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This section was repealed August 5, 1969.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Categorized as "deadwood," it and numerous other sections were repealed by the same ballot proposition in 1969.

—Attorney Steve Smith

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 (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)