Article XII, Section 4 of the Texas Constitution
This section was repealed August 5, 1969.
Editor Comments
The former section was adopted in 1876 and never amended.
It read: "The first Legislature assembled after the adoption of this Constitution shall provide a mode of procedure by the attorney general and district or county attorneys, in the name and behalf of the State, to prevent and punish the demanding and receiving or collection of any and all charges, as freight, wharfage, fares, or tolls, for the use of property devoted by the public, unless the same shall have been specially authorized by law."
Categorized as "deadwood," it and numerous other sections were repealed by the same ballot proposition.
Recent Decisions
None.
Historic Decisions
- State v. International & G. N. R. Co., 35 S.W. 1067, 1069 (Tex. 1896) ("This section applies to a case where charges are demanded for the use of property devoted to the public in the absence of a law specially authorizing such charges, as where tolls are attempted to be charged for the use of a public bridge or highway in the absence of a law authorizing same; but it has no application to the case at bar, where it is not contended that freight, etc., are not authorized by law to be demanded, received, and collected in the operation of the Galveston, Houston & Henderson Railroad, but the contention is that the International & Great Northern Railroad Company is not the proper person to . . . collect same.")
Library Resources
- Vernon's Annotated Constitution of the State of Texas (multi-volume and up-to-date resource available at all law and many municipal libraries)
- The Texas State Constitution: A Reference Guide (one-volume resource available at most law and some municipal libraries)
- The Constitution of the State of Texas: An Annotated and Comparative Analysis (two-volume resource available at most law and some municipal libraries)
Online Resources
- Constitution of the State of Texas (1876) (resource published online and maintained by the University of Texas School of Law)
- Amendments to the Texas Constitution Since 1876 (resource published online and regularly updated by the Legislative Council)
- Reports Analyzing Proposed Amendments (resource published online and regularly updated by the Legislative Reference Library)