Faulder v. State

Courts are reluctant to decide constitutional questions and they should be passed on only when raised and when the necessity arises. 12 Tex.Jur.2d, Constitutional Law, § 14, p. 362. I am convinced there is no necessity to pass on the constitutional question here involved. A statute answers the question. Further, if the constitutional question is to be reached, I have concluded the majority opinion, which ignores the rules of constitutional construction and uses artificial and simplistic reasoning, is wrong, dead wrong. For these reasons, I dissent.

The relator Faulder was convicted of capital…