The Junior Historian, Volume 26, Number 2, November 1965 Page: 1
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* THE JUNIOR HISTORIAN *
VOL. XXVI. No. 2 AUSTIN, TEXAS NOVEMBER, 1965A SHORT HISTORY OF TEXAS
AND ITS ANOMALIESLAW
by BILL BLANTON
Robert E. Lee High School, HoustonTHE LONE STAR STATE of Tex-
as is distinct and unique in several
respects: no other state was ever
a separate nation; no other state was
ever under as many as six flags; no other
state can sub-divide itself into as many
as five separate states; but truly, Texas
is unique in its body of law. Texas law
contains some of the most anomalous
statutes that have ever been devised un-
der any codes of law anywhere else in
the world. Texas law affects everyday
business, social, and community life. A
study of the history of law in Texas
could give a better insight into the back-
ground and reasons behind some of the
laws, so that its citizens could better
understand why they obey as well as
what they obey.
In the beginning, the Spanish colony
of Texas was subject to the Civil Law
of Spain. This law, however, soon proved
to be too impracticable and incompatible
for the Texas settlers. The Anglo-Ameri-
cans had to obey laws not only written
in a foreign language but also attuned to
an alien concept of justice. The Texas
courts-when a few were finally estab-
lished - faced almost insurmountable
problems: interpretations of laws written
in a foreign tongue were extremely dif-
ficult; precedents applicable to frontier
legal problems were difficult to find in
Spanish law; and law books, whether in
Spanish or in English, were difficult to
locate in a frontier settlement like Texas.
Stephen F. Austin, lamenting the lack
of courts and the intolerable, inefficient
administration of Spanish justice, de-
scribed the situation of his colony in
1824 in this manner:We are from forty to fifty leagues from
Bexar, and have no jail, no troops to guard
prisoners, and a condemnation to hard labor
without an adequate guard to enforce the de-
cree is only to exasperate a criminal, make
him laugh at the laws and civil authorities and
turn him loose on society to commit new
depredations, for nothing has a more disor-
ganizing effect than a weak and inefficient ad-
ministration of the laws, as it discourages and
disgusts the good and well disposed and em-
boldens evil men and renders them arrogant
and audacious. . If those difficulties could
be removed by vesting authority in some tri-
bunal here to punish by corporal punishment
... I think it would greatly tend to the har-
mony and good order of this part of the
province.Austin did the best he could to appeal
to the Spanish authorities for more courts
and better laws. The courts that did exist,
meanwhile, had to cope with the law as
it existed. Often the versatile Texas
judges had to refer to decisions of the
Louisiana courts, to the laws of Rome
and France, and to their own "American-
ized" sense of justice when the Spanish
laws were too difficult or obscure.
When Stephen F. Austin found that
he could not rectify the judicial problem
by appeals, he decided to take. matters
into his own hands. On January 22,
1824, Austin wrote the first English
code of law in Texas, the "Instructions
and Regulations for the Alcaldes." This
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Texas State Historical Association. The Junior Historian, Volume 26, Number 2, November 1965, periodical, November 1965; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth391328/m1/3/?q=%22mex-tex%22: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.