TEXAS STATUTES TEXAS STATUTES THE LAW IN TEXAS PRESENTATION BY JILL HENDERSON

COMPONENTS OF TX. LAW Common law from judicial decisions Constitution of 1876 Statutes/Codes Agency Rules/Regulations Court Rules, misc. Municipal Ordinances and County Rules (Minutes)

Texas Constitutions -1 Numerous ones from ; present one is from 1876; we cannot get rid of it and it has been amended numerous times. Is Supreme law of the land in Tex., but is trumped by the Federal Constitution in federal matters. Divided into 17 articles w/ Preamble and Bill of Rights

Texas Constitutions - 2 Published by West; contained in Vols. 1, 1A, 1B, 2 & 3 Unannotated version is in Vols. 1; then annotated Version thru vol. 3 Vol. 3 also contains: previous Tex. Constitutions, Magna Charta, US Declaration of Independence; US Constitution

TEXAS STATUTES Official compilation – last official one in 50 Vols. are numbered 1-23 and arranged A-Z and § Several subject arrangements already in statutes.

TEXAS REVISION PROGRAM Began in 1963, auth. By Tex. Gov. Code § Tex. now has both statutes and codes. It is an ongoing program. Codification collects like-subjects and arranges them together into a single code. Purpose of codification was to make law more accessible & more understandable.

TEXAS CODES Tex. Will have 27 eventual codes. Newest codes are Spec. Dist. Local Laws (2003) and Business Organization Code (2006). Probate & CCrP are arranged like codes, but have not been officially codified into the Codes yet. Each Code has its own index and there is a general purpose index.

ANNOT.,HISTORY AND PP’S Annotations are added notes to help you understand that section. Can include: court cases (notes of decisions), interpretive comm., historical and statutory notes, etc. Each law section has a history (credit) trail which tells you date of the § enactment and amendments. Pocket parts contain the most recent sections. Located in back of book or in stand-alone pamphlets.

OTHER PARTS OF VERNON’S Texas Rules of Civil and Criminal Procedure Misc. Forms Uniform Commercial Code Indices, tables, etc.

DERV./ DISP. TABLES Purpose of these tables are to locate relocated sections. Derv. = new sections (left column) to old sections (right columns) Disposition = opposite of above Found in a stand-alone “Master Disposition Table” volume or in each separate Codes.

TEXAS SESSION LAWS - 1 Tex. Legislature meets every 2 years. Enacted laws collected in a set named General and Special Laws of the State of Texas. As a HB or SB is enacted, for purposes of arrangement, it is collected into a numerically sequenced chapter.

TEXAS SESSION LAWS - 2 “NEW is in “italics”. Deletions or minor changes are in strikeout. Regular type equals unchanged portions This set has lists of bills, indices, tables, etc.

TEXAS ADMINISTRATIVE CODE Not part of the 27 Codes; can be cited as “TAC” Collected rules/regulations of the state agencies, etc. Patterned after the 50 Titles of the CFR. Tex. has 16 Titles, numbered Proposed rules must first be published in the Texas Register.

TX ATTY. GEN. OPINIONS The AG acts as the atty. for the State of Tex. Only certain gov. officials can ask for an opinion. See Tex. Gov. Code, Chap Opinions are not binding, but are persuasive argument, except “unless clearly wrong.” Formal = general interest and letter opinions = local interest only

ORDINANCES AND CNTY RULES Most cities have published codes books. Some web sites collect published city codes. Abilene now only has an on-line version. Large counties may also have some sort of publication of their rules; Taylor Cnty. rules are found in the minutes of Cnty. Clerk.