Law - Texas   Tags: government, law, laws, subjectguide, texas  

Full text of all Texas Supreme Court decisions from 1840, Texas Court of Appeals and Court of Civil Appeals decisions from 1892, and Texas Court of Criminal Appeals from 1876. Searchable by citation, case name, or full text.

Once a law is signed by the Governor, it is printed as an individual "slip law" and assigned a chronological chapter number. These chapters are reprinted in the General and Special Laws of Texas, also call the "Session Laws", which is published at the end of the legislative session. Each session law includes the official chapter number (used for citing the bill), the bill number, a subject-based caption, the section of Vernon's that the law amends, the text of the law, a vote tally, date of the governor's signature, and the effective date. The law is then codified by subject into Vernon's Texas Statutes and Codes Annotated, which, although privately published, is the official codification for Texas law. An online version of both the Vernon's Statutes and enrolled bills from the last three legislatures is available from the Texas Legislature Online.

LLMC Digital Law (TAMU only) has early session laws starting in 1879

Find Laws by Subject

To find laws by subject, begin with either the Texas Code from LexisNexis or the Texas Statutes database from the Texas Legislature Online. Otherwise, the best place to begin is with the cumulative indexes to Vernon's Texas Statutes and Codes Annotated.

LexisNexis Academic (TAMU only)

Full-text of the Texas' Constitution, Statutes, and Codes from LexisNexis. Select the “Legal” tab and then “Federal & State Codes” from the left. Then in the Sources drop down menu select “TX.”

Campus Research – Westlaw (TAMU only)

Select the “Law” tab and then check appropriate box under “Statutes and Regulations” for state information.

Texas Legislature Online: Texas Statutes

Full-text of all current Texas statutes in three formats -- HTML, PDF or .doc. Searchable or you can browse by code section.

Vernon's Texas Statutes and Codes Annotated KFT1230.5.V4 P68 (Evans Reference)

The full-text of the statutes, but with additional information in the form or annotations and case notes. The bound volumes are updated by annual cumulative pocket parts and quarterly pamphlet supplements. The subject index includes a table converting session law citations to code citations.

Find Laws by Number

To find a law when you have only the bill number, you will need to determine the legislature and session during which the law passed. For recent legislation, you will need to use the Texas Legislature Online. For laws from older legislatures, use the "Bills and Resolutions Approved" table of the appropriate Session Laws to refer you to the proper chapter. The chapter itself with refer you to the appropriate section of Vernon's as well. Alternatively you can use the cumulative Index volumes to Vernon's which has a table converting session law numbers to code sections.

Texas Legislature Online: Bill Lookup

Search for bills from the 71st legislature (1989) on. Choose the appropriate legislature, and then search.

Texas Legislative Reference Library Bill Lookup

Search by bill number or session law chapter number for links to bill files, bill analyses, bill histories and other documents. 

Texas Laws and Resolutions Archive

The Texas Laws and Resolutions Archive from the University of North Texas insures permanent storage and public access to the non-current electronic files of the Texas Laws and Resolutions, beginning with the 78th Legislative Session. Select a session and scroll by bill number. Adobe Acrobat reader required to view bills.

General and Special Laws of the State of Texas, 1900-current (26^th Legislature-current) L1800.4 G286 Texas Documents (5^th floor Evans Annex)

Indexed by subject, bill number, and code section affected. Includes proposed constitutional amendments and a list of bills and resolutions vetoed after adjournment. Only published after the session is over. Publishing tends to run about a year behind.

LearningExpress Library - Practice for the LSAT exam. Create a free user account and click on the College Student tab and then select Graduate School Entrance Exam Preparation and select LSAT.

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