The Texas Constitution — Article 2. The Powers of Government

Published by the Texas Legislative Council; text as of 2026-07-31.

Sec. 1 SEPARATION OF POWERS OF GOVERNMENT AMONG THREE DEPARTMENTS

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.

(Feb. 15, 1876.)

† The language of this provision is identical to the language of the official legislative measure that originally proposed the provision. A digital image of the original text of the official enrolled measure can be found here.