254 Texas Courthouses
  • Home
  • Chronological Order (of my visits)
  • County List (alphabetical)
  • County Seat List (alphabetical)
  • Texas Courthouse Blog
  • James Riely Gordon, Architect
  • Eugene T. Heiner, Architect
  • Henry T. Phelps, Architect
  • Alfred Giles, Architect
  • Corneil G. Curtis, Architect
  • Wesley Clark Dodson, Architect
  • Lang & Witchell Architects
  • Voelcker & Dixon, Architects
  • Wyatt C. Hedrick, Architect
  • David S. Castle, Architect
  • Page Brothers, Architects
  • James Edward Flanders, Architect
  • Pierce, Norris, Pace & Associates, Architects & Engineers

The Texas County Court System

1/15/2012

2 Comments

 
The 254 Texas counties perform many functions.  According to the Texas Association of Counties website Texas Counties 4U "County governments provide the underlying infrastructure—the glue—that enables Texans to live productive lives in harmony with each other. As the functional arm of state government, key county services include support of public safety and jails, effective regional transportation, support for the court system, reliable record-keeping for deeds and public documents, operating elections and certain environmental, health and human services."
Since the focus of my website is the county courthouse, I'm going to share with you how the 254 counties "support the court system" in Texas. 
The website Texas Courts Online is an excellent site for general and detailed information about the Texas state court system.
Use this LINK to access a pdf of the document Court Structure of Texas for a flow chart overview of the court system. 
Another useful document is The Texas Judicial System, found in pdf format at this LINK.  The following information comes from that document:
As provided in the Texas Constitution, each of the 254 counties of the State has a single county court presided over by a county judge.  In addition to performing judicial functions, the county judge serves as the administrative head of the county government. In the more populated counties, the administrative duties occupy most of the time of the county judge, and the Legislature has created county courts at law and statutory probate courts to relieve the county
judge of most, and in some cases all, of the judicial duties usually performed by that office.
Because the Constitution limits each county to a single countycourt, the Legislature has created statutory county courts at law in the larger counties to aid the single county court in its judicial functions.
The district courts are the trial courts of general jurisdiction of Texas.  The geographical area served by each court is established by the Legislature, but each county must be served by at least one district court.
In sparsely populated areas of the State, several counties may be served by a single district court, while an urban county may be served by many district courts. District courts have original jurisdiction in all felony criminal cases, divorce cases, cases involving title to land, election contest cases, civil matters in which the amount in controversy (the amount of money or damages involved) is $200 or more, and any matters in which jurisdiction is not placed in another trial court. While most district courts try both criminal and civil cases, in the more densely populated counties the courts may specialize in civil, criminal, juvenile, or family law matters.
As of January 1, 2012, Texas had 456 District Courts.  Of those 456 Districts, 359 served a single county and 97 Districts covered more than one county. 
For example, Loving County (population 82) is part of the 143rd District Court, based in Monahans, seat of Ward County.  The 143rd District Court covers 3 counties:  Loving, Reeves and Ward.
At the other end of the scale, Harris County (population 4,092,459) is home to 59 District Courts, each of which serve only Harris County.
The bottom line is this:  each of the 254 Texas counties has a single Constitutional County Court.  In the smallest (population) counties, that's it.  So those little courthouses in counties like Loving don't have a District Courtroom, but they do have a Constitutional County Courtroom.  And, large (population) counties like Harris have to construct multiple buildings to house all of their District and Statutory County Courts. 
As the population of Texas grows (it's over 25 million and counting) expect to see even more District Courts created and therefore, more county court buildings designed and constructed to contain the new courtrooms and offices.  See Fort Bend County for a good example.
2 Comments
Frank G. Jones Rice 63
1/16/2012 12:46:07 am

Do you have any suggested itineraries for 1 day round trips from Houston to see the restored courthouses in this part of the state? I am a retired partner at Fulbright & Jaworski L.L.P. Our firm was a lead sponsor of the Texas Foundation for the Arts 3 video productions on Historic Texas Courthouses while I was still actively practicing. Thanks.

Reply
FERN MCCLAUGHERTY
5/15/2012 09:32:36 am

How can we find out of the 254 counties how many have more than 1 building for their courts, civil in one and criminal in another? Like Harris county, is one with several buildings, is there any information on this matter? thank you Fern

Reply

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Leonard G. Lane, Jr., AIA
    [email protected]
    I wasn't born in Texas but I got here as soon as I could.  I'm an architect.  And, a photographer on the side.
    I live in Houston, with my wife, Donna.  After our daughter, Hilary, passed the Texas Bar exam she took the oath as an attorney in the historic Harris County courthouse on Friday, November 15, 2013.

    Archives

    May 2016
    April 2016
    August 2015
    July 2015
    May 2015
    October 2014
    July 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    December 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly