PARKS AND WILDLIFE CODE

TITLE 1. GENERAL PROVISIONS

CHAPTER 1. GENERAL PROVISIONS

SUBCHAPTER A. PURPOSE AND POLICY


	§ 1.001.  PURPOSE OF CODE.  (a)  This code is enacted as 
a part of the state's continuing statutory revision program, begun 
by the Texas Legislative Council in 1963 as directed by the 
legislature in Chapter 488, Acts of the 58th Legislature, 1963 
(Article 5429b-1, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes).  The program 
contemplates a topic-by-topic revision of the state's general and 
permanent statute law without substantive change.
	(b)  Consistent with the objectives of the statutory 
revision program, the purpose of this code is to make the general 
and permanent parks and wildlife law more accessible and 
understandable by:
		(1)  rearranging the statutes into a more logical 
order;                    
		(2)  employing a format and numbering system designed 
to facilitate citation of the law and to accommodate future 
expansion of the law;
		(3)  eliminating repealed, duplicative, 
unconstitutional, expired, executed, and other ineffective 
provisions;  and
		(4)  restating the law in modern American English to 
the greatest extent possible.

Acts 1975, 64th Leg., p. 1405, ch. 545, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1975.           


	§ 1.002.  CONSTRUCTION OF CODE.  The Code Construction 
Act (Chapter 311, Government Code) applies to the construction of 
each provision in this code, except as otherwise expressly provided 
by this code.

Acts 1975, 64th Leg., p. 1405, ch. 545, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1975.  
Amended by Acts 1985, 69th Leg., ch. 479, § 68, eff. Sept. 1, 
1985.

SUBCHAPTER B. PROPERTY OF THE STATE


	§ 1.011.  PROPERTY OF THE STATE.  (a)  All wild animals, 
fur-bearing animals, wild birds, and wild fowl inside the borders 
of this state are the property of the people of this state.
	(b)  All fish and other aquatic animal life contained in the 
freshwater rivers, creeks, and streams and in lakes or sloughs 
subject to overflow from rivers or other streams within the borders 
of this state are the property of the people of this state.
	(c)  All the beds and bottoms and the products of the beds and 
bottoms of the public rivers, bayous, lagoons, creeks, lakes, bays, 
and inlets in this state and of that part of the Gulf of Mexico 
within the jurisdiction of this state are the property of this 
state.  The state may permit the use of the waters and bottoms and 
the taking of the products of the bottoms and waters.
	(d)  The Parks and Wildlife Department shall regulate the 
taking and conservation of fish, oysters, shrimp, crabs, turtles, 
terrapins, mussels, lobsters, and all other kinds and forms of 
marine life, or sand, gravel, marl, mud shell, and all other kinds 
of shell in accordance with the authority vested in it by this code.

Acts 1975, 64th Leg., p. 1405, ch. 545, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1975.           


	§ 1.012.  PUBLIC FRESH WATER.  Any public freshwater 
lake, river, creek, or bayou in this state contained in any survey 
of private land may not be sold but shall remain open to the public.  
The Parks and Wildlife Department is authorized to protect the fish 
in public waters under rules as it may prescribe.

Acts 1975, 64th Leg., p. 1405, ch. 545, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1975.  
Amended by Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 1256, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 
1997.


	§ 1.013.  FENCES.  This code does not prohibit or 
restrict the owner or occupant of land from constructing or 
maintaining a fence of any height on the land owned or occupied, and 
an owner or occupant who constructs such a fence is not liable for 
the restriction of the movement of wild animals by the fence.  The 
existence of a fence does not affect the status of wild animals as 
property of the people of this state.

Added by Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 1256, § 123, eff. Sept. 1, 
1997.      

SUBCHAPTER C. DEFINITIONS


	§ 1.101.  DEFINITIONS.  In this code:                                       
		(1)  "Hunt" means capture, trap, take, or kill, or an 
attempt to capture, trap, take, or kill.
		(2)  "Catch" means take or kill and includes an attempt 
to take or kill.    
		(3)  "Sell" means to transfer the ownership or the 
right of possession of an item to a person for consideration and 
includes a barter and an even exchange.
		(4)  "Wild," when used in reference to an animal, means 
a species, including each individual of a species, that normally 
lives in a state of nature and is not ordinarily domesticated.  This 
definition does not include exotic livestock defined by Section 
161.001(a)(4), Agriculture Code.

Acts 1975, 64th Leg., p. 1405, ch. 545, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1975.  
Amended by Acts 1981, 67th Leg., p. 378, ch. 153, § 11, eff. 
Sept. 1, 1981;  Acts 1991, 72nd Leg., ch. 424, § 3, eff. Sept. 1, 
1991;  Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 1256, § 2, eff. Sept. 1, 1997;  
Acts 2003, 78th Leg., ch. 604, § 4, eff. Sept. 1, 2003.