Case Information
*1 The Attorney General of Texas January 29, 1981
Attorney General
Honorable Lynn Nabers, Chairman Opinion No. &W-293 Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence
House of Representatives Re: May legislature create panels P. 0. Box 2910 within the 14 courts of appeak Austin, Texas 78769 which would be charged solely with criminal jurisdiction Dear Representative Nabers:
You have requested our opinion regarding legislative implementation of the recent amendment to article V, section 6 of the Texas Constitution, adopted the voters on November 4, 1980. That provision now states, in pertinent part:
The Legislature shall divide the State into such Supreme judicial districts as the population and business may require, and shall establish a Court of Appeals in each of said districts, which shall consist of a Chief Justice and at least two Associate Justices, who shall have the qualifications as herein prescribed for Justices of the Supreme Court. The Court of Appeak may sit in sections as authorized by law. The concurrence of a majority of the judges sitting in a section is necessary to decide a case. Said Court of Appeals shall have appellate juris- diction co-extensive with limits of their respective districts, which shall extend to all cases of which the District Courts or County Courts have original or appellate jurisdiction, under such restric- tions and regulations as may be prescribed by law.
You ask whether the legislature may create, within the courts of appeals, panels which are charged solely with criminal jurisdiction.
The various courts of appeals, formerly the courts of civil appeals, have been constitutionally authorized to “sit in sections” or panels since the to article V, section 6. Article 1812, V.T.C.S., made 1978 amendment provision for courts of the first, second, fifth and fourteenth judicial districts to sit in panels of not lass than three justices. The 1980 amendment does not affect this authority to sit in sections, but it adds criminal cases *2 Honorable Lynn Nabers - Page Two (M+293)
appealed from the county and district courts to the jurisdiction of each court of appeals. Since the amendment grants to the courts of appeals “appellate jurisdiction co-extensive with the limits of their respective districts, which shall extend to 811 cases of which the District Courts or County Courts have original or appellate jurisdiction,” it might be argued that each section must be accorded all the jurisdiction (Emphasis added). The embodied in the court of appeals of which it is a part. amendment, however, grants such jurisdiction “under such restrictions and regulations as may be prescribed by law. ” Furthermore, the amendment permits a court of appeals to sit in sections only “as authorized by law.”
In Harbison v. McMurry, 158 S.W. 2d 284, 287 (Tex. 19421, the supreme court declared:
. . . the appellate jurisdiction of the (clourts of [cl ivil [al ppaak in ‘civil cases’ is not unlimited or absolute, but is subject to control the Legislature. This must be so because it is provided that such jurisdiction is ‘under such restrictions and regulations as may be prescribed by law.’
In our opinion, the legislature is authorized to impose restrictions upon the broad grant of jurisdiction to the court of appeals, and to any of the sections created by statute in accordance with the amendment. We conclude, therefore, that legislature may create, within the various courts of appeals, panels which are charged solely with criminal jurisdiction.
SUMMARY Under the recent amendment to article V, section 6 of the Texas Constitution, the legislature is empowered to create, within the various courts of appeals, panels which arc? charged solely with criminal jurisdiction.
Attorney General of Texas JOHN W. FAINTER, JR.
First Assistant Attorney General
RICHARD E. GRAY III
Executive Assistant Attorney General
Prepared by Rick Gilpin
Assistant Attorney General
L .
Honorable Lynn Nabers - Page Three (m-293)
APPROVED:
OPINION COMMITTEE
Susan L. Garrison, Chairman
Jon Bible
Gerald C. Carruth
Rick Gilpln
Bruce Youngblood