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What is a Bowie knife, or as the statute has it, "bowie knife?"

Not to be a smart aleck, but this is a Bowie knife.

I don't know if Jim Bowie ever carried a "Bowie knife" but that is where the name originated.

I have never read a legal definition or case law.

I read somewhere, but can't find the source right now, that in order to be a "Bowie knife" it has to have a cross guard to prevent injury to the hand.

I think the definition is similar to a dirk or dagger in that they are designed for stabbing rather than cutting.

I am not sure of a Bowie knife has a false edge or not. I suppose it could depend on the knife maker.

I was always told by my pappy that a Bowie knife was an Arkansas tooth pick.
Found this interesting reading:
https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/lnb01

According to what little history I can find, the so called "Bowie" knife was a shortened version of the ancient broadsword. As opposed to a knife designed to be a tool, the "Bowie", like the sword, was designed to be a killing instrument.

This is from memory only. Someone correct my mistakes.

So does my Buck knife that I've had for 40 years. But that is common on fixed blade knives in my admittedly limited experience.

It seems like there ought to be a definition, or a universal or at the least a common understanding about what makes a knife a "bowie knife" or it would be unConstitutional, for vagueness. The entire statute seems vulnerable since, really, any knife is illegal if they want it to be.

I think that Supreme Court Justice Steward Potter's definition of a "bowie knife" would be the same as his definition of pornography - "I know it when I see it".

WildBill wrote:I think that Supreme Court Justice Steward Potter's definition of a "bowie knife" would be the same as his definition of pornography - "I know it when I see it".

Well, he's dead now, and I'd prefer not to be caught with a knife that some dufus decides can be a "bowie knife" if he wants it to be. I don't want to misunderstand what he sees.

Texas Penal Code, 1879. Title XV, Chapter 3
ART. 501. A "bowie-knife" or "dagger," as the terms are here and elsewhere used, means any knife intended to be worn upon the person, which is capable of inflicting death and not commonly known as a pocket- knife.

http://www.sll.texas.gov/assets/pdf/his ... 79pen2.pdf
page 70.

DocV wrote:

Texas Penal Code, 1879. Title XV, Chapter 3
ART. 501. A "bowie-knife" or "dagger," as the terms are here and elsewhere used, means any knife intended to be worn upon the person, which is capable of inflicting death and not commonly known as a pocket- knife.

http://www.sll.texas.gov/assets/pdf/his ... 79pen2.pdf
page 70.

Thanks. That is the link I was looking for.

Still not very descriptive and could apply to just about any fixed blade knife.

Is that still current law, in the statute now, or has it been superseded or deleted in a revision?

It's a knife owned by someone named Bowie.
Interesting video about Bowie knives.


https://youtu.be/SFYSvtMtBpk" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

JALLEN wrote:Is that still current law, in the statute now, or has it been superseded or deleted in a revision?

Well, been waiting for a couple of hours waiting for a response, but seeing none, I will go wayyyyyyyyyyy out on a limb by saying that for the past 6 years in reading new legislation that subsequently became law, that I've not seen anywhere in the statutes, where that definition has been amended. That is to say, when new 'changes' to a law or statute(or definitions of same) come into effect, the original statue remain as is(not changed), but what changes the statute/law are enacted are amendments to it in new wording at the end of that particular law.

And I've not seen where that definition of a bowie knife has been amended, or changed. Therefore, I believe that the definition of the bowie knife as defined in the Texas Penal Code, 1879. Title XV, Chapter 3 is still valid and in effect. As if any of that makes sense.

Just my opinion.

I believe the statutes have been reorganized maybe a couple of times, but am not familiar with that.

When I worked for a law firm here, in high school and college, there was VATS, Vernon's Annotated Texas Statutes.b. That seems to have been redone somehow.

JALLEN wrote:I believe the statutes have been reorganized maybe a couple of times, but am not familiar with that.

When I worked for a law firm here, in high school and college, there was VATS, Vernon's Annotated Texas Statutes.b. That seems to have been redone somehow.

I think that is now the "bible" of the legal profession, is it not? Just asking, as I'm not a student of law. And if that were the case would we not see a re-definition of the "bowie knife"? Not trying to stir up anything but just curious. I honestly don't know.