[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 172 (Thursday, November 2, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H11765-H11766]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                TRIBUTE TO JUDGE RAYBURN WAYNE LAWRENCE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Nethercutt). Under a previous order of 
the House, the gentleman from Texas [Mr. Bryant] is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. BRYANT of Texas. Mr. Speaker, today in Palestine, TX, Third 
Judicial District Judge Rayburn Wayne Lawrence retires, and the 
judiciary loses one of its most outstanding jurists.
  For 30 years, Judge Lawrence has dispensed justice from the bench of 
the Third Judicial District, but, for a lifetime, he has served his 
community, his State, his Nation, and his fellow citizens.
  Judge Lawrence, the son of Robert Crittenton and Arizona Adams 
Lawrence, was born in Logan, TX, on November 3, 1920. He completed 
Groveton High School in 1936, the College of Marshall in 1939, and the 
University of Texas in 1941.
  When his country called, Judge Lawrence responded. In the U.S. Navy 
during World War II, this patriot saw nine Pacific campaigns during 33 
months at sea from Munda to Okinawa.
  After his wartime service, he earned his law degree at Baylor 
University and hung out his shingle to practice law in Palestine, TX, a 
city that grew to love him and surely regrets, as I do, his retirement 
from public service.
  He was appointed municipal judge for the city of Palestine, and was 
subsequently elected Anderson County judge, the chief executive officer 
of the county.
  Then, in 1965, he won election as district judge of the Third 
Judicial District. And he won every election since, until he chose this 
day--1 day short of his 75th birthday--to retire.
  The 30 years Judge Lawrence has spent on the Third Judicial District 
bench is longer than the tenure of any of his outstanding predecessors 
in the 159-year history of the court.
  His judicial tenure has been as remarkable for its service to justice 
and community as it has for its duration.
  Recognizing his nearly three decades on the bench in 1992, the Texas 
Bar Foundation recognized Judge Lawrence as the Outstanding Texas 
Jurist, the most prestigious honor that the State Bar of Texas can 
award to a Texas judge and one he richly deserves.
  His record rightfully places Judge Lawrence alongside his great 
predecessors on this historical court, of which he has proudly been the 
historian.
  As James N. Parsons III, a mutual friend and lawyer before Judge 
Lawrence's court, recently observed, ``During his years on the bench, 
Judge Lawrence has always keep the history of the Third Judicial 
District before the participants in his courtroom. All of us who have 
been there have been educated as to the heritage of the great court and 
certainly, Judge Lawrence stands as one of the men of significance who 
have occupied that bench.''
  So it is important in knowing who Judge Lawrence is to share with you 
a bit of the history of the court on which he has served so long as so 
well. It is Judge Lawrence who has written the history of the court.
  I quote here from the history of the court written by him:

       The Third Judicial District is one of the oldest such 
     districts in Texas, dating back to December, 1836, when the 
     First Congress of the Republic of Texas created four judicial 
     districts to cover the entire Republic.
       The Third District has operated without interruption since 
     that date and, during its long history, its bench has been 
     occupied by men of prominence, not only in the law, but in 
     the affairs of Texas. Two Texas counties--Williamson and 
     Mills--bear the names of Third Judicial District judges. 
     Baylor University was founded by another. Several of the 
     court's judges have been members of higher courts, and all 
     have been men of distinction.
       In many ways, the history of the Third Judicial District is 
     a study of the legal, political, and geographical evolution 
     of Texas. The court has served in thirty-one Texas counties, 
     and each of those counties points with pride to the 
     accomplishment of the court and its judges. The minutes of 
     the court reveal the daily life of the communities in which 
     it was a participant. The names in the minute books are a 
     roll call of the famous as well as the infamous, and are a 
     reminder to us of the importance of the district courts in 
     our society.
       The district courts are the chief trial courts and the very 
     cornerstone of the Texas judicial system. These courts have 
     been involved, not only in settling disputes between persons, 
     but also in interpreting the state constitution and, at 
     times, even interpreting federal laws and the federal 
     constitution. Their history is one of steady growth from 
     meager beginnings.
       The early District Courts are remarkable, not only for the 
     quality of their jurisprudence, but simply for the fact that 
     they were able to operate at all. Richard Walker, Judge of 
     the Third District Court from 1877-1879, spoke of the 
     incredibly difficult problem of finding common ground upon 
     which to work: ``Questions of interstate law . . . were 
     necessarily the result of peopling a country from every state 
     in the union. Indeed, ingenuity, itself, can hardly invent 
     any additional elements for complicating the perplexing and 
     difficult varieties of legal responsibilities with which the 
     bench and bar had to contend. I know of the settlement of no 
     country in the world where the conditions have been so 
     exacting and so difficult to administer the law as those 
     which prevailed in the early history of Texas . . . a people 
     transplanted to a new country found themselves surrounded 
     with conditions novel, unprecedented, and were bound neither 
     to a previous policy nor influenced by precedent or 
     tradition.''
       Complicating this situation was the fact that, ``in most of 
     the counties but few books were accessible to the bench and 
     bar, forcing both alike to habits of self-reliance . . . 
     and which involved the habit of resolving every question 
     upon the most thorough analysis of those legal principles 
     which a solution of it required. The conditions of 
     successful advocacy often depended upon the amount of 
     light which the lawyer could supply from the laboratory of 
     his own mind, and his ability to manifest the correctness 
     of the theory of his case by his power for its logical 
     demonstration.''
       The district courts of Texas not only survived these 
     dilemmas, they prevailed. Judge Walker notes their special 
     place in the lives of early Texans: ``The sessions of the 
     district courts in those early days were bi-annual epochs in 
     most of the counties of the state; the entire population 
     looked to these events as an intellectual, political, and 
     social, as well as a legal festival at which, irrespective of 
     personal interest in attending court, they were to meet old 
     acquaintances, hear political discussions, and to be 
     instructed and entertained in hearing the trials of causes in 
     the courthouse . . . It is handed down among the traditions 
     of the past, that in those days, in the humblest log 
     courthouses, and oft times under the shade of a spreading 
     oak, were heard legal efforts which have not been equaled in 
     these later days.''

[[Page H 11766]]

       One common factor in the early history of the District 
     Courts was the attitude of fierce independence of the 
     participants--so typical of the early Texas settlers. These 
     early litigants wanted to be able to express that 
     independence through the courts--and they frequently did. And 
     yet, it is the fact that the district courts throughout their 
     history have tried the case and not the individual that has 
     given these courts their strengths and their longevity.
       The influence of the district courts on the development of 
     the state can hardly be overstated, even though the vast 
     majority of Texans are seldom aware of their decisions or of 
     how those decisions will ultimately affect their lives. Those 
     persons who find themselves a part of this judicial process--
     as parties, witnesses, jurors, attorneys, or judges--
     participate in an increasingly rare event. In no other 
     governmental context does an individual have the opportunity 
     to take a problem to a decision maker who represents the 
     full force and power of that particular branch of 
     government. This direct interchange between the individual 
     and the state is the very heart of the American democratic 
     process.\8\ The district courts enable the individual, 
     regardless of background or circumstance, to invoke the 
     rule of law, i.e. to call upon all the forces of 
     government if need be to consider the matter that he 
     brings.
       Throughout their history, the district courts, have been a 
     reflection of the times. The courts have codified the beliefs 
     of the people as, under the courts' jurisdiction, the law has 
     been subjected to the constant scrutiny of parties, 
     witnesses, juries, judges, and attorneys. Thus the district 
     courts are, and have been, a marvelous vehicle for change or 
     conservation, depending on the forces of society. These 
     evolutionary forces have been channeled by the judges who 
     direct these courts and who have, over the years, insured 
     that the district courts meets the high standards required 
     and expected by all the citizens of Texas. The process 
     continues today.
  Throughout Judge Lawrence's life in Palestine he has been a stalwart 
activist in the community he helped shape and nurture. In the Palestine 
Rotary Club, the American Heart Association, the Salvation Army, the 
Howard Gardner Post No. 85 of the American Legion, the Veterans of 
Foreign Wars, and the Disabled American Veterans, Judge Lawrence has 
contributed his time, his talent, his wisdom, and his resources to 
better the world in which he lives.
  Judge Lawrence shared his life with Evelina Martin of Apple Springs, 
TX, from their marriage in 1949 until her death and, since 1993 with 
his wife, Layneigha Chapman.
  Today, Judge Lawrence returns to private life. It is a much deserved 
retirement for him, but an inestimable loss to those of us who so 
admire and value his long and honorable service of justice in his 
beloved Third Judicial District.
  No matter how distinguished his successors, Judge Rayburn Wayne 
Lawrence will always be a guiding presence in that courtroom and in the 
dispensing of justice everywhere.

                          ____________________