Constitutional County Courts

Overview

Constitutional county courts in Texas are courts presided over by the county judge, or chief executive of a county, in counties where that official still exercises judicial functions.

The Texas Constitution empowers county judges in each of the 254 counties of the state to preside over a constitutional county court.

The role of county judge is similar to the hybrid executive-judicial role of alcaldes under the Spanish system, which influenced Texas law and government.

However, not all such judges exercise judicial functions. In the more populous counties, the county judges devote their full attention to the administration of county government, while delegating their judicial functions to county courts at law. 

Texas is one of only two states (the other being Arkansas) where the head of county government has a judicial title and where such county leaders sometimes still exercise judicial functions.

Origin of Name

The name “constitutional county court” refers to the establishment of these courts by the state constitution—not to the jurisdiction of these courts over constitutional matters.

The Texas Constitution states, “There shall be established in each county in this State a County Court, which shall be a court of record; and there shall be elected in each county, by the qualified voters, a County Judge, who shall be well informed in the law of the State; shall be a conservator of the peace, and shall hold his office for four years… “

The name constitutional county court distinguishes these courts from statutory county courts, also called county courts at law, which fulfill essentially the same function but are presided over by judges without executive powers. These courts were created by statute over the years, not by the state constitution.

Jurisdiction

The constitutional county courts have original jurisdiction over all criminal cases involving Class A and Class B misdemeanors. 

In civil matters, a constitutional county court has concurrent jurisdiction with the justice courts in civil cases in which the matter in controversy exceeds $200 in value but does not exceed $20,000, exclusive of interest. They do not have jurisdiction in suits of divorce, land liens, defamation, and eminent domain.

Additionally, constitutional county courts have appellate jurisdiction in cases appealed from justice courts and municipal courts, except in counties where county courts at law have been established.

Support from the State Budget

County judges who exercise judicial functions are entitled to a salary supplement from the state equivalent to 18 percent of the base salary of a district judge. That is in addition to the salary paid to the county judge by the county government.