Texas has never had an easy time with court reporting.

Its history has been plagued with numerous legislative missteps and fierce competition from private publishers. The short-lived Texas Republic dissolved before the government could print an official case reporter. Adding to the governmental tumult of the Civil War was a severe paper shortage that caused reporting anomalies. Reconstruction saw four separate versions of the state's highest court in a twelve year period.

Throughout the years, private publishers such as J.W. Dallam, G. Paschal, and S.A. Posey helped fill the void of official case reporters. In 1846, the state began publishing Texas Reports as the official case reporter for the Texas Supreme Court. As other appeals courts were created, other case reporters sprung up to capture cases heard in those courts. These were either compiled by private publishers or by the state.

In 1962, the state legislature ceased funding for Texas Reports and Texas Criminal Reports, halting the publication of those sets. Since then, South Western Reporter, a Thomson Reuters (formerly West) publication, has been the sole source of published Texas cases. See the Historical Resources page for in-depth coverage of the history of Texas case reporters.

Below is a chronological listing of case reporters available at the library. Some are available online.

Years: 1840 – 1844.

Other titles:

• A digest of the laws of Texas: containing a full and complete compilation of the land laws; together with the opinions of the Supreme court;
• Dallam’s Opinions of the Supreme Court of Texas
• Dallam’s Decisions
• Dallam’s Opinions
• Texas Reports Dallam
• Texas Reports

Notes:

• Originally published as the second part of Dallam’s Digest. Pagination of Opinions begins on p. 357.
• Later reprints do not have consistent pagination.
• The Greenbook states that the 1845 printing of Dallam's Digest should be used when citing.

Online

In Print

Years: 1845 – 1846.

Published in Texas Law Review vol. 65, no. 2 (December 1986).

Notes: "These decisions were issued too late for inclusion in Dallam's Digest and, as they were not decisions of the State of Texas, were not published by the government after annexation." — Reporter's introduction

Online

In Print

Years: 1846 – 1962.

Other titles:

• Reports of cases argued and decided in the Supreme court of the state of Texas
• Cases argued and decided in the Supreme Court of the State of Texas

Notes:

• Publishing was delayed during the Civil War. Cases from 1860 to 1861 were published in 1882 as Volume 25 Supplement.
• Cases in Volume 66 onward are duplicated in South Western Reporter.
• Beginning in 1881, the Supreme Court and Court of Appeals could transfer cases to the Commission of Appeals without the parties’ consent. Those cases transferred to the Commission by the Supreme Court were published in Texas Reports, South Western Reporter, or both. Opinions issued in cases referred by the Supreme Court were published in the official reports if the opinion was adopted. If it merely approved the judgment, it was not reported. Opinions issued in cases referred by the Court of Appeals were not officially published.

Online

In Print

Years: 1862 – 1865.

Full title: Synopses of the decisions of the Supreme Court of the state of Texas : rendered, upon applications for writs of habeas corpus, original and on appeal, arising from restraints by conscript and other military authorities, during the terms in 1862, 1863, 1864, and the Galveston term, 1865

Other titles:

• Reports of cases argued and decided in the Supreme court of the state of Texas
• Cases argued and decided in the Supreme Court of the State of Texas

Notes: These cases dealt with the Confederate government's attempts to draft citizens into the Southern army against their will during the Civil War. Original copies of this publication are rare. The library has two facsimile editions, one of which is available to view online.

Online

In Print

Years: 1876 – 1892.

Full title: Condensed reports of decisions in civil causes in the Court of Appeals of the state of Texas : also causes referred by the Court of Appeals to the Commission of Appeals of the state of Texas

Notes: Before 1881, the Supreme Court and Court of Appeals could transfer cases to the Commission of Appeals but only with the parties’ consent. The few civil cases decided by the Court of Appeals during this time period were never reported in full, but they were privately reported. Abridged versions of the cases are found in this 4-volume set. They are referred to collectively as "White & Willson," even though White only helped edit the first volume.

In Print

Online

In Print

Years: 1879 – 1881.

Full title: Texas unreported cases : containing the consent cases decided in 1879, 1880 and 1881 by the Commission Court

Notes: Before 1881, the Supreme Court and Court of Appeals could transfer cases to the Commission of Appeals but only with the parties’ consent. Select cases transferred by the Supreme Court were included in Posey's. However, many of the cases selected by Posey were land cases (see foreword of Posey's). These decisions were never "officially" published because the Supreme Court did not adopt these decisions.

In Print

Years: 1886 – present.

Notes:

• Texas Court of Appeals Reports V.22 et seq. as well as Texas Reports V.66 et seq. are repeated in the South Western Reporter.
• Texas Cases Reported in South Western Reporter is published by Thomson-Reuters as a separate set. Available at the library.
• Beginning in 1881, the Supreme Court and Court of Appeals could transfer cases to the Commission of Appeals without the parties’ consent.
• Opinions issued in cases referred by the Supreme Court were published in the official reports if the opinion was adopted. If it merely approved the judgment, it was not reported. However, after the first few volumes of the South Western Reporter, all of the Commission’s decisions appeared there.

Online

Many cases from the South Western Reporter can be found in the online case law databases Fastcase. At the library, Westlaw and Lexis Advance are also available.

In Print

Years: 1892 – 1911.

Full title: The Texas civil appeals reports. Cases argued and determined in the Courts of civil appeals of the state of Texas

Notes: Cases published in this official reporter are duplicated in South Western Reporter.

Online

In Print

Years: 1892 – 1962.

Continues Texas Court of Appeals Reports.

Notes:

• The official reporter, Texas Court of Appeals Reports, was renamed Texas Criminal Reports when the Court was changed to the Court of Criminal Appeals, but the volumes continued in the same numerical sequence, beginning with Vol. 31.
• Cases from Vol. 22 onward also appear in the South Western Reporter.
• Texas Criminal Reports ceased publication in 1962.

Online

In Print

Years: 1957 – present.

Notes: Greenbook rule 2.1.2(c) says the Journal can be used to cite cases not yet appearing in the South Western Reporter advance sheets.

In Print