Texas. Court of Appeals (1st)

Three characteristics of the judicial system in Texas distinguish it from the national norm: it has two appellate courts of last resort, its trial courts do not have uniform jurisdiction of subject matter, and its judges are chosen in partisan elections. The state has three levels of trial courts-district, county, and inferior-and there is no uniformity of jurisdiction among the courts at each level. To be sure of a trial court's jurisdiction, one must examine the statute that established it. There are two levels of appellate courts: the courts of appeals and the two courts of last resort, which are the Court of Criminal Appeals and the Supreme Court. The appellate level courts are the courts of appeals, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, and the Supreme Court.

Following Reconstruction, the Texas Supreme Court became overwhelmed with cases on appeal. To help relieve the burden, the Court of Appeals (later known as the Court of Criminal Appeals) was created by constitutional amendment in 1876 and an intermediate level of appeals courts for civil cases was established by constitutional amendment in 1891 (Texas Constitution, Article V, Section 1). The new courts of civil appeals (later renamed courts of appeals) were given jurisdiction over most civil appeals from the district and county courts; further review by the Supreme Court was discretionary with that court. The courts of civil appeals were also given original jurisdiction of appeals in non-capital criminal cases, and the Court of Criminal Appeals was given jurisdiction for discretionary review of the decisions. The system of intermediate appellate courts made it possible for the Supreme Court to regulate its docket by exercising its discretion to deny review of most appeals. Another advantage of the new courts was that the capacity of the civil appellate system could be expanded by the formation of more courts of civil appeals.

In 1967 the state was divided into fourteen court of appeals districts by an amendment to the Texas Constitution (Article V, Section 1); in each is a court of appeals that has a chief justice and at least two other justices, who serve four-year terms. Courts of appeals hear most appeals from the county and district trial courts (the biggest exception being death-penalty cases, which go directly to the Court of Criminal Appeals). An appeal to these courts is based on the written record of a trial. The appellate courts do not hear witnesses. The decisions of the courts of appeals may be reviewed by the Court of Criminal Appeals (in criminal law matters) or the Supreme Court (in other kinds of cases), except that the decisions of the courts of appeals on questions of fact are conclusive.

At an 1892 special session called to implement the 1891 constitutional amendment, the 22nd Legislature, through Senate Bill 18, divided the state into three supreme judicial districts. The Texas Court of Appeals (1st) was the first of the three original appeals courts with its seat in Galveston. The Court is currently composed of a Chief Justice and nine justices. It has intermediate appellate jurisdiction of both civil and criminal cases appealed from lower courts in thirteen counties of Texas; in civil cases where judgment rendered exceeds $100, exclusive of costs, and other civil proceedings as provided by law; and in criminal cases except in post-conviction writs of habeas corpus and where the death penalty has been imposed (Texas Government Code Annotated, Section 22.201). The court hears appeals from the following counties: Austin, Brazoria, Burleson, Chambers, Colorado, Fort Bend, Galveston, Grimes, Harris, Trinity, Walker, Waller, and Washington. The Court disposed of a total of 1,470 cases in fiscal year 2002.

Information for the this agency history has been taken from the Handbook of Texas Online and from the Texas Judiciary Online .