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."
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 (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)