GENERAL LAWS

OF

THE STATE OF TEXAS

PASSED BY THE

THIRTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE

AT ITS

REGULAR SESSION

CONVENED

JANUARY 12, 1909, AND ADJOURNED MARCH 13, 1909

AT ITS

FIRST CALLED SESSION

CONVENED

MARCH 13, 1909, AND ADJOURNED APRIL 11, 1909

AND AT ITS

SECOND CALLED SESSION

CONVENED

APRIL 12, 1909, AND ADJOURNED MAY 11, 1909

CONTENTS

REGULAR SESSION.

Page.

1

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22

Chap.

1. Making appropriation to pay mileage and per diem of members of

Thirty-first Legislature

2. Making appropriation to pay contingent expenses of Thirty-first Leg-

islature

3. Making appropriation to pay mileage and per diem of Presidential

Electors of Texas, 1909...

4. Reorganizing Twenty-eighth Judicial District.

5. Constituting Dallas county Fourteenth, Forty-fourth and Sixty-eighth

Judicial Districts..

6. Conferring civil and criminal jurisdiction upon county court of Brew-

ster county.

7. Providing for condemnation of private property in incorporated cities

and towns for improving streets and constructing water mains, sewers,

etc..

8. Reorganizing Thirty-second and Thirty-fourth Judicial Districts, and

creating Seventieth Judicial District..

8

10

9.

Fixing time for holding terms of district court in the Sixty-fourth Judi-

cial District....

13

10.

Restoring civil and criminal jurisdiction to county court of Shelby

county

14

11. Reorganizing Forty-seventh and creating Sixty-ninth Judicial District..

12. Putting into effect constitutional amendment adopted by the people at

the general election in 1908, relating to public schools..

13. Amending law authorizing commissioners courts to establish drainage

districts ..

16

17

23

15.

14. Exempting the counties of Val Verde, Medina, Terrell, Jeff Davis, Jack-

son, Hidalgo, Bandera, Van Zandt, Mitchell, Ward, Rains, Erath,

Crosby and Kaufman from the provisions and operations of the law

relating to the inspection of hides and animals..

Authorizing the formation of navigation districts.

16. Authorizing counties having a population in excess of 50,000 to issue

bonds to construct causeways, viaducts, bridges, etc..

17. Creating county court of Tarrant county for civil cases.

18. Locating Court of Criminal Appeals permanently at Austin..

20.

19. Levying an occupation tax on dealers in non-intoxicating malt liquors..

Levying an occupation tax on the business of soliciting or taking orders

for intoxicating liquors in local option territory..

21.

Regulating the holding of district court in Fannin county.

22. Naming the counties composing the Thirty-third and the Fifty-first

Judicial Districts, and fixing time of holding court therein..

23. Taking the counties of McCulloch, Coke, Atascosa, Hamilton, Mills and

San Saba from the list of counties exempted from the provisions of

the law prohibiting hunting with firearms or dogs upon the enclosed

or posted lands of another..

24. Creating Bureau of Labor Statistics, and providing for appointment of
Commissioner of Labor Statistics and defining duties..

25. Defining jurisdiction and. fixing time of holding district court in the

Twenty-sixth Judicial District....

26. Requiring railroad companies to equip their locomotives, etc., with cer-

tain safety appliances...

27.

Regulating sales of stocks of merchandise in bulk.

28. Requiring common carriers to equip locomotives with certain kind of

ash pans

29. Regulating assessment and collection of taxes in cities and towns that

have or may abolish their corporate existence...

Chap.

Page.

30. Naming the counties composing the Forty-seventh and Sixty-ninth Ju-

dicial Districts, and fixing time of holding court therein....

68

31. Creating offense of attempt to commit theft from the persons, and pro-

viding punishment

70

32. Conferring civil and criminal jurisdiction upon county court of San

Augustine county

33. Requiring railroad companies to do repair work within the State of

Texas..

71

73

74

74

76

37.

80

34. Exempting Clay county from the provisions of the law relating to the

inspection of animals for slaughter..

35. Fixing time of holding court in the Forty-sixth Judicial District..

36. Making appropriations to cover deficiencies in the appropriations hereto-

fore made for the years 1906, 1907, 1908 and 1909..

Restoring the civil jurisdiction of the county court of Henderson county,

and defining the jurisdiction of said court..

38. Amending Article 4785a of the Revised Statutes so as to leave Jack
county out of the list of counties exempted from the operation of the
law authorizing the appointment of road superintendents.
39. Making an appropriation to refund the unearned portion of State occu-
pation tax upon liquor dealers' licenses which were unexpired and
were abrogated on July 12, 1907, by act of the Thirtieth Legislature.

40. Defining and prohibiting nepotism..

41. Making it a criminal offense to use vulgar, profane or indecent lan-

guage over any telephone.

82

83

85

87

42. Relating to equalizing the business on the dockets of the different

Courts of Civil Appeals by the Supreme Court....

88

43. Allowing a judgment in justices courts to be rendered against a non-

resident upon notice to serve a non-resident.

89

44. Prohibiting railway corporations from maintaining a name for any rail-

way station different from the name of the town or city which bears

the name of its postoffice, at which such station is located..

45. Prohibiting the making of bets on horse racing..

46. Requiring locomotive engineers to serve first as firemen and train con-

ductors to serve first as brakemen..

47.

48.

49.

Regulating the presentation of claims against persons or corporations

for labor rendered, or material furnished, or overcharge for freight,

etc., or for lost or damaged freight, or for stock killed or injured....

Providing for appointment of assistant district attorney in any district

containing a city of 50,000 population or more...

Taking Harrison and Lavaca counties from the list of counties exempted

from the provisions of Section 2, Chapter 78, General Laws, Regular

Session of Thirtieth Legislature, regulating the taking or catching

of fish in certain counties, and placing Brazos, Clay, Collin, Fayette,

Gillespie, Hunt, Jack, Kaufman, Mitchell, Rains, Rusk, Smith and

Van Zandt counties in the exemption of said Section 2.....

50. Defining the offense of abandonment after seduction and marriage, and

providing punishment therefor.

93

94

95

97

51. Relating to pay of jail guards.

98

52. Pohibiting raffles

98

53. Requiring railroad companies to provide shelter for protection of their

employes while engaged in labor..

99

54. Providing that, in certain cases, persons under sixteen years of age con-

victed of a felony shall be confined in the State Institution for the

Training of Juveniles....

55. Providing for commitment of delinquent and incorrigible juveniles under

sixteen years of age to the State Institution for the Training of

Juveniles ..

56. Changing name of the House of Correction and Reformatory to the

State Institution for the Training of Juveniles, and providing for its

management and support, and providing who shall become inmates,

etc..

100

101

103

Chap.

Page.

57. Providing for sale or removal of property used by the Court of Criminal

Appeals at Tyer and Dallas and removal of records to Austin, and

providing for compensation of clerk and deputy clerk of said court... 108

58. Changing and fixing time of holding court in the Sixty-third Judicial

District.

59. Defining and fixing punishment for vagrancy.

60. Exempting certain counties from the provisions of the law relating to

the inspection of hides and animals..

110

111

113

114

61. Providing for extending the terms of district courts in certain cases... 113

62. Prohibiting the driving of sheep affected with "scab" or other infectious

or contagious diseases along public highways..

63. Conferring civil and criminal jurisdiction upon the county court of

Ochiltree county...

64. Repealing Article 5001 of the Revised Civil Statutes, 1895, as amended

by Chapter 80 of the Acts of the Twenty-eighth Legislature, and by

Chapter 3 of Acts of the Twenty-ninth Legislature, thereby placing

Aransas county under the provisions of the stock law preventing

certain animals from running at large.

65. Making it unlawful to sell or offer for sale or ship for sale any squirrels

in Montgomery county.

66. Amending Section 4, of Chapter 86, of the Acts of the Twenty-eighth

Legislature, as amended by the Thirtieth Legislature, so as to place

Potter county under the provisions of said law, providing for the

destruction of wolves and other wild animals for the protection of

stock raisers and farmers.

67. Prohibiting the giving or delivery of any spirituous, vinous, malt or

intoxicating liquors to any person under the age of twenty-one years,

and prescribing penalties..

68.

69.

Changing terms and times of holding district court in Camp, Upshur

and Smith counties..

Placing Frio, Haskell, Mason, Matagorda, Wilbarger, Freestone, Hi-

dalgo, San Saba, Starr, Swisher, Donley, Childress, Foard, Wharton,

Clay, DeWitt, Robertson, Hamilton, Mills, Burnet, Atascosa, Medina

and Waller counties under the provisions of the law providing the

mode by which horses, mules, jacks, jennets and cattle may be pre-

vented from running at large in certain counties, or in any sub-

division of said counties..

115

117

117

118

119

120

121

70. Creating the Texas Library and Historical Commission, and defining

its powers and duties..

122

71. Allowing any county of this State to determine by a vote of the people

whether it shall have a hide and animal inspector.

127

72. Naming the counties composing the Ninth Judicial District, and fixing

terms of court in said district..

128

129

130

73. Providing for an inspector of hides and animals for Parmer county.

74. Providing for an inspector of hides and animals for Oldham county.

75. Providing for revising, digesting, annotating and publishing the civil

and criminal laws of the State of Texas...

76. Exempting Karnes county from inspection of the cars and hides of ani-

mals slaughtered by butchers..

77. Validating and legalizing sales of real estate situated in the town of

Pleasanton, Atascosa county, made for and in behalf of said county

by the commissioners under appointment of the commissioners court

of said county..

78.

Regulating the taking or the catching of fish in the counties of Mont-

gomery and Newton...

79. Prohibiting any person from unlawfully using or wearing the badge,

label, button or emblem of the United Confederate Veterans and other

organizations, orders or societies...

80. Specially exempting Maverick county from the provisions of the law
to prohibit hunting with firearms or dogs upon the enclosed or posted
lands of another, and taking the counties of Archer, Bell, Burnet,
Comal, Dallas, Denton, Ellis, Erath, Fannin, Gonzales, Grimes, Hays,

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