Article III, Section 14 of the Texas Constitution ("Privilege from Arrest during Legislative Session")

As amended November 2, 1999:

Senators and Representatives shall, except in cases of treason, felony, or breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest during the session of the Legislature, and in going to and returning from the same.

Editor Comments

This section has been amended once. The 1999 modification was part of a "constitutional cleanup amendment."

—Attorney Steve Smith

Recent Decisions

None.

Historic Decisions

• Gentry v. Griffith, Hyatt & Co., 27 Tex. 461, 462-63 (1864) ("If it had been intended to prohibit service of citations in civil actions upon members during their attendance upon the legislature, it would have been said in the constitution, that they should be exempt from 'actions,' 'suits,' 'citations,' 'process,' . . . A good many authorities have been cited to sustain the construction contended for by the appellant; but an examination of such of them as are accessible to us, shows that they were adjudicated where the common law furnished the rule by which the extent of parliamentary privilege is tested, or where civil actions are instituted by an arrest of the person of the defendant.")

Library Resources

• Vernon's Annotated Constitution of the State of Texas (this multi-volume and up-to-date resource is available at all law libraries and many municipal libraries)

• The Texas State Constitution: A Reference Guide (this one-volume resource is available at most law libraries and some municipal libraries)

• The Constitution of the State of Texas: An Annotated and Comparative Analysis (this two-volume resource is available at most law libraries and some municipal libraries)

Online Resources

• Constitution of the State of Texas (1876) (this resource is published and maintained by the University of Texas School of Law)

• Amendments to the Texas Constitution Since 1876 (this resource is published and regularly updated by the Legislative Council)

• Reports Analyzing Proposed Amendments (this resource is published and regularly updated by the Legislative Reference Library)