Case Name: Robert E. Jones v. State
Court: Texas Court of Criminal Appeals
Jurisdiction: Texas
Decision Date: 1962-02-21
Citations: 172 Tex. Crim. 100
Docket Number: No. 34,273
Parties: Robert E. Jones v. State
Judges: 
Reporter: Texas Criminal Reports
Volume: 172
Pages: 100–101

Head Matter:
Robert E. Jones v. State
No. 34,273.
February 21, 1962
No attorney for appellant of record on appeal.
Frank Briscoe, District Attorney, Samuel H. Robertson, Jr., James M. Shatto, Assistants District Attorney, Houston, and Leon Douglas, State’s Attorney, Austin, for the state.

Opinion:
BELCHER, Judge.
The conviction is for loitering as denounced by a city ordinance; the punishment, a fine of $110.
Appellant was convicted in the Corporation Court of the city of Houston for violation of a city ordinance. The act charged as the basis of the offense of loitering for which he was convicted is not one defined by the Penal Code of the State, but is one allegedly made an offense solely by virtue of the city ordinance. The appellant appealed to the County Criminal Court at Law No. 1 of Harris County. Upon a plea of not guilty before the court without a jury, he was again found guilty and assessed a fine of $110.
The city ordinance under which this conviction rests was not introduced in evidence or made a part of the record. Several portions of the purported ordinance were introduced in evidence, but none of them contain any penalty provision.
In Texas, the state courts do not take judicial notice of the existence of city ordinances or their terms, and where they enter into a transaction and are relied on, proof of them is essential. 1 Branch's Ann. P.C. 2d 452, Sec. 449; Karchmer v. State, 61 Texas Cr. Rep. 221, 134 S.W. 700; White v. State, 82 Texas Cr. Rep. 284, 198 SW. 964.
The judgment is reversed and the cause is remanded.
Opinion approved by the Court.