Court of Record

On February 20, 2023, the council approved Ordinance 2023-04-106 amending Chapter 2, “Administration and Personnel”, Article 2.06, “Municipal Court”, Division 1, “Generally”, of the City of New Fairview Code of Ordinances, by repealing Division 1 in its entirety and adding a new “Division 1”, establishing the Municipal Court as a Court of Record.

May 1, 2023, will be the first day we will become a Court of Record.

A court of record is a municipal court that is required to keep a record of its proceedings. Chapter 30 of the Government Code creates a municipal court of record in 51 Texas cities. For all other cities, the governing body can choose to have a municipal court of record or a municipal court of non-record. A court of non-record does not keep a record of its proceedings. The majority of municipal courts are not courts of record, and appeals from non-record courts go to the county court, the county court at law, or the district court for trials de novo.

Under the authority of Chapter 30 and the Municipal Courts of Record Act passed in 1997, a municipal court may become a court of record through passage of a local ordinance.

In a court of record, a formal record and transcript are made of the proceedings in the trial and appeals are made on the record. Such appeals are generally heard in the county court or county court at law. The Legislature has specifically authorized two cities, El Paso and Dallas, to create municipal courts of appeals to hear appeals from those cities’ municipal courts. The statutes creating these municipal courts of record require that the judges be licensed to practice law in Texas. No such provision is required of other municipal judges. Municipal courts of record have additional jurisdiction in their territorial limits and their extraterritorial limits. Section 30.00005, G.C. This jurisdiction is concurrent with a district court or county court at law for the purpose of enforcing health and safety or nuisance abatement ordinances.