Article XIV, Section 7 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This section was repealed August 5, 1969.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 State of Texas hereby releases to the owner or owners of the soil all mines and minerals that may be on the same, subject to taxation as other property."
Categorized as "deadwood," it and numerous other sections were repealed by the same ballot proposition in 1969.
Recent Decisions
None.
Historic Decisions
- Cox v. Robison, 150 S.W. 1149, 1156 (Tex. 1912) ("A full consideration of the question in all of its phases has brought us to the conclusion that it was not the intention of the framers of the original provision in 1866, or of the people who adopted the present Constitution in 1876, to give these terms a prospective operation and effect, so as to deny to the Legislature the power to provide for the reservation of minerals in future grants . . . . We recognize the rule that in general Constitutions and statutes operate prospectively; but the exception is as well established as the rule that they may operate retrospectively when it is apparent that such was the intention, provided no impairment of vested rights results.")
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)