Texas Pattern Jury Charges, published by the State Bar of Texas, is a compilation of definitions, jury instructions, and supplemental material, intended to assist practitioners with developing jury charges. Volumes are organized by broad practice area and are generally sold individually, since few practitioners have need for all of them. The pattern charges use questions to direct the practitioner to the proper provided fill-in-the-blank language. Local bar associations often encourage practitioners to use these pattern charges, so it’s important for students to familiarize themselves with these resources before graduating.
Online access to the Texas Pattern Jury Charges - Civil can be found on Lexis.
Each set of jury charges is divided into topical chapters, the subsections of which contain pattern jury charges addressing specific questions or circumstances. Each civil volume contains the same first and last chapter: “Admonitory Instructions” and “Preservation of Charge Error,” respectively. Each criminal volume begins with a chapter on “Commentary on Criminal Jury Charges” and a chapter on “The General Charge.”
Volumes may also contain any of the following: preface, introduction, Quick Guide to Drafting a Jury Charge, appendix, statutes and rules cited, cases cited, and a subject index.
Most individual chapters begin with a section of statutory references and a section of general comments.
There are eight total sets of jury charges (four civil and four criminal).
To find a particular pattern jury charge, first determine which volume you need. The title of each volume provides basic information about what it contains, and you can see above (or look at the publisher’s website, for the contents of each volume.
Once you know which volume you need, you can use either the Subject Index or the Contents table to determine which pattern charge/page you need. The subject index is alphabetized by broad subject area, and subtopics are arranged alphabetically within each broad subject. The Contents table lists the chapters, parts, and names of pattern charges, along with a page number for each.
When you have located the applicable pattern charge, be sure to read the Comments section at the end. This section provides additional information on the statutory or case law source of the language, when you might want to use it, Texas-specific details, and additional nuances or exceptions to the pattern charge as presented. If necessary, use the citations to find the primary law related to the pattern charge.
The printed volumes of Texas Pattern Jury Charges are not updated regularly. When a new edition of a volume is published, that edition supersedes the previous edition and contains a table listing the changes that were made in the new edition. You should reference the most recent edition of each volume when researching.
Texas Pattern Jury Charges Allows Users To: