James Hambleton

Professor Emeritus

Professor James Hambleton has been a member of the faculty since 1991. Professor Hambleton began his service to the law school as an automation and law library consultant, and then joined the faculty full time as the director of the law library and professor of law. Professor Hambleton served in this capacity until 2001, when he assumed responsibilities for the law school budget. Professor Hambleton returned to full time teaching in 2010.

Professor Hambleton’s scholarship focuses on Texas law and legal history. Of particular interest is the development of the Texas judicial system from 1890 on, when a unique notation system was developed to indicate the weight of authority of intermediate courts of appeals opinions. This system has come under strain as electronic technology facilitates the publication of “unpublished” opinions, and as the courts lose control of the stream of opinions that become part of the jurisprudence of the state. Court rules in the last few years have attempted to redefine case authority, with mixed results. His research also involves an analysis of the history of the Texas rules of civil procedure as they relate to the disposition and publication of Texas cases.

Professor Hambleton holds an M.A.L.S. from the University of Michigan’s graduate school of information. He earned his J.D. from the George Washington University’s National Law Center, and his B.A. cum laude from Middlebury College in Vermont.

• Notations for Subsequent Histories in Civil Cases, 65 TEX. B. J. 695 (Sept. 2002), table republished as Appendix D in TEXAS LAW REVIEW, Texas Rules of Form (11th ed. 2006).
• “Of PDR's and Precedent,” 55 Texas Bar Journal 1074 (Nov. 1992) [with Jim Paulsen].
• “Confederates and Carpetbaggers: The Precedential Value of Decisions From the Civil War and Reconstruction Era,” 51 Texas Bar Journal 916 (Oct. 1988) [with Jim Paulsen].
• A REFERENCE GUIDE TO TEXAS LAW AND LEGAL HISTORY, SOURCES AND DOCUMENTATION, edited by Karl G. Gruben and James E. Hambleton, Austin, Butterworth Legal Publishers, 1987.
• Petitions for Review: Dispositions by the Texas Supreme Court, presented to the Texas cases editorial staff of West Group, Eagan, MN, Sept. 20, 2000.
• Petitions for Review: Dispositions by the Texas Supreme Court, presented to the editorial staff of Shepard’s Pub. Co., Colorado Springs, Colo., Sept. 2-3, 1999.

• Legal Analysis, Research & Writing