The Supreme Court of the Republic of Texas was the
court of last resort
A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...
for legal matters in the
Republic of Texas from the Republic's independence from
Mexico
Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
in 1836 until its annexation by the
United States of America
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...
in 1846. The current
Supreme Court of Texas was established that year.
Organization of the Court
The Court was established by the
Constitution
A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed.
When these princ ...
of 1836, which created the Supreme Court and such inferior courts as the Texas Congress might from time to time establish. The constitution also mandated that the Republic be divided into judicial districts, and that the district judges would serve as the associate judges on the Supreme Court, along with a Chief Justice. The judges were elected by Congress for a term of four years. The district judges rode the circuit in their district during the spring and fall, leaving only the summer and winter for the judges to sit as the Supreme Court.
Jurisdiction
The Court had unlimited
appellate jurisdiction. In the first statute establishing the district courts, Congress set $300 as the minimum amount in controversy for the appeal of a decision from the district court to the Supreme Court. In 1841 the Court declared that limit
unconstitutional
Constitutionality is said to be the condition of acting in accordance with an applicable constitution; "Webster On Line" the status of a law, a procedure, or an act's accordance with the laws or set forth in the applicable constitution. When l ...
in ''
Morton v. Gordon and Alley'', stating that all final judgments of the district courts were able to be appealed to the Supreme Court. The same district court enabling act did not provide for appeal to the Supreme Court of criminal matters, which the Court resolved in ''
Republic v. Smith'', stating that the constitution gave jurisdiction to the Court over all criminal appeals.
Operation of the Court
On December 15, 1836, the
Texas Congress passed the implementing statute establishing the courts of Texas, and elected the chief justice and four district judges the next day. The four district judges covered 22 counties and were ''
ex officio'' members of the Supreme Court. The court was to meet for one session a year, beginning on the first Monday in December, and required a majority of the judges to be present. The opinions of the court are collected in a private
reporter, ''
Dallam's Decisions'', in only one volume.
Justices of the Court
Chief Justices
The Court had a
Chief Justice and originally four district judges who served as associate judges. This was expanded to five in 1838 and seven in 1840. The first Chief Justice was
James Collinsworth
James Thompson Collinsworth (1802 – July 11, 1838) was an American-born Texian lawyer and political figure in early history of the Republic of Texas.
Early life
Collinsworth was born in 1802 Davidson County, Tennessee. His father, Edward Co ...
, who was an ally of
Sam Houston, the president-elect of the new republic. On Collinsworth's death, Houston appointed
John Birdsall to the post. When
Mirabeau B. Lamar
Mirabeau Buonaparte Lamar (August 16, 1798 – December 25, 1859) was an Lawyer, attorney born in Georgia,
who became a Texas politician, poet, diplomat, and soldier. He was a leading Texas political figure during the Republic of Texas, Texas ...
became president, Congress refused to confirm Birdsall and elected
Thomas Jefferson Rusk
Thomas Jefferson Rusk (December 5, 1803July 29, 1857) was an early political and military leader of the Republic of Texas, serving as its first Secretary of War as well as a general at the Battle of San Jacinto. He was later a US politician and ...
instead.
In 1840, Rusk resigned and was replaced by
John Hemphill, who served until the annexation of Texas.. The election in Congress was contested, with
John Scott, former
Solicitor General of North Carolina
A solicitor is a legal practitioner who traditionally deals with most of the legal matters in some jurisdictions. A person must have legally-defined qualifications, which vary from one jurisdiction to another, to be described as a solicitor and ...
;
James Webb, former U.S. District judge and
Attorney General of Texas; and Hemphill all in the running for Chief Justice. Hemphill has been compared to
John Marshall in laying down the legal foundation of Texas law, especially in the area of
land titles
Land registration is any of various systems by which matters concerning ownership, possession, or other rights in land are formally recorded (usually with a government agency or department) to provide evidence of title, facilitate transactions, ...
,
marital property, and
homestead exemption
The homestead exemption is a legal regime to protect the value of the homes of residents from property taxes, creditors, and circumstances that arise from the death of the homeowner's spouse.
Such laws are found in the statutes or the constitution ...
s.
District judges
The original four district court judges elected by Congress were
Shelby Corzine,
Benjamin Cromwell Franklin,
Robert McAlpin Williamson
Robert McAlpin Williamson (1804? – December 22, 1859) was a Republic of Texas Supreme Court Justice, state lawmaker and Texas Ranger. Williamson County, Texas is named for him. He is the first white person documented playing the banjo.
Early ...
, and
James W. Robinson. Due to delays in the Supreme Court sitting in session, these four judges (along with the first two chief justices) never sat with the Supreme Court.
Succession of seats
Sessions
1837 and 1839
No session was held in 1837, probably because a majority of the judges were not present. Two weeks after the Court was supposed to have met, Congress passed a statute which would impose a $1,000 fine on a judge who did not appear for a session. A short time later, Congress eliminated the scheduled 1838 session when it moved the annual date to the second Monday in January. In the meantime, Collinsworth died and Houston replaced him with Birdsall until Congress could meet and elect a new Chief Justice. Rusk was elected, but did not receive word of his election until after the 1839 session had been scheduled to occur and been canceled for lack of a Chief Justice.
1840
The first session in which the Texas Supreme Court met was the January 1840 session, in Austin. The Court consisted of Chief Justice Rusk, and District Judges Shelby, W.J. Jones, Mills, and Hemphill. The clerk was
W. Fairfax Gray. The court disposed of 49 cases on its docket, but issued only 18 opinions. Thirteen cases were decided without opinion; the rest were continued to the following term. The court issued what appear to be the first ''
writ of mandamus
(; ) is a judicial remedy in the form of an order from a court to any government, subordinate court, corporation, or public authority, to do (or forbear from doing) some specific act which that body is obliged under law to do (or refrain fro ...
'' and first ''
writ of habeas corpus
''Habeas corpus'' (; from Medieval Latin, ) is a recourse in law through which a person can report an unlawful detention or imprisonment to a court and request that the court order the custodian of the person, usually a prison official, t ...
'' in Texas.
1841
The January 1841 session was attended by Chief Justice Hemphill and District Judges Baylor, Hutchinson, Terrell, Scurry, and Hansford. Gray was the clerk. The District Judges from the First and Second Districts were not in attendance.
1842
The January 1842 session was attended by Chief Justice Hemphill and District Judges Morris, Baylor, Hutchinson, Ochiltree, Jack, and Mills.
Thomas Green was the clerk. The District Judge from the Second District did not attend.
1843
The June 1843 session was attended by Chief Justice Hemphill and District Judges Morris, Baylor, Ochiltree, and Jack. Green was the clerk. The District Judges from the Second, Fourth, and Seventh Districts did not attend.
1844
The June 1844 session was attended by Chief Justice Hemphill and District Judges Morris, W.J. Jones, Baylor, W.E. Jones, Ochiltree, and Jack. Green was the clerk. The District Judge from the Seventh District did not attend.
1845
The December 1845 session was the last session of the Court. It was attended by Chief Justice Hemphill and District Judges J. B. Jones, W. J. Jones, Baylor, W. E. Jones, Wheeler, and Norton. Green was the clerk. The District Judge from the seventh district did not attend.
[Raines, at 99.]
See also
*
List of Supreme Court of the Republic of Texas cases
References
Footnotes
Notes
External links
The Texas Supreme Court Historical Society
{{Texas History Navbox
Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...
Texas state courts
Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...
Judiciary of the Republic of Texas
Defunct state courts of the United States
1836 establishments in the Republic of Texas
1840s disestablishments in Texas
Courts and tribunals established in 1836
Courts and tribunals disestablished in 1846