Deskbooks
Below are the primary resources for justice court law and procedure, the TJCTC Deskbooks. These deskbooks contain user-friendly features such as clickable tables of contents, and are designed to be in clear language instead of legalese. They also contain links to many updated flowcharts and other resources. We hope that you find them very useful!
Administrative Proceedings Deskbook
Revised September 2023. This deskbook covers administrative proceedings including dangerous dogs, cruelly treated animals, occupational driver's licenses, tow hearings, and more.
Civil Deskbook
Revised September 2023. This deskbook covers procedure in civil cases in justice court, including small claims, debt claims, and deed restriction cases.
Click here to download a copy.
Criminal Deskbook
Revised October 2023. This deskbook covers procedure in justice court criminal cases. Information on magistration, juvenile cases, and fines, fees, and costs is found in separate deskbooks on those topics.
Evictions Deskbook
Revised October 2023. This deskbook covers procedure in eviction cases, as well as other landlord-tenant issues such as security deposits, repair and remedy cases, and writs of restoration, retrieval, and re-entry.
Fines, Fees, and Costs Deskbook
Revised October 2023. This deskbook covers fines and costs in criminal cases, as well as filing fees and other fees and costs in civil cases.
Inquests Deskbook
Revised November 2023. This deskbook covers procedure and resources for conducting inquests, including ordering autopsies and formal inquest hearings.
Juvenile Deskbook
Revised March 2024. This deskbook includes information on truancy, juvenile criminal cases, including juvenile diversions, juvenile case records, juvenile detention and much more.
Magistration Deskbook
Revised March 2024. This deskbook covers information on magistrate duties, such as Art. 15.17 hearings, mental health hearings, setting bail and bond coditions, as well as issuing search, arrest, and emergency detention warrants, peace bonds, and EPOs.
Officeholding and Ethics Deskbook
Revised October 2023. This deskbook contains information on lots of topics related to holding office as a justice of the peace, including ethics, elections, contempt, weddings, liability, and more!
Recordkeeping & Reporting Deskbook
Revised November 2023. This deskbook covers information on maintaining justice court records, responding to requests by the public to inspect records, and all of the required reports that justice courts must make to DPS, OCA, and others.
Trial Notebook
Revised September 2023. This invaluable resource contains information on evidence and trial procedure in justice court, including scripts for judges to use for all trials, civil or criminal, bench or jury.
Civil Process Field Guide
Revised October 2023. This guide is an indisposable in-the-field resource for constables and deputies, covering information on citations, writs, and other process.
Practical Guide to Writs of Execution
Revised November 2023. This guide explains how a constable works a writ of execution from start to finish, including some common pitfalls and tricky issues that might arise.