department, the
Legislative, Executive, and Judicial.
Article III of the Constitution of Texas is specifically dedicated to the Legislative Department.
Legislation
Pursuant to the state constitution, the Texas Legislature has enacted various laws, known as "chapter laws"
or generically as "slip laws". These are published in the official General and Special Laws of the State of
Texas as "session laws".[1][2] Most of these statutes are codified.[3]
The Texas Constitution requires the Texas Legislature to revise, digest, and publish the laws of the state;

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however, it has never done so regularly.[4] In 1925 the Texas Legislature reorganized the statutes into three
major divisions: the Revised Civil Statutes, Penal Code, and Code of Criminal Procedure.[2][5] In 1963, the
Texas legislature began a major revision of the 1925 Texas statutory classification scheme, and as of 1989
over half of the statutory law had been arranged under the recodification process.[2]
The de facto codifications are Vernon's Texas Statutes Annotated and Vernon's Texas Codes Annotated,
commonly known as Vernon's.[4][6] The unannotated constitution, codes, and statutes can also be accessed
online through a website of the Texas Legislative Council.[6] Gammel's Laws of Texas contains relevant
legislation from 1822-1897.[7]
Most, but not all, Texas statutes have been codified in the following codes:
Agriculture Code
Alcoholic Beverage Code
Business and Commerce Code
Business Organizations Code
Civil Practice and Remedies Code
Code Of Criminal Procedure
Education Code
Election Code
Estates Code
Family Code
Finance Code
Government Code
Health and Safety Code
Human Resources Code
Insurance Code
Labor Code
Local Government Code
Natural Resources Code
Occupations Code
Parks and Wildlife Code
Penal Code
Property Code
Special District Local Laws Code
Tax Code
Transportation Code
Utilities Code
Water Code
Regulations
See also: List of Texas state agencies
The body of regulations promulgated by state agencies is referred to as administrative law. The Texas
Administrative Code contains the compiled and indexed regulations of Texas state agencies and is published
yearly by the Secretary of State.[8] The Texas Register contains proposed rules, notices, executive orders,
and other information of general use to the public and is published weekly by the Secretary of State.[9] Both
are also available online through the Secretary of State's website.[10][11]
Case law
See also: Judiciary of Texas
The Texas legal system is based on common law, which is interpreted by case law through the decisions of
the Texas Supreme Court, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, and the Texas Courts of Appeals. There is no
longer an officially published reporter. West's Texas Cases (a Texas-specific version of the South Western
Reporter) includes reported opinions of the Supreme Court, the Court of Criminal Appeals, and the Courts of
Appeals.[12][13] The Texas Reports includes Supreme Court opinions until July 1962, and the Texas Criminal
Reports includes Court of Criminal Appeals opinions until November 1962.[13] Appellate opinions from 1997–
2002 onwards are generally available online.[14][15]

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There is no systematic reporting of decisions of trial courts.[12] Online availability of case filings at the trial
court level varies drastically: some district courts and county courts at law allow online access to download
case filings, either for free or for a fee, either to registered users (sometimes restricted by attorney status)
or to all users, whereas other trial courts only allow online access to the clerk's register of actions or the case
docket, or no online access at all. For example, the Harris County District Clerk's website requires users to
register for free in order to download case filings.[16] The Harris County Clerk similarly requires registration
in order to download case filings, though the search function is available to unregistered users.[17] In Dallas
County, the District Clerk and County Clerk's records are available from a single online portal which allows for
most non-sensitive case filings to be downloaded without registration.[18] Filings from all 254 Texas counties
can be searched by registered users for free through the statewide re:SearchTX portal, though a payment of
$.10 (ten cents) per page is required for downloads.[19]
Local ordinances
See also: Administrative divisions of Texas
Municipal governments may promulgate local ordinances, rules, and police regulations, and are usually
codified in a "code of ordinances".[20] Counties in Texas have limited regulatory (ordinance) authority.[20]
Some codes are printed by private publishers, and some are available online, but the most common method
of discovering local ordinances is by physically traveling to the seat of government and asking around.[21]
Age of criminal responsibility
Criminal courts in Texas have automatic jurisdiction over all persons over 17 years of age.[22] As of 2017
there was advocacy to raise the age to 18.[23][24] The Texas House of Representatives passed such a bill in
2017 that would be effective 2021.[25] In August 2017 there were thirty-three prisoners in adult prisons
and/or state jails who were below the age of 18.[26]
In Texas the minimum age at which a child may be adjudicated as delinquent is 10.[27]
Murder statutes
Capital murder convictions have two options: life imprisonment without parole and death. Prior to 2005 life
with parole and death were the two options, but that year the Texas Legislature modified the statute.[28]
Maurice Chammah , author of Let the Lord Sort Them: The Rise and Fall of the Death Penalty, stated that
governments of smaller counties supported the move as death penalty cases had increasing costs.[29]
See also
Topics
Alcohol laws of Texas
Capital punishment in Texas
Expungement in Texas
Felony murder rule (Texas)
Gambling in Texas
Gun laws in Texas
Deregulation of the Texas electricity market
LGBT rights in Texas
Legal status of Texas
Other
Politics of Texas
Law enforcement in Texas
Crime in Texas
Law of the United States
References
Legislative Council, p. 9.
State of Texas v. West Publishing Company, 882 F.2d 171 (5th Cir. 1989).
Quarles & Cordon 2003, p. 219.
Quarles & Cordon 2008, p. 121.
Texas State Law Library. "Historical Texas Statutes". Retrieved January 3, 2016.
Legislative Council, pp. 24–25.
Gammel, H.P.N. (1898). The Laws of Texas, 1822-1897.

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Quarles & Cordon 2003, p. 305.
Quarles & Cordon 2003, pp. 302–304.
Quarles & Cordon 2003, p. 304.
Quarles & Cordon 2003, p. 306.
Quarles & Cordon 2003, p. 73.
Quarles & Cordon 2008, p. 34.
Quarles & Cordon 2008, pp. 35–36.
"Orders & Opinions (Supreme Court of Texas)". Texas Judicial Branch. Retrieved November 27, 2020.
"Harris County District Clerk". In order to better protect court documents, we now require you to have a
registered login with our site. All public case information is still available to everyone, once they login, and
can be viewed FREE of charge.
"Log In". Harris County Clerk. Retrieved November 27, 2020. The Harris County Clerk’s Office provides
online access to certain public documents. However, in order to protect those documents, a registered login
with our site is required. This is in accordance with local, state and federal practices, as well as general Web
security protocols that help ensure documents are properly accessed and help guard against identity theft
and fraud. Public documents are available online to all registered users, and can be viewed FREE of charge.
"Dallas County Online Record Search". Retrieved November 27, 2020.
"Court Records Search - Home". re:SearchTX. Retrieved November 27, 2020.
Quarles & Cordon 2003, p. 225.
Quarles & Cordon 2003, pp. 225–226.
Texas Penal Code, 8.07(b), retrieved November 27, 2020
Silver, Jonathan (January 30, 2017). "Juvenile justice advocates look to raise age of criminal responsibility to
18". Texas Tribune. Retrieved March 14, 2020.
Albrecht, Annie F. (December 14, 2017). A CHILD IN EVERY WAY BUT ONE: RAISING THE AGE OF
CRIMINAL RESPONSIBILITY IN TEXAS (Thesis). University of Texas at Austin. doi:10.15781/T2FN1184Z. -
Plan II Honors Program - The cited information is in the abstract.
Silver, Jonathan (April 20, 2017). "House passes bill to raise age of criminal responsibility from 17 to 18".
Texas Tribune. Retrieved March 14, 2020.
“Raise the Age”: Hold 17-Year-Olds Accountable in the Juvenile Justice System | Texas Criminal Justice
Coalition
"Minimum Age for Delinquency Adjudication—Multi-Jurisdiction Survey". National Juvenile Defender Center.
Retrieved March 14, 2020.
Blakinger, Keri (November 19, 2018). "Teen killer finally gets chance for parole - in 2047 - for Harris County
deputy's shooting". Associated Press. Retrieved January 30, 2021.
Calahan, Rose (January 28, 2021). "Why Is the Death Penalty on the Decline in Texas?". Texas Monthly.
Retrieved January 28, 2021.
Research Division of the Texas Legislative Council. Guide to Texas Legislative Information (PDF). Texas
Legislative Council. OCLC 36222302.
Quarles, Brandon D.; Cordon, Matthew C. (2008). Researching Texas Law (2nd ed.). Wm. S. Hein Publishing.
ISBN 978-0-8377-1533-9.
Quarles, Brandon D.; Cordon, Matthew C. (2003). Legal Research for the Texas Practitioner. Wm. S. Hein
Publishing. ISBN 0-8377-3626-9.
External links
Texas Constitution from the Texas Legislative Council
Texas Statutes from the Texas Legislative Council
Texas Administrative Code from the Texas Secretary of State
General and Special Laws of Texas from the Texas Legislative Reference Library Legislative Archive System
Gammel's The Laws of Texas from the University of North Texas Libraries
Texas Register from the Texas Secretary of State
Texas Register archives from the University of North Texas Libraries
Harris County regulations from the Harris County Attorney
Dallas County Code from Municode
Local ordinance codes from Public.Resource.Org
Case law: "Texas", Caselaw Access Project, Harvard Law School, OCLC 1078785565, Court decisions freely
available to the public online, in a consistent format, digitized from the collection of the Harvard Law Library
vte
State of Texas

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vte
Law of the United States by jurisdiction
Authority control: National libraries Edit this at Wikidata
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