Article 2 of the Texas Constitution
Article 2 divides Texas state government into legislative, executive, and judicial departments. It also restricts people in one department from exercising powers properly belonging to another, subject to exceptions expressly permitted by the Texas Constitution.
The constitutional text
The powers of the Government of the State of Texas shall be divided into three distinct departments, each of which shall be confided to a separate body of magistracy, to wit: those which are Legislative to one; those which are Executive to another, and those which are Judicial to another; and no person, or collection of persons, being of one of these departments, shall exercise any power properly attached to either of the others, except in the instances herein expressly permitted.
Texas Constitution, Article 2, Section 1. Punctuation is standardized for readability.
Read the Texas Legislature’s official text · Read the 1876 text at the University of Texas School of Law.
Why the division matters
The provision makes the allocation of state power express. A public office carries defined powers rather than a general authority to do whatever its occupant believes desirable. Identifying the department, the power exercised, and the constitutional source of that power is a useful starting point when examining an accountability question.
Questions I ask as a citizen
Who has authority to make the rule? Who is charged with carrying it out? Who decides a dispute about it? What remedy is available if an official exceeds that authority? These questions are part of my larger interest in the limits of government.
Article 2 concerns Texas state government. Applying it to a particular dispute, or assessing a federal official’s authority, requires the relevant constitutional and statutory provisions and the actual record.
Explore early American arguments about power →Examine my source record →