TLG

Texas Constitution:Article III, Section 1: Difference between revisions

Constitution Discussion

Texas Constitution:Article III, Section 1 (view source)

Revision as of 08:42, July 30, 2023

746 bytes removed ,  July 30, 2023
m
no edit summary
No edit summary
mNo edit summary
 
(13 intermediate revisions by the same user not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
{{DISPLAYTITLE:Article III, Section 1 of the Texas Constitution (''<small>"Senate and House of Representatives"</small>'')}}{{Texas Constitution|text=Adopted February 15, 1876:
{{DISPLAYTITLE:Article III, Section 1 of the Texas Constitution (''<small>"Senate and House of Representatives"</small>'')}}{{Texas Constitution|text=Adopted February 15, 1876:


'''The Legislative power of this State shall be vested in a Senate and House of Representatives, which together shall be styled "The Legislature of the State of Texas."'''
'''The legislative power of this State shall be vested in a Senate and House of Representatives, which together shall be styled "The Legislature of the State of Texas."'''


|editor=
|editor=


This fundamental section creates the Texas Legislature and vests in it the "Legislative power" of the state.
This fundamental section creates the Texas Legislature and vests in it the legislative power of the state.


However, the power granted by this section is subject to more specific provisions of the state constitution.
However, the power granted by the section is subject to more specific provisions of the state constitution.


For example, the Governor is granted the veto, a significant legislative power, by Article IV, Section [[Texas Constitution:Article IV, Section 14|14]].
For example, the Governor is granted the veto, a significant legislative power, by Article IV, Section [[Texas Constitution:Article IV, Section 14|14]].


Note that in 1914 voters narrowly rejected a constitutional amendment providing for initiative and referendum.
Note that in 1914 voters narrowly rejected a constitutional amendment providing initiative and referendum.


|recent=
|recent=
Line 40: Line 40:


* ''Brown v. Humble Oil & Refining Co.'', 83 S.W.2d 935, [https://texaslegalguide.com/images/083_SW2_935.pdf#page=7 941] (Tex. 1935) (citations omitted) ("In the absence of a well-defined standard or rule in the statutes defining the public policy of the state with respect to the mineral interest, the Railroad Commission would be without authority to promulgate rules, regulations, or orders relating to the protection of oil and gas. The power to pass laws rests with the Legislature, and that power cannot be delegated to some commission or other tribunal. In order to carry out the commands of the Legislature, the Railroad Commission adopted rule 37. The validity of this rule has been upheld repeatedly.")
* ''Brown v. Humble Oil & Refining Co.'', 83 S.W.2d 935, [https://texaslegalguide.com/images/083_SW2_935.pdf#page=7 941] (Tex. 1935) (citations omitted) ("In the absence of a well-defined standard or rule in the statutes defining the public policy of the state with respect to the mineral interest, the Railroad Commission would be without authority to promulgate rules, regulations, or orders relating to the protection of oil and gas. The power to pass laws rests with the Legislature, and that power cannot be delegated to some commission or other tribunal. In order to carry out the commands of the Legislature, the Railroad Commission adopted rule 37. The validity of this rule has been upheld repeatedly.")
* ''Travelers' Insurance Co. v. Marshall'', 76 S.W.2d 1007, [https://texaslegalguide.com/images/076_SW2_1007.pdf#page=4 1010] (Tex. 1934) ("We are asked, however, to hold that, under the ''police power'', one of the powers of government (''State v. Coleman'', 96 Conn. 190, 113 A. 385) vitalized by emergency conditions, the Legislature had the authority to pass the measure before us. We are asked to do this, although the Bill of Rights, section 16, expressly prohibits the enactment of laws impairing the obligation of contracts. . . . Obviously all these questions must be answered in the negative. This is so because the pronouncements of the Constitution are 'imperious, supreme and paramount.'")


* ''Eucaline Medicine Co. v. Standard Inv. Co.'', 25 S.W.2d 259, [https://texaslegalguide.com/images/025_SW2_259.pdf#page=5 263] (Tex.Civ.App.–Dallas 1930, ref'd) ("The American concept of constitutional government is that originally all legislative powers resided in the people, that certain of these powers were surrendered to the national government, and those not surrendered were reserved, and have been committed by the people of the states to their State Legislatures under certain limitations and restrictions. It follows therefore that the Legislature of a state in enacting statutes may exercise all the reserve powers of the people, except as expressly or impliedly limited in the Constitution.")
* ''Eucaline Medicine Co. v. Standard Inv. Co.'', 25 S.W.2d 259, [https://texaslegalguide.com/images/025_SW2_259.pdf#page=5 263] (Tex.Civ.App.–Dallas 1930, ref'd) ("The American concept of constitutional government is that originally all legislative powers resided in the people, that certain of these powers were surrendered to the national government, and those not surrendered were reserved, and have been committed by the people of the states to their State Legislatures under certain limitations and restrictions. It follows therefore that the Legislature of a state in enacting statutes may exercise all the reserve powers of the people, except as expressly or impliedly limited in the Constitution.")
Line 49: Line 47:
* ''Ex parte Leslie'', 223 S.W. 227, [https://texaslegalguide.com/images/223_SW_227.pdf#page=3 229] (Tex.Crim.App. 1920) ("The law being silent upon this subject, the relator cannot be punished for refusing to obey the command of the commission or its agents. Power cannot be conferred upon them to make an offense. Jannin v. State, 42 Tex. Cr. R. 631, 51 S.W. 1126, 62 S.W. 419, 53 L. R. A. 349 . . . . The rules proclaimed cannot be enforced, for the reason that an attempt is made to delegate to the inspectors the discretion conferred by the Legislature upon the commission, and by reason of the attempt to give a power of discrimination which could not be exercised by the commission or the Legislature.")
* ''Ex parte Leslie'', 223 S.W. 227, [https://texaslegalguide.com/images/223_SW_227.pdf#page=3 229] (Tex.Crim.App. 1920) ("The law being silent upon this subject, the relator cannot be punished for refusing to obey the command of the commission or its agents. Power cannot be conferred upon them to make an offense. Jannin v. State, 42 Tex. Cr. R. 631, 51 S.W. 1126, 62 S.W. 419, 53 L. R. A. 349 . . . . The rules proclaimed cannot be enforced, for the reason that an attempt is made to delegate to the inspectors the discretion conferred by the Legislature upon the commission, and by reason of the attempt to give a power of discrimination which could not be exercised by the commission or the Legislature.")


* ''Union Cent. Life Ins. Co. v. Chowning'', 26 S.W. 982, [https://texaslegalguide.com/images/Vol_026_SWR_982.pdf#page=3 984-85] (Tex. 1894) ("If it be conceded that the 12 per cent. is a penalty for a failure to pay when due, then the question arises, by what provision of our constitution is such legislation forbidden, and who will determine as to when the public is so interested in the enforcement of contracts as to justify the legislature in enforcing their performance by penalties? There is no clause of our state constitution which expressly or by implication prohibits the act. . . . The article is not in conflict with the constitution of the United States or of the state of Texas, and is valid.")
* ''Union Cent. Life Ins. Co. v. Chowning'', 26 S.W. 982, [https://texaslegalguide.com/images/026_SW_982.pdf#page=3 984-85] (Tex. 1894) ("If it be conceded that the 12 per cent. is a penalty for a failure to pay when due, then the question arises, by what provision of our constitution is such legislation forbidden, and who will determine as to when the public is so interested in the enforcement of contracts as to justify the legislature in enforcing their performance by penalties? There is no clause of our state constitution which expressly or by implication prohibits the act. . . . The article is not in conflict with the constitution of the United States or of the state of Texas, and is valid.")


* ''Stanfield v. State'', 18 S.W. 577, [https://texaslegalguide.com/images/Vol_018_SWR_577.pdf#page=2 578] (Tex. 1892) ("There seems to be a well-recognized distinction, in respect to the question under consideration, between laws affecting only the municipal subdivisions of the state and such as affect the state at large; and, whatever differences of opinion there may be about the application of the rule to the general laws that affect alike the whole state, it seems to be well established that the maxim that the legislative power is not to be delegated is not trenched upon when the legislation merely bestows upon the municipal organizations of the state certain powers of local regulation.")
* ''Stanfield v. State'', 18 S.W. 577, [https://texaslegalguide.com/images/018_SW_577.pdf#page=2 578] (Tex. 1892) ("There seems to be a well-recognized distinction, in respect to the question under consideration, between laws affecting only the municipal subdivisions of the state and such as affect the state at large; and, whatever differences of opinion there may be about the application of the rule to the general laws that affect alike the whole state, it seems to be well established that the maxim that the legislative power is not to be delegated is not trenched upon when the legislation merely bestows upon the municipal organizations of the state certain powers of local regulation.")


* ''Tugwell v. Eagle Pass Ferry Co.'', 9 S.W. 120, [https://texaslegalguide.com/images/Vol_009_SWR_120.pdf#page=3 122-23] (Tex. 1888) ("But the question arises, has the state the right to grant a franchise for a ferry across a stream which constitutes a boundary between it and another state, or between it and a foreign nation? The answer to this is that it has the right, as far as its territory extends; that it, in ordinary cases, to the middle of the stream. This principle is distinctly announced by the supreme court of the United States in ''Conway v. Taylor's Ex'r'', 1 Black, 603. . . . The political jurisdiction of the state extends to its boundary, which, by article 5 of the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, is fixed, on the west, at the middle of the Rio Grande river.")
* ''Tugwell v. Eagle Pass Ferry Co.'', 9 S.W. 120, [https://texaslegalguide.com/images/009_SW_120.pdf#page=3 122-23] (Tex. 1888) ("But the question arises, has the state the right to grant a franchise for a ferry across a stream which constitutes a boundary between it and another state, or between it and a foreign nation? The answer to this is that it has the right, as far as its territory extends; that it, in ordinary cases, to the middle of the stream. This principle is distinctly announced by the supreme court of the United States in ''Conway v. Taylor's Ex'r'', 1 Black, 603. . . . The political jurisdiction of the state extends to its boundary, which, by article 5 of the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, is fixed, on the west, at the middle of the Rio Grande river.")


* ''Werner v. City of Galveston'', 7 S.W. 726, [https://texaslegalguide.com/images/Vol_007_SWR_726.pdf#page=2 727] (Tex. 1888) ("It is a well-settled principle that the legislature cannot delegate its authority to make laws by submitting the question of their enactment to a popular vote; and in ''State v. Swisher'', 17 Tex. 441, this court held an act of the legislature which authorized the counties of the state to determine by popular vote whether liquor should be sold in their respective limits to be unconstitutional. But it does not follow from this that the legislature has no authority to confer a power upon a municipal corporation, and to authorize its acceptance or rejection by the municipality according to the will of its voters as expressed at the ballot-box.")
* ''Werner v. City of Galveston'', 7 S.W. 726, [https://texaslegalguide.com/images/007_SW_726.pdf#page=2 727] (Tex. 1888) ("It is a well-settled principle that the legislature cannot delegate its authority to make laws by submitting the question of their enactment to a popular vote; and in ''State v. Swisher'', 17 Tex. 441, this court held an act of the legislature which authorized the counties of the state to determine by popular vote whether liquor should be sold in their respective limits to be unconstitutional. But it does not follow from this that the legislature has no authority to confer a power upon a municipal corporation, and to authorize its acceptance or rejection by the municipality according to the will of its voters as expressed at the ballot-box.")


* ''Morris & Cummings v. State'', 62 Tex. 728, [https://texaslegalguide.com/images/62_Tex._728.pdf#page=11 738-39] (1884) ("But we are not pointed to any act of congress upon this subject whatever, and we certainly know of none which has attempted such a regulation. It is not enough that the harbor of Corpus Christi, and the water-borne commerce that passes to and from it, are within the general laws regulating the commerce of the country. . . . This principle is so well sustained by the authorities that no further discussion of it is required. We think, therefore, that the legislation of our state upon the subject of the franchise in question is not in violation of the constitution of the United States.")
* ''Morris & Cummings v. State'', 62 Tex. 728, [https://texaslegalguide.com/images/062_Tex_728.pdf#page=11 738-39] (1884) ("But we are not pointed to any act of congress upon this subject whatever, and we certainly know of none which has attempted such a regulation. It is not enough that the harbor of Corpus Christi, and the water-borne commerce that passes to and from it, are within the general laws regulating the commerce of the country. . . . This principle is so well sustained by the authorities that no further discussion of it is required. We think, therefore, that the legislation of our state upon the subject of the franchise in question is not in violation of the constitution of the United States.")


|seo_title=Article III, Section 1 of the Texas Constitution ("Senate and House of Representatives")
|seo_title=Article III, Section 1 of the Texas Constitution ("Senate and House of Representatives")
|seo_keywords=Article 3 Section 1, Texas Legislature, delegation legislative power
|seo_keywords=Article 3 Section 1, bicameral legislature, legislative delegation
|seo_description=This fundamental section creates the Texas Legislature and vests in it the legislative power of the state.
|seo_description=The legislative power of this State shall be vested in a Senate and House of Representatives.
|seo_image=Texas_Constitution_of_1876_Article_3.jpg
|seo_image=Texas_Constitution_of_1876_Article_3.jpg
|seo_image_alt=Article III: Legislative Department
|seo_image_alt=Article III: Legislative Department
Retrieved from "https://texaslegalguide.com/Special:MobileDiff/5035...5627"