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Rule 331. Rules in Other Courts Apply
TEXT
Where any special practice or procedure is provided for certain district or county courts of exceptional classification or description, the same shall govern therein instead of any inconsistent practice or procedure that is provided for district and county courts in general but shall not affect the practice or procedure in such district and county courts in general; and such practice and procedure in district and county courts in general shall apply in such exceptional district and county courts where not inconsistent with the special practice and procedure that is provided for the latter.
Source: R. C. S. Art. 2093.
Change: Reworded and extended generally to embrace all exceptional District and County Courts.
Oct. 29, 1940, eff. Sept. 1, 1941.
Repealed by order of July 15, 1987, eff. Jan. 1, 1988.
ADVISORY OPINIONS
(No. 128) Question: Do the provisions of Rules 330 and 331 apply to district courts having successive and continuous terms and civil jurisdiction, even though they also have criminal jurisdiction?
Answer: We think the answer should be in the affirmative.
The enabling act (H. B. 108, 46th Leg.) conferred upon the Supreme Court "full rule-making power in the practice and procedure in civil actions." Rule 2 defined the scope of the rules to embrace and govern the procedure in the justice, county, district and appellate courts of the State of Texas "in all actions of a civil nature" with certain exceptions not now material. The rules did not purport to deal with questions of either jurisdiction or venue (Rule 816). The fact that the particular court in which the civil action was pending had both civil and criminal jurisdiction could not affect or impair the application of the rules to the civil action.
At the time the rules were formulated, there was a distinct trend toward successive and continuous terms of courts, as far as was permissible under the Constitution. That trend still persists. It was hoped at the time that the legislature would provide for successive and continuous terms and it did so in many cases. The rules in their general scope were devised to meet such a development.
Article 2092, which was repealed at the time the rules were adopted, provided certain rules of practice and procedure in civil district courts in counties having two or more district courts with civil jurisdiction only. In formulating Rule 330, it is significant that the word "only,” which appeared in Article 2092, was omitted, because the manifest intention was that the rules should apply to civil actions not only in courts having civil jurisdiction only but also in courts having both civil and criminal jurisdiction.
7 Tex. B.J. 282 (1944) reprinted in 8 Tex. B.J. 48 (1945).