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.

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