Untitled Texas Attorney General Opinion ( 1952 )

Hon. Homer Garrison, Jr., Director
Texas Department of Public Safety
Austin, Texas ' Opinion No, V-1546.
Re: Action under Section 17
of Article 6701h, V.C.S..
when a driver's license
Is suspended under Sec-
tfon 22 of Article 6687b,
Dear Colonel Garrison: v,c.s,
In your recent request for an opinion of thFs
office, you ask the following question:
"When the Department of Public Safety,
pursuant to the authority granted in Sec. 22
of Article 6687b, suspends a license after
recefvfng a report from the court of an
affirmative finding by the court on behalf of
the Department, Is thfs such a suspension or
revocation of a lfcense of any person 'upon
receiving record of a conviction or a for-
feiture of balls as to require the Department
of Public Safety to suspend the registration
for all motor vehicles regfsterjedin the name
of such person as requfred by Set, 17(a) of
Article 6701h, V.C.S;?"
Subdivisfon (a] of Se,ction17, Article 6701h,
V,C.S., reads;
"Whenever the Department, under any law of
this State9 suspends or revokes the license
of any person upon recefvfng record of a con-
vi:ctionor a forfeiture of bail, the Department
shall alao suspend the registration for all
motor vehfcles registered in the name of such
person, except that the Department shall not
suspend such regfetration, unless otherwise
requfred by law, if such person has previously
g%ven or shall immetliatelggive and thereafter
lion;Homer Garrison, Jr., page 2 (Opinion go. V- 1546).
.
maintain proof:of financial responsibility with
respect to all motor vehicles registered by such
person."
Subdivision (a) of Section 22, Article 6687b,
V.C.S., reads: $
'(a) When under Section 10 of this Act
the Director believes the licensee to be incapable
of safely operating a motor vehicle, the Director
may notify said liceneee‘of such fact and summons
him to appear f,orhearing as provided hereinafter.
Such hearing shall be had not less than ten (10)
days after notification to the licensee or operator
under any of the provlsions of this Section, and
upon charges in writing a copy of which shall be
given to said operator or licensee not less than
ten (10) days before said hearing. For the pur-
pose of hearing such cases jurlsdictlon Is vested
In the mayor of the city, or judge of the police
court, or a justice of the peace in the countg
or subdivision thereof where the operator or
licensee resides, Such dourt may admlhister oaths
and may Issue subpoenas for the attendanCe of
witnesses and the ljroductlonof relative books
and papers. It shall be the duty of the cqurt
to set the matter for hearing upon ten (10) days
written notice to the Department. Upon such hear-
ing, in the event of an affirmative finding by
the court, the officer who presides at such hear-
ing shall report the same to the Department which
shall have authority to suspend said lloense for
a period not greater than one (1) year;provided,
however, that in the event of such affirmative
finding the llcensee~may appeal to thencounty
court of the counti wherein the hearing was held,
said appeal to be tried de novo. Notice by
registered mail to address shown on the license
of licensee shall constitute service for the pur-
pose of this Section.”
The word “conviction” Is the key tb the answBp
to the question you present concerning ArtLcle 670213. By
Hon. Hager.Garrison, Jr., page 3 (Opinion No. V-15466),
the wording of Section 17, the Department is authorFBed
to suspend the registration of motor vehloles of a
licensee,if it has first suspended or revoked the license
of the llaensee upon receipt of a record of conviction
or a forf'eltureof bail of the llcezisee.
The term "conviction" ordinarily refers to the
determination of the nuilt of a parts in a erlmiaal..DSPo-
ceeding before a judicial tribunal. -SnoBgrass v. St&&,
150 S.W. 162 (Tex.Crlm. 1912); Hill v. Si%&, 41-53
(1874). In Snodgress v, State, the Court uoted,the
definition for conviction given In 9 Cgq: 865, as f'ollaara:
I#
e In 9 Cyc, 865, the general ?ee,i"li$on
of the word 'conviction'.is given as:
finding of a person guilty,by a verdict of a
jury; that legal prqceeding of record which as-
certains the gullt,of the party, and upon which
the sentence of judgment is founded.'"
Conviction in its most extensive sense signifies
given against a cfitilnal.
A search of Texas ca;%c,elot~erpretib,g the wol?d
"convlctionn BhoWS that the word has been defined as
the finding of a person guilty In a crimitialjudicial
hearing, the judgment entered in a criminal judicial
proeesdinq,,and the pronouncement of sentiencein a
crimloal dudiceal proceeding, It is our opinion that
the word convictfon" Is used in Article 6701h in tha!
ordinary sense of a conviction In a e&-fmfnalproceeding.
Ro Texas case Indicates that the term Includes-fact
findings '&$oF* aq admitifstratfveoffieelr- It should be
noted that in Section 22 of Article 6687b, the officer
or court condustfng the hearing act,8in an adminiU&?a%ive~
eapaelty iq,making the "afffrmat,ivefinding" upon whleh
the Dewartment of Public S&e%Y ~usw``ndIs the liaeaae.
carpSaon, 248 S.W.26-241 (TexOClv.App. 1952).
Pr$.nce'v~>
wage shows that the LsgUGatuFe did n&
cot%d&-"ea:h ac$fon under SeoiXoa 2s of Ar)i~l:@ 66%~
Thus It is evident utier subdlvigion (a) of
Section 17, Article 6701h, that the DepasWent is M
suspend registration only where the lloeneee has b&en
found gulliq in 6 criminal judlalal proceeaing an4 the
Deparfment hare received reoozff therear.
The a&Ion of awpenstorr abi& f&e Dspw@mmt
is autho*ized to perf’orm under SactZon 22 0. &&lcle
6687b is based upon the outcome of an BrttiQiatrative
proaeedipg, not a criminal fudba-ial prooeebl
This sect$oa of AzWoLcle2. 687P-fwou d
ie%pWion under subdivision
1~1.