Untitled Texas Attorney General Opinion ( 1951 )

Hon. Rowe11 E. Cobb oQiniOl3Ro. V-1306
District Attorney
52nd &dicial Dlatrict Re: Inclusion of a public
Comanche, Texas auction barn within the
terms "public stockyard
and shipping pen" wlth-
in the contemplat$on of
the Rules and Regulations
of the Livestock Sanitary
Dear Sir: Commission.
You have requested the opinion of this office
as follows:
"Please advise If in your opinion a
public auction barn where livestock of all
kind IS sold weekly and a large number of
people gather weekly fOP the purpose of buy-
ing and selling livestock of all kinds, Is
a public stockyard and Shipping pen as con-
templated by the Rules and Regulations of
the L;vestock Sanitary Commission of Texas.
. * 9
The regulation of the Livestock Sanitary Com-
mission to which you refer is found in the Qubllcation
by the Commlsslon entitled 'Rules and Regulations and
Sanitary Laws of the Livestock Sanitary Commlsslon of
Texas, 19,46, " at page 62, and being Dlvislon III, Chap-
ter XIII, Se,ctionI, which reads as follows:
"All public stoc.kyardsand shipping
pens of said yards in the State of TeXa6
are considered Infected with Hog Cholera,
and are hereby quarantined Tar said Infec-
tion.”
Specifically, you Inquire whether a public auc-
tion barn insa "public stockyard" within the foregoing
rule, and, if so, is it quarantined within the contem-
plation of the rule.
Hon. Howell E. Cobb, page 2 (v-1306)
The authority of the Commission to promulgate
the rule in question is found in Article 1525b, V.P.C.
Upon Inquiry, we have been advised by the
Director for the Livestock Sanitary Commission that
the only "public stockyards" in Texas are the Fort
Worth Stockyards, the Port City Stockyards in Houston,
the Union Stockyards in San Antonio, and the Texar-
kana Stockyards, and that the Commission has never at-
tempted to apply the rule in question as to any other
types of stockyards or sales barns.
The term is evidently used in the rule as
deSCPiptive of those establishments subject to regu-
lation by the "Packer's and Stockyards Act of 1921"
as amended (9 U.S.C.A., Sec. 181, et seq.) whereby
the United States Secretary of Agriculture designates
what stockyards are subject to regulation. Such "pub-
lic stockyards" are comparable in many respects to a
"common carrier" or "public utility" in that they are
charged with special duties to the public in the fur-
nishing of their facilities. They are intimately con-
nected with common carrier transportation and usually
maintain trackage and other shipping facilities. They
are, In other words, of that class of businesses which
have been legislatively determined to be affected with
a public interest and which have been subjected to spe-
cial legislation regulating their powers and duties.
See Delaware, L. & W.R. Co. v. Central Stock-Yard &
Transit Co., 43 R.J.E. 71, 10 A. 490~(1887) consid-
sering the duties imposed on a stockyard corporation
organized and operating under a statute granting spe-
~,~cialpowers to such concerns.
We find no Texas statutes which attempt to
classify "auction barns" or similar facilities general-
ly as "public stockyards" or to regulate them as such.
The fact that federal regulation has not been imposed
thereon indicates that they do not fall within such
classification under federal statutes. The Livestock
Sanitary Commission, under the facts stated above, has
interpreted its rule as not including "auction barns"
within the term "public stockyards." The Commission
has authority to interpret the rules which it is au-
thorized to promulgate in the first Instance. West
---
Texas Compress & Warehouse Co. v. Panhandle & S. F.
l5~S.W.2d 558 (Comm. App. 1929). Fole
R-i, 55 S.W.2d 805 (Comm. App. 1932~;X&iii%ur.
7.. .
Hon. Howell E. Cobb, page 3 (v-1306)
392, Public Administrative Law, Sec. 77. The interpre-
tation of Its own rule by the administrative body to
which rulemaking power has been delegated becomes a
part of the rule. In view of the construction placed
upon the terms by the Commission, as indicated, we con-
clude that the term "public stockyard" refers to only
such"stoc ' as have been classified as "public
'azdfsregulated as such. Unless such "auc-
stockyards
tion barns" are so classified and designated, we con-
clude that they are not "public stockyards" within the
meaning of the rule.
SUMMARY
A public auction barn is not a "public
stockyard" as that term is used in certain
quarantine regulations of the Livestock Sani-
tary Commission. The only "public stockyards"
in Texas are those designated as such by the
Livestock Sanitary Commission.~
Yours very truly,
PRICE DANIEL
APPROVED: Attpr\neyGexral n ,.
Jesse P. Luton, Jr. 5aniel
Reviewing Assistant
Charles D. Mathews
First Assistant
NMc/DJC:jmc