2023 Texas Statutes › Penal Code › Title 1 - Introductory Provisions › Chapter 1 - General Provisions › Section 1.07. Definitions

Sec. 1.07.  DEFINITIONS.  (a)  In this code:
(1)  "Act" means a bodily movement, whether voluntary or involuntary, and includes speech.
(2)  "Actor" means a person whose criminal responsibility is in issue in a criminal action.  Whenever the term "suspect" is used in this code, it means "actor."
(3)  "Agency" includes authority, board, bureau, commission, committee, council, department, district, division, and office.
(4)  "Alcoholic beverage" has the meaning assigned by Section 1.04, Alcoholic Beverage Code.
(5)  "Another" means a person other than the actor.
(6)  "Association" means a government or governmental subdivision or agency, trust, partnership, or two or more persons having a joint or common economic interest.
(7)  "Benefit" means anything reasonably regarded as economic gain or advantage, including benefit to any other person in whose welfare the beneficiary is interested.
(8)  "Bodily injury" means physical pain, illness, or any impairment of physical condition.
(8-a)  "Civil commitment facility" means a facility owned, leased, or operated by the state, or by a vendor under contract with the state, that houses only persons who have been civilly committed as sexually violent predators under Chapter 841, Health and Safety Code.
(9)  "Coercion" means a threat, however communicated:
(A)  to commit an offense;
(B)  to inflict bodily injury in the future on the person threatened or another;
(C)  to accuse a person of any offense;
(D)  to expose a person to hatred, contempt, or ridicule;
(E)  to harm the credit or business repute of any person;  or
(F)  to take or withhold action as a public servant, or to cause a public servant to take or withhold action.
(10)  "Conduct" means an act or omission and its accompanying mental state.
(11)  "Consent" means assent in fact, whether express or apparent.
(12)  "Controlled substance" has the meaning assigned by Section 481.002, Health and Safety Code.
(13)  "Corporation" includes nonprofit corporations, professional associations created pursuant to statute, and joint stock companies.
(14)  "Correctional facility" means a place designated by law for the confinement of a person arrested for, charged with, or convicted of a criminal offense.  The term includes:
(A)  a municipal or county jail;
(B)  a confinement facility operated by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice;
(C)  a confinement facility operated under contract with any division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice;  and
(D)  a community corrections facility operated by a community supervision and corrections department.
(15)  "Criminal negligence" is defined in Section 6.03 (Culpable Mental States).
(16)  "Dangerous drug" has the meaning assigned by Section 483.001, Health and Safety Code.
(17)  "Deadly weapon" means:
(A)  a firearm or anything manifestly designed, made, or adapted for the purpose of inflicting death or serious bodily injury;  or
(B)  anything that in the manner of its use or intended use is capable of causing death or serious bodily injury.
(18)  "Drug" has the meaning assigned by Section 481.002, Health and Safety Code.
(19)  "Effective consent" includes consent by a person legally authorized to act for the owner.  Consent is not effective if:
(A)  induced by force, threat, or fraud;
(B)  given by a person the actor knows is not legally authorized to act for the owner;
(C)  given by a person who by reason of youth, mental disease or defect, or intoxication is known by the actor to be unable to make reasonable decisions;  or
(D)  given solely to detect the commission of an offense.
(20)  "Electric generating plant" means a facility that generates electric energy for distribution to the public.
(21)  "Electric utility substation" means a facility used to switch or change voltage in connection with the transmission of electric energy for distribution to the public.
(22)  "Element of offense" means:
(A)  the forbidden conduct;
(B)  the required culpability;
(C)  any required result;  and
(D)  the negation of any exception to the offense.
(23)  "Felony" means an offense so designated by law or punishable by death or confinement in a penitentiary.
(24)  "Government" means:
(A)  the state;
(B)  a county, municipality, or political subdivision of the state;  or
(C)  any branch or agency of the state, a county, municipality, or political subdivision.
(25)  "Harm" means anything reasonably regarded as loss, disadvantage, or injury, including harm to another person in whose welfare the person affected is interested.
(26)  "Individual" means a human being who is alive, including an unborn child at every stage of gestation from fertilization until birth.
(27)  Repealed by Acts 2009, 81st Leg., R.S., Ch. 87, Sec. 25.144, eff. September 1, 2009.
(28)  "Intentional" is defined in Section 6.03 (Culpable Mental States).
(29)  "Knowing" is defined in Section 6.03 (Culpable Mental States).
(30)  "Law" means the constitution or a statute of this state or of the United States, a written opinion of a court of record, a municipal ordinance, an order of a county commissioners court, or a rule authorized by and lawfully adopted under a statute.
(30-a)  "Mass shooting" means a person's discharge of a firearm to cause serious bodily injury or death, or to attempt to cause serious bodily injury or death, to four or more persons:
(A)  during the same criminal transaction; or
(B)  during different criminal transactions but pursuant to the same scheme or course of conduct.
(31)  "Misdemeanor" means an offense so designated by law or punishable by fine, by confinement in jail, or by both fine and confinement in jail.
(32)  "Oath" includes affirmation.
(33)  "Official proceeding" means any type of administrative, executive, legislative, or judicial proceeding that may be conducted before a public servant.
(34)  "Omission" means failure to act.
(35)  "Owner" means a person who:
(A)  has title to the property, possession of the property, whether lawful or not, or a greater right to possession of the property than the actor;  or
(B)  is a holder in due course of a negotiable instrument.
Text of subdivision effective until January 01, 2025
(36)  "Peace officer" means a person elected, employed, or appointed as a peace officer under Article 2.12, Code of Criminal Procedure, Section 51.212 or 51.214, Education Code, or other law.
Text of subdivision effective on January 01, 2025
(36)  "Peace officer" means a person elected, employed, or appointed as a peace officer under Article 2A.001, Code of Criminal Procedure, Section 51.212 or 51.214, Education Code, or other law.
(37)  "Penal institution" means a place designated by law for confinement of persons arrested for, charged with, or convicted of an offense.
(38)  "Person" means an individual or a corporation, association, limited liability company, or other entity or organization governed by the Business Organizations Code.
(39)  "Possession" means actual care, custody, control, or management.
(40)  "Public place" means any place to which the public or a substantial group of the public has access and includes, but is not limited to, streets, highways, and the common areas of schools, hospitals, apartment houses, office buildings, transport facilities, and shops.
(41)  "Public servant" means a person elected, selected, appointed, employed, or otherwise designated as one of the following, even if he has not yet qualified for office or assumed his duties:
(A)  an officer, employee, or agent of government;
(B)  a juror or grand juror;  or
(C)  an arbitrator, referee, or other person who is authorized by law or private written agreement to hear or determine a cause or controversy;  or
(D)  an attorney at law or notary public when participating in the performance of a governmental function;  or
(E)  a candidate for nomination or election to public office;  or
(F)  a person who is performing a governmental function under a claim of right although he is not legally qualified to do so.
(42)  "Reasonable belief" means a belief that would be held by an ordinary and prudent man in the same circumstances as the actor.
(43)  "Reckless" is defined in Section 6.03 (Culpable Mental States).
(44)  "Rule" includes regulation.
(45)  "Secure correctional facility" means:
(A)  a municipal or county jail;  or
(B)  a confinement facility operated by or under a contract with any division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
(46)  "Serious bodily injury" means bodily injury that creates a substantial risk of death or that causes death, serious permanent disfigurement, or protracted loss or impairment of the function of any bodily member or organ.
(46-a)  "Sight order" means a written or electronic instruction to pay money that is authorized by the person giving the instruction and that is payable on demand or at a definite time by the person being instructed to pay.   The term includes a check, an electronic debit, or an automatic bank draft.
Text of subdivision effective until January 01, 2025
(46-b)  "Federal special investigator" means a person described by Article 2.122, Code of Criminal Procedure.
Text of subdivision effective on January 01, 2025
(46-b)  "Federal special investigator" means a person described by Article 2A.002, Code of Criminal Procedure.
(47)  "Swear" includes affirm.
(48)  "Unlawful" means criminal or tortious or both and includes what would be criminal or tortious but for a defense not amounting to justification or privilege.
(49)  "Death" includes, for an individual who is an unborn child, the failure to be born alive.
(b)  The definition of a term in this code applies to each grammatical variation of the term.
Acts 1973, 63rd Leg., p. 883, ch. 399, Sec. 1, eff. Jan. 1, 1974.  Amended by Acts 1975, 64th Leg., p. 912, ch. 342, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1975;  Acts 1977, 65th Leg., p. 2123, ch. 848, Sec. 1, eff. Aug. 29, 1977;  Acts 1979, 66th Leg., p. 1113, ch. 530, Sec. 1, eff. Aug. 27, 1979;  Acts 1979, 66th Leg., p. 1520, ch. 655, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1979;  Acts 1987, 70th Leg., ch. 167, Sec. 5.01(a)(43), eff. Sept. 1, 1987;  Acts 1989, 71st Leg., ch. 997, Sec. 1, eff. Aug. 28, 1989;  Acts 1991, 72nd Leg., ch. 543, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1991;  Acts 1993, 73rd Leg., ch. 900, Sec. 1.01, eff. Sept. 1, 1994;  Acts 2003, 78th Leg., ch. 822, Sec. 2.01, eff. Sept. 1, 2003.
Amended by:
Acts 2009, 81st Leg., R.S., Ch. 87 (S.B. 1969), Sec. 25.144, eff. September 1, 2009.
Acts 2009, 81st Leg., R.S., Ch. 421 (H.B. 2031), Sec. 1, eff. September 1, 2009.
Acts 2011, 82nd Leg., R.S., Ch. 839 (H.B. 3423), Sec. 1, eff. September 1, 2011.
Acts 2017, 85th Leg., R.S., Ch. 34 (S.B. 1576), Sec. 26, eff. September 1, 2017.
Acts 2019, 86th Leg., R.S., Ch. 112 (S.B. 1258), Sec. 1, eff. September 1, 2019.
Acts 2023, 88th Leg., R.S., Ch. 467 (H.B. 165), Sec. 1, eff. September 1, 2023.
Acts 2023, 88th Leg., R.S., Ch. 765 (H.B. 4504), Sec. 2.153, eff. January 1, 2025.