The Texas Court System

There are many reforms that have been discussed one being to extend the term for members of the Texas Legislature. Many feel that if the Senate is extended to six years and the House of Representative to four years it will allow the members to obtain more experience in fields and be able to not have to worry about when the next election is as often. Many critics feel that the time members are in session are too short to make any real progress, reformers would like to increase the length of legislative sessions from the current 140 days. Others feel that increasing the sessions would allow for more laws and regulations. This will be an ongoing debate where there will always be two sides to the possibility of reform which will impact the possibility of it being passed.

“The Texas Legislature is the most important representative institution in the state” (TEXT 201). The Texas legislature performs a great number of functions, but one of the main functions is lawmaking. Hundreds of bills are drafted but it is not easy for that bill to become law. Roughly every two years, the legislature gathers to carry out laws about issues of allocating resources, benefits, costs, and the behavior of state residents. Policies and proposals for constitutional amendments are looked at ranging from small local issues to statewide issues. The state legislature also plays a significant role in state finances through its power to tax. It has the power to decide if tax increases or decrease are necessary, budgeting for and financing

When Texas became a state in 1845, judges were appointed by the governor with state consent, but in but since 1876, judges at all levels of courts have been elected by the

Texas has been through a lot of changes and constitutions. After constants debates of what the constitution should be, the current Texas constitution was established in 1876 and is the 7th constitution Texas has had. It created 3 branches of government: Legislative, Executive, and Judicial. The current constitution has great qualities, but it also contains a lot of weaknesses that shouldn’t be ignored for the sake of pride.

The textbook explains that courts of limited jurisdiction vary extensively. These specific courts hear cases involving minor offenses such as traffic disputes, collisions, and other civil matters. Additionally, courts of limited jurisdiction take up more than 80% of all of California’s courts. These courts also have the greatest caseloads in the entire nation. The District of Columbia, Iowa, South Dakota, Idaho and Illinois are the only states that lack courts with limited jurisdiction. Courts of limited jurisdiction are also known as municipal courts, county courts, or justice of the peace courts. These courts remain extremely full with heavy caseloads due to the fact that they hear many different types of cases.

All of the state judges are bound by the U.S. Constitution, which makes the Texas Constitution weaker than the U.S. Constitution. The U.S. Constitution includes the supremacy clause, which states that it is the law of the land. It says that if for some reason there is a conflict between the two constitutions, the U.S. Constitution will overrule Texas’. The most recent ruling on same sex marriage revealed this power. Some states had laws preventing same sex marriage, but once the Supreme Court ruled it constitutional, the laws were no longer valid and they must recognize same sex

Court cases, both criminal and civil begin in a regional court which makes a decision based upon the law that governs that particular region and that specific

The state trial courts of general jurisdiction are the district courts. The district court has exclusive jurisdiction on felony cases, as well as divorce cases, cases involving title to land, and election contest cases. It shares jurisdiction with the county courts, and in some case justice of the peace courts, for civil cases the lowest limit for hearing a case is a mere $200 in controversy, while in Justice of the Peace courts can hear cases up to $5,000. In a "catchall" provision it hears all cases in which jurisdiction is not placed in another trial court.

Laws are meant to create order. Order is a necessary means of structure so that men

Compared to the United States’ 4,543 worded constitution, Texas’ constitution has nearly twenty times more words (87,000) (Collier). The national constitution has never been replaced; however, it has been amended twenty-seven times. Texas’s constitution has been replaced a total number of 5 times due to how detailed it is. Depending on the era, a constitution may have certain rules which as time progresses become more hurtful to its constituents. Only a century ago, women and people of color had little to no rights as a human being. It took America, “Land of the free”, a little more than a century to allow women to vote. It is obvious that the ability to amend a constitution is a valuable one. The issue in Texas is that it has had a unique history and vast spread of land; therefore, it’s constitution is quite detailed. Texas was once its own republic, it was one of the later states to be admitted to the United States, and that it occupies so much land that counties within its lines often differ drastically.

The legal system is made up of civil courts, criminal courts and specialty courts such as family law courts and bankruptcy court. Each court has its own jurisdiction, which refers to the cases that the court is allowed to hear. In some instances, a case can only be heard in one type of court. For example, a bankruptcy case must be heard in a bankruptcy court. In other instances, there may be several potential courts with jurisdiction. For example, a federal criminal court and a state criminal court would each have jurisdiction over a crime that is a federal drug offense but that is also an offense on the state level.

The State Courts System, on the other hand, are extremely diverse. None of the states provide similar judicial practices. State Courts include inferior courts which are further classified as magistrate courts, municipal courts, county courts and many others. There are also some superior courts at the state levels known as circuit or district courts (James, 2009).

Many states also have specialized trial courts that hear cases related to a very specific area of the law. These courts can include probate courts, family law courts, juvenile courts,

The legal system of the United States also has different types of courts in addition to different types and classifications of

This chapter opens by discussing in detail the many different forms of the American Court system and how they all work both individually on their own as well as an overall system, as seen in the difference between federal and state court systems that work both individually on their own separate systems and procedures. The beginning of this chapter also discusses how the federal court systems are divided by different types of courts (i.e. intermediate appellate courts, trial courts of general jurisdiction etc.)