Texas Court of Appeals (1st):

An Inventory of Records at the Texas State Archives, 1887-1975 (bulk 1892-1975)

Agency History

Three characteristics of the judicial system in Texas distinguish it from the national norm: it has two appellate courts of last resort, its trial courts do not have uniform jurisdiction of subject matter, and its judges are chosen in partisan elections. The state has three levels of trial courts-district, county, and inferior-and there is no uniformity of jurisdiction among the courts at each level. To be sure of a trial court's jurisdiction, one must examine the statute that established it. There are two levels of appellate courts: the courts of appeals and the two courts of last resort, which are the Court of Criminal Appeals and the Supreme Court. The appellate level courts are the courts of appeals, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, and the Supreme Court.

Following Reconstruction, the Texas Supreme Court became overwhelmed with cases on appeal. To help relieve the burden, the Court of Appeals (later known as the Court of Criminal Appeals) was created by constitutional amendment in 1876 and an intermediate level of appeals courts for civil cases was established by constitutional amendment in 1891 (Texas Constitution, Article V, Section 1). The new courts of civil appeals (later renamed courts of appeals) were given jurisdiction over most civil appeals from the district and county courts; further review by the Supreme Court was discretionary with that court. The courts of civil appeals were also given original jurisdiction of appeals in non-capital criminal cases, and the Court of Criminal Appeals was given jurisdiction for discretionary review of the decisions. The system of intermediate appellate courts made it possible for the Supreme Court to regulate its docket by exercising its discretion to deny review of most appeals. Another advantage of the new courts was that the capacity of the civil appellate system could be expanded by the formation of more courts of civil appeals.

In 1967 the state was divided into fourteen court of appeals districts by an amendment to the Texas Constitution (Article V, Section 1); in each is a court of appeals that has a chief justice and at least two other justices, who serve four-year terms. Courts of appeals hear most appeals from the county and district trial courts (the biggest exception being death-penalty cases, which go directly to the Court of Criminal Appeals). An appeal to these courts is based on the written record of a trial. The appellate courts do not hear witnesses. The decisions of the courts of appeals may be reviewed by the Court of Criminal Appeals (in criminal law matters) or the Supreme Court (in other kinds of cases), except that the decisions of the courts of appeals on questions of fact are conclusive.

At an 1892 special session called to implement the 1891 constitutional amendment, the 22nd Legislature, through Senate Bill 18, divided the state into three supreme judicial districts. The Texas Court of Appeals (1st) was the first of the three original appeals courts with its seat in Galveston. The Court is currently composed of a Chief Justice and nine justices. It has intermediate appellate jurisdiction of both civil and criminal cases appealed from lower courts in thirteen counties of Texas; in civil cases where judgment rendered exceeds $100, exclusive of costs, and other civil proceedings as provided by law; and in criminal cases except in post-conviction writs of habeas corpus and where the death penalty has been imposed (Texas Government Code Annotated, Section 22.201). The court hears appeals from the following counties: Austin, Brazoria, Burleson, Chambers, Colorado, Fort Bend, Galveston, Grimes, Harris, Trinity, Walker, Waller, and Washington. The Court disposed of a total of 1,470 cases in fiscal year 2002.

Information for the this agency history has been taken from the Handbook of Texas Online and from the Texas Judiciary Online.

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Scope and Contents of the Records

Records comprise minutes, opinions, legal documents (including appeals, briefs, orders, statements of costs, trial transcripts, motions, opinions, and correspondence), dockets, fee books, cash books, financial documents, receipts, accounts, cost books, law license applications, application volumes, clippings, execution warrants, and indexes, dating 1887-1975 (bulk 1892-1975), of the Texas Court of Appeals (1st).

The minute entries state when the court met and adjourned, include summaries of judgements on appeal, and summarize the cases and motions submitted to the court daily. Dates on which mandates were issued appear in the margins. The minutes record remarks made before the court on special occasions, such as memorializing the deaths of judges or unveiling portraits. The opinions record the appeal decisions of the justices of the First Court of Appeals. The volumes dating to the 1890s are handwritten and some of the opinions in the first two volumes were recorded in a green ink that has faded and become difficult to read. The remainder of the volumes are typescript.

The case files document the cases appealed to the First Court of Appeals in Galveston. A number of the 1892 cases were originally directed to the Texas Supreme Court on appeal but were redirected to the First Court upon its creation. As a result, some of the files bear stamps and numbers indicating receipt by the Supreme Court and then later stamps indicating receipt by the First Court; it is not uncommon to find materials dating from 1891 in these files. Two indexes provide access to the case files.

The dockets include trial dockets, motion dockets, file dockets, execution dockets, general dockets, and fee books. Each entry in the trial dockets contains the case number, names of the attorneys, parties in the case, county, date filed, orders in the Supreme Court, and present orders. In addition, each entry is stamped with the decision of the court, namely affirmed, reversed and remanded, reversed and rendered, reversed and dismissed, or dismissed. Volumes are indexed by style at either the front or back of each volume. Motion dockets contain the motion number, case number, attorneys names, style of cause, "for what purpose," date filed, county, notes, and orders by the court. File docket entries include the case number, names of attorneys, style of cause, counties, date filed, and the first two volumes contain orders of the previous term and present orders. Execution dockets record the court fees to be collected and are numerically ordered with a corresponding case number. The entries also include the parties, amount owed, date, county, and returns. The volumes, particularly Volume 2, contain some loose execution warrants and correspondence. Finally, the entries in the two general dockets contain a number, the names of the parties, the county, date when issued, to whom delivered or sent, remarks, a bill of costs, and additional remarks. The volumes have correspondence and clippings attached to some of the pages throughout. Researchers should note that the general dockets were probably created by the Texas Court of Appeals which was replaced by the Court of Criminal Appeals and three (eventually fourteen) Courts of Civil Appeals in April 1892. All of the civil cases originally assigned to the Court of Appeals were divided among the three new Courts of Civil Appeals. The general dockets were probably transferred to the First Court with the civil cases.

Every page in each of the fee book volumes is an account of the court fees and costs applying to an individual case filed with the First Court of Appeals. The information on each page includes the style of the case, the case number(?), name of the county, names of the principals, names of the sureties, the date filed, the date disposed of, the decision of the court, the author of the opinion, an enumerated list of the court fees and costs, and by whom and when the fees were paid. The dates provided in the volume list are the dates on which cases were filed; on occasion a case could take over a year to be disposed.

The two cash books list the charges applied to each case. Some portions of the books contain a list of costs, including the date, the item for which the court is charging (a copy of the opinion, for example), the price, the date the clerk was paid, and the amount paid. Other portions of the volumes contain the date, case number, style, total of monies collected, a breakdown of the amount of money that was owed and distributed to the state, Supreme Court clerk, trial clerk, sheriff, and miscellaneous and, finally, the total remittance amount. The books contain a number of loose cost bills and reports.

The law license application/examination volume, 1904-1919, contains the names and examination scores of applicants for law licenses. The applicants are in roughly alphabetical order. Each entry includes the applicant's name, residence, course of study scores, general average, action taken, and the date. The actions taken were to issue or refuse a license, apparently based of the scores of the applicant. A few pages of loose correspondence may be found between pages. Two indexes appear to refer to a library of law books and journals. One volume contains an index with notations of number of digests, missing, and volumes held. The other volume appears to be a subject index. Both volumes are in very poor condition.

The boxes of miscellaneous writs of execution to collect fees, fee docket, financial documents, receipts, accounts, cost books, and law license applications appear to have been maintained by the clerk of the First Court. The records are unorganized, date from the 1900s to 1950s, and show some evidence of past mold damage.

To prepare this inventory, the described materials were cursorily reviewed to delineate series, to confirm the accuracy of contents lists, to provide an estimate of dates covered, and to determine record types.

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Restrictions

Restrictions on Access

The Case files are in off-site storage. Records requested before 10:00 a.m. will usually be available for review by an archivist by 4:00 p.m. the same day. Records requested after 10:00 a.m. and before 3:00 p.m will usually be available for review by an archivist by noon the next day.

Case files may possibly contain documents sealed by the court, and therefore excepted from public disclosure by the Texas Public Information Act, Section 552.107(2). When a researcher requests a case, the file will be reviewed by an archivist in order to remove sealed documents. The researcher will be informed that sealed documents have been removed from the file and it will then be up to the researcher to obtain permission from the 1st Court of Appeals to access the documents.

Case files may possibly also contain personal information of jurors and prospective jurors. According to the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure, Article 35.29, information collected by the court or by a prosecuting attorney during the jury selection process about a person who serves as a juror, including the juror's home address, home telephone number, social security number, driver's license number, and other personal information, is confidential and may not be disclosed by the court, the prosecuting attorney, the defense counsel, or any court personnel except on application by a party in the trial or on application by a bona fide member of the news media acting in such capacity to the court in which the person is serving or did serve as a juror. On a showing of good cause, the court shall permit disclosure of the information sought. (Acts 1993, 73rd Leg., ch. 371, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1993) The Court of Criminal Appeals has verified that juror information is to be withheld from the public according to the statute cited above. Therefore, when a case is requested, an archivist will review the case to ascertain whether or not juror information is present. If such information is found, the researcher will be informed and the documents will be removed from the file. If an individual wishes to access juror information, they will have to obtain permission from the 1st Court of Appeals. Because the judiciary is not covered by the Texas Public Information Act, the Archives cannot estimate how long it will take the Court to respond to a request.

Case files may possibly also contain non-court documents. Before a researcher is granted access to a case, an archivist will review the files and remove all such materials. The researcher will be informed if materials are removed. If the researcher wishes to access the documents, the Archives will contact the 1st Court of Appeals to determine the appropriate course of action on a case-by-case basis. Because the judiciary is not covered by the Texas Public Information Act, the Archives cannot estimate how long it will take the Court to respond to a request.

Restrictions on Use

Most records created by Texas state agencies are not copyrighted and may be freely used in any way. State records also include materials received by, not created by, state agencies. Copyright remains with the creator. The researcher is responsible for complying with U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17 U.S.C.).

Technical Requirements

None.

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Related Material

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Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

(Identify the item and cite the series), Records, Texas Court of Appeals (1st). Archives and Information Services Division, Texas State Library and Archives Commission.

Accession Information

Accession numbers: 1979/238, 1980/046, 1980/194, 1980/263, 1980/306, 1980/309, 1985/046, 2004/228

These records were transferred to the Houston Metropolitan Research Center, a Regional Historical Resource Depository [RHRD] of the Texas State Library and Archives Commission, by the First District Court of Civil Appeals on July 30, 1979; November 11, 1979; April 2, 1980; July 1, 1980; August 21, 1980; and August 29, 1985. In 2003, the Houston Metropolitan Research Center chose to drop its RHRD status and the records of the First Court were shipped to the Texas State Archives in Austin during December 2003 and January 2004. The indexes to case files were transferred to the Texas State Archives by the 1st Court of Appeals on August 13, 2004, after being microfilmed.

Processing Information

Nancy Enneking, April 2004

Tony Black, September 2004

Other Formats for the Records

The two indexes to case files, 1892-1970, have been microfilmed as a result of funding raised by the Friends of the Clayton Library in Houston, Texas. A CD-ROM was also created of the indexes, and will be used by Archives staff to identify vault numbers for specific cases.

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Detailed Description of the Records

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