Dickens v. Court of Appeals for the Second Supreme Judicial District of Texas

A bare majority would have this Court bestow upon courts of appeals jurisdiction, power and authority to issue writs of mandamus in criminal law matters, and then test propriety of their exercise of the grant by a standard developed on the civil side out of considerations inapposite to criminal law. I dissent to the doing in this cause because Relator is deceased, and to what is ultimately done because erroneous in both aspects.

Mandamus Jurisdiction

When we distill Part III. B. of the majority opinion its essence is deceptively simple: “The word ‘all’ [in former article 1824, Y.A. C.S., and…