Texas Code of Criminal Procedure 45A.051 – Electronic Records
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(a) Notwithstanding any other law, a document issued or maintained by a justice or municipal court or a notice or a citation issued by a law enforcement officer may be created by electronic means, including:
(1) optical imaging;
(2) optical disk;
(3) digital imaging; or
(4) another electronic reproduction technique that does not permit changes, additions, or deletions to the originally created document.
(b) A justice or municipal court may use electronic means to:
(1) produce a document required by law to be written;
(2) record an instrument, paper, or notice that is permitted or required by law to be recorded or filed; or
(3) maintain a docket.
Terms Used In Texas Code of Criminal Procedure 45A.051
- Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
- Docket: A log containing brief entries of court proceedings.
- Justice: when applied to a magistrate, means justice of the peace. See Texas Government Code 312.011
- Person: includes corporation, organization, government or governmental subdivision or agency, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, association, and any other legal entity. See Texas Government Code 311.005
- Signature: includes the mark of a person unable to write, and "subscribe" includes the making of such a mark. See Texas Government Code 312.011
- Signed: includes any symbol executed or adopted by a person with present intention to authenticate a writing. See Texas Government Code 311.005
- Written: includes any representation of words, letters, symbols, or figures. See Texas Government Code 311.005
(c) Information in a docket may be processed and stored using electronic data processing equipment, at the discretion of the justice or judge.
(d) A justice or municipal court shall maintain original documents as provided by law.
(e) An electronically recorded judgment has the same force and effect as a written signed judgment.
(f) A record created by electronic means is an original record or a certification of the original record.
(g) A printed copy of an optical image of the original record printed from an optical disk system is an accurate copy of the original record.
(h) A statutory requirement that a document contain the signature of any person, including a judge, clerk of the court, or defendant, is satisfied if the document contains that signature as captured on an electronic device.
Text of article effective on January 01, 2025