Article III, Section 15 of the Texas Constitution ("Disrespectful or Disorderly Conduct; Obstruction of Proceedings")

Adopted February 15, 1876:

Each House may punish, by imprisonment, during its sessions, any person not a member, for disrespectful or disorderly conduct in its presence, or for obstructing any of its proceedings; provided, such imprisonment shall not, at any one time, exceed forty-eight hours.

Editor Comments

None.

—Attorney Steve Smith

Recent Decisions

None.

Historic Decisions

• Ferrantello v. State, 256 S.W.2d 587, 590 (Tex.Crim.App. 1952) ("Great reliance is had upon Ex parte Youngblood, 94 Tex.Cr.R. 330, 251 S.W. 509, wherein we held that the Legislature was powerless to . . . . The fundamental distinction between the Youngblood case and the case at bar lies in the identity of the tribunal assessing the punishment. In the Youngblood case, the Legislature sought to impose the punishment; while in the case at bar the court set the punishment upon a verdict of the jury following a trial for the substantive offense of refusing to answer questions propounded by a legislative committee.")

• Canfield v. Gresham, 17 S.W. 390, 390-93 (Tex. 1891) ("This suit was brought by appellant against 56 members of the house of representatives of the twentieth legislature and J. C. Carr, its sergeant at arms, to recover damages alleged to have been caused by his unlawful and malicious arrest and imprisonment. . . . The house had unquestionably the right to determine whether or not the acts of plaintiff were an obstruction to its proceedings within the meaning of the constitution, and, having so determined, to cause him to be imprisoned as he was. The command of the house protected the sergeant at arms.")

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)