Texas Legal Resources at Tarlton

Jury charges (or “instructions”) are the questions, instructions, and definitions given to a jury by the judge in a case. They provide direction and information to the jury regarding their deliberations. Pattern jury charges are model jury charges designed to guide judges and lawyers in formulating jury charges. Along with model charge text, they often include comments and references to major cases.

The State Bar of Texas produces its own set of model jury charges called Texas Pattern Jury Charges (PJC), which are generally published on a two-year cycle. Other Texas pattern jury charges are produced by private companies. Further, some collections of actual jury charges are available, such as Texas State Jury Charge Filings on Lexis.

Texas Pattern Jury Charges (State Bar of Texas)

Current editions:

• Civil: available in print and online
• Criminal: only available online (via Texas Bar Books and Lexis).

Published by the State Bar of Texas (SBOT) and available via the following:

• Texas Bar Books
  • UT Law community can set up accounts for free access
  • Tarlton instructions for access
  • Civil
  • Criminal