Article XI, Section 8 of the Texas Constitution
Adopted February 15, 1876:
The counties and cities on the Gulf Coast being subject to calamitous overflows, and a very large proportion of the general revenue being derived from those otherwise prosperous localities, the Legislature is especially authorized to aid by donation of such portion of the public domain as may be deemed proper, and in such mode as may be provided by law, the construction of sea walls, or breakwaters, such aid to be proportioned to the extent and value of the works constructed, or to be constructed, in any locality.
Editor Comments
None.
Recent Decisions
None.
Historic Decisions
- City of Aransas Pass v. Keeling, 247 S.W. 818, 820 (Tex. 1923) ("While these words admit of the interpretation that state aid to these works was to be extended only by donation of the public domain in a mode to be determined by the Legislature, yet they are obviously as susceptible of the meaning that the Legislature was empowered to extend state aid both by donation of public domain, and in any different manner adopted by the Legislature. Viewed . . . . It would be unreasonable to assume that the framers of the Constitution did not intend to make it possible for the Legislature to discharge an obligation which would be just as binding after as before the exhaustion of the public domain.")
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)