George W. Paschal Image courtesy of Texas State Library & Archives Commission

The library is pleased to announce the addition of Paschal's Digest to our online offerings of historic Texas laws. Published in 1866 by George Paschal, the Digest is often regarded as the first successful, helpful compilation of Texas laws. The Digest also served as the basis for the first complete official codification of Texas statutes, adopted in 1879.

Researchers who trace the history of Texas statutes are familiar with Paschal's Digest, which is abbreviated in legislative history annotations as "P.D.__"

The LRL would like to thank the Tarlton Law Library at the University of Texas at Austin for their participation in this project.