The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 48, July 1944 - April, 1945 Page: 467
617 p. : ill., maps, ports. ; 24 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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The Semicolon Court of Texas
fascinating reading, and some of the historians of this state
have splendidly presented it for the use and enlightenment of
this and future generations. It is a gratifying feature of this
struggle that, in reply to a last desperate appeal of Davis to
the President for troops to aid him in defeating the people's
will and keeping him in office after Coke had been declared
elected as governor, Grant wired Davis on January 1, 1874,
that his
. . . call was not made in accordance with the Constitution of the
United States and the acts of Congress under it, and cannot therefore
be granted. The act of the Legislature of Texas providing for the
recent election having received your approval, and both political parties
having made nominations, and having conducted a political campaign
under its provisions, would it not be prudent, as well as right, to yield
to the verdict of the people as expressed by their ballots?
The Rodriguez case was the last case reported in volume
thirty-nine of the Texas Reports and the last reported case
decided by the Semicolon Court. Thus ended a tragic detour
in the judicial history of the state. In the preface to volume
forty of the Supreme Court Reports, the reporter, George W.
Paschal, breathed this sigh of relief:
With this volume, we pass to another era in the judicial history of
Texas. Those who have before construed the laws of this State, and
who have assisted in the effort to preserve constitutional freedom for
its citizens, again constitute its court of last resort.
One historian of the Supreme Court paid his respects to the
Semicolon Court in the following picturesque terms:
It was reserved to the Court as thus organized to place the only blot
upon the pure, honored and exalted reputation of the Supreme Court
of Texas which has marred the splendor of its history from its creation
to the present time. In the judicial annals of no other country has
there ever been a more lamentable, shameless prostitution of a court
of justice to the interest of lawless political conspirators against con-
stitutional government, the right of suffrage, and the liberties of a
free people, than that disclosed in Ex Parte Rodriquez, decided by this
Court.
With more moderation and restraint, however, Chief Justice
Moore, in Taylor vs. Murphy, 50 Tex. 291, (in 1878) gave his
estimate of the Semicolon Court, by overruling one of its
decisions, in the following language:
In regard to the first of these cases, in my individual opinion, the
Court by which that case was decided did not exercise its functions467
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 48, July 1944 - April, 1945, periodical, 1945; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth146055/m1/535/: accessed May 5, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.