Texas Case Law Search: Search Texas Case Law, Court Opinions, and Precedent
Texas splits its highest court in two, which means the court that binds you depends on whether your case is civil or criminal. Ask in plain English and get the on-point Texas authority back with the holding and a citation you can check.
How courts have ruled
Sample results, illustrative only. Informational research, not legal advice. Verify every citation.
In short
Texas case law search means finding opinions of the Supreme Court of Texas, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, or the fourteen intermediate courts of appeals that decide your issue. With Cases you describe the question in plain English, such as whether a Texas non-compete is enforceable without a confidentiality agreement, and you get on-point Texas precedents back as headnote cards with a plain-English summary, the holding, and a real citation you confirm in the official reporter. The structural fact that trips up out-of-state researchers is that Texas has two courts of last resort: the Supreme Court of Texas is final on civil matters, and the Court of Criminal Appeals is final on criminal matters. There is no appeal from one to the other. The fourteen courts of appeals sit in overlapping districts, and a decision from your court of appeals binds the trial courts in its district, so identifying the right court of appeals is the first step in any Texas search. Cases is informational research, not legal advice. Verify every citation before you rely on it.
Who binds whom
Which Texas court binds your case, and where the opinion is published
| Court | Precedential weight | Reporter |
|---|---|---|
| Supreme Court of Texas | Court of last resort for civil and juvenile matters. Binds all Texas courts on civil questions. | S.W.3d |
| Texas Court of Criminal Appeals | Court of last resort for criminal matters. Binds all Texas courts on criminal questions. | S.W.3d |
| Courts of Appeals (14 districts) | Intermediate appellate courts. A decision binds the trial courts within that court's district. | S.W.3d |
| District and county courts | Trial courts. Decisions are not binding precedent. | Generally unreported |
Example citation format: Marsh USA Inc. v. Cook, 354 S.W.3d 764 (Tex. 2011). Learn to read the parts in our guide to reading and writing legal citations.
How to search
Three steps from a Texas legal question to an on-point case you can cite
01
Ask the question, not the keyword
Describe the Texas issue the way you would explain it to a colleague. No terms and connectors, no proximity operators, no guessing at the phrasing a headnote editor used.
02
Read the holding on the card
Each result comes back as a headnote card with a plain-English summary and the holding, so you can tell in seconds whether the case is on point before you open the full opinion.
03
Verify the citation at the source
Every card shows a real citation. Confirm it in the official reporter and check it is still good law. You stay the gatekeeper on anything that goes into a filing.
Where it earns its keep
Texas research areas where finding the on-point case is the whole job
Oil, gas, and mineral rights
Texas produces the deepest body of American oil and gas case law, from the accommodation doctrine to royalty and pooling disputes, and much of it turns on decades-old authority still cited today.
Non-competes and trade secrets
The Covenants Not to Compete Act and cases like Marsh USA v. Cook and Alex Sheshunoff Management Services v. Johnson set the enforceability test, which differs sharply from California.
Personal injury and tort reform
Chapter 74 expert-report requirements and the proportionate responsibility scheme generate a large and active body of appellate authority.
Free Texas case law sources, and where they run out
You can read Texas appellate opinions for nothing. The state courts publish them, Google Scholar indexes them, and CourtListener carries them with a usable search. If you already know the case you want, a free source will get you the text in under a minute, and there is no reason to pay for that.
Free sources run out in two places. The first is finding a case you do not already know about: keyword search over raw opinion text rewards whoever guesses the court's vocabulary, and a Texas opinion that decides your exact issue in different words stays invisible. The second is verification. None of the free options tells you whether a case has been overruled, distinguished into nothing, or superseded by statute, which is the check that keeps a brief out of trouble.
Cases sits in the first gap. You ask in plain English, you get on-point Texas precedent with the holding on the card, and you get a real citation to confirm at the source. It is priced on the page starting at 29 dollars per month, not quoted after a sales call like the incumbents, and you can read the honest comparison on our Westlaw alternative page. It is informational research, not legal advice, and you verify every citation before you rely on it.
Questions researchers ask
Texas case law research, answered
How do I search Texas case law?
To search Texas case law, first decide whether the issue is civil or criminal, because that determines which court of last resort binds you. Then describe the issue in plain English and narrow to your court of appeals district plus the relevant high court. Free sources include the Texas Judicial Branch opinions site, Google Scholar, and CourtListener. Verify anything you find in the official reporter before citing it.
Why does Texas have two supreme courts?
Texas is one of only two states, along with Oklahoma, that splits final review between two high courts. The Supreme Court of Texas is the court of last resort for civil and juvenile cases, and the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals is the court of last resort for criminal cases. Neither reviews the other, so a civil practitioner and a criminal practitioner in Texas are bound by different final authorities.
Which Texas court of appeals decisions are binding on me?
A decision of the court of appeals for your district binds the trial courts in that district. Decisions of other Texas courts of appeals are persuasive but not binding on a trial court outside their district, which means a genuine split among the fourteen courts of appeals can leave the same question answered differently in different parts of the state until a high court resolves it.
Where can I find Texas case law for free?
The Texas Judicial Branch website publishes opinions from the Supreme Court, the Court of Criminal Appeals, and all fourteen courts of appeals. Google Scholar and CourtListener also carry Texas appellate opinions at no cost. Free databases are fine for pulling a case you already know about, but they will not tell you if it has been overruled, so run a citator check before you rely on it.
What reporter is Texas case law published in?
Texas appellate opinions are published in the South Western Reporter, currently the third series (S.W.3d). Texas discontinued its own official reporters decades ago, so S.W.3d is the citation you will use, with the court and year in the parenthetical, for example (Tex. 2011) for the Supreme Court of Texas and (Tex. App. 2019, pet. denied) for a court of appeals.
Search Texas case law in plain English
Ask the way you would say it out loud and get the on-point Texas precedents, each with a summary, the holding, and a citation you can check. Informational research, not legal advice.