Article III, Section 21 of the Texas Constitution ("Words Spoken in Debate")
Adopted February 15, 1876:
No member shall be questioned in any other place for words spoken in debate in either House.
Editor Comments
None.
Recent Decisions
None.
Historic Decisions
- 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 (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)