Untitled Texas Attorney General Opinion ( 1951 )

Janu@py 11, 1951
Hon. Larry 0. 00x
Hxecutlve Mreator
Board for Texae Stat@
Hospitals and Spoolal Schools
Austin, Texas opfalon Ho. v-1141.
Rw Lqgaity 0r admlt-
tlng en brbltuel
clmnkardtoa State
hospital under a
aarltamt made by
Dea~rSirs l o o wlty judge,
*Recently sevmal oamnltm6nts oi babi-
tual drunkard8 have been made by county
udges to Stat& bospltnls ?or the Insaner
dme of the oomitmentm hnve been by jury
trial, aa set out in Title 92 oS Vernon88
Civil statutes. Other oomltmantrr have been
for a period 9f ninety (90) aay6 a6 set out
3ii*rtlol* 319304 of VOmIc0”8 CfVil stat-
The judgments 1~ each of the cam8 ad-
jud&d the person to be an ‘babltual drunk-
ard’ Instead 0r a Vp~roa or ua800116.mind.’
Hovevec, the j at oFaerse the person
conmitteQ to a TS ate hospital.
“It is our intsrpmtatfon that a per-
BOLIwould have to be adjudged wntnlly ill
to be ooamlttad tmdep Aptiole >lg>o-1, or
vould hfive to be deckFed * pewon of ua-
sound mind under Title 92.
“It ie evidently the IntrzQPetatlolaof
nome county Judy that the a?oramentioasd
gaFgsd a lov a complitment OS an babl-
0
‘Plume 8dviss whether 0~0not an babl-
tual drunkerd can ti lsgallg cmmittsd under
tha provlslo~ of eLtheP Article 31930~1 or"
Title 92,.
Hon. Larry 0. Cox, page 2 (V-1141)
With respect to the commitment to the insane
asylums operated by this State of persons adjudged under
the provisions of Title 92, VarnonDs Civil Statutes, Arti-
cles 5554 and 5557, V.C.S., provide in part:
Art. 5554. “Upcn Peturn of a verdict
finding that the defendant ie of unsound
mind and that It is necessary that
med under restraint, judgment shall be
entered adjudging the defendant to be a
person of unsound mind and order-
to be comltt d for restpaint and treat-
ment to any &ane ar)ylum operated by the
State of Texas in which them may be avail-
able. room, a e .”
Art. 5557. %nmedI.atelyafter any
person Is adjudged a person of unsound
mind, the county judge shall caumunicate
8% the supelrlntendentsof the Insane
asylums within this State, and if it Is
ascertained that there fs a vacancy in
any of such asylums, or that the patient
may be accommodated.,thereln, he shall is-
sue his warrant to the sheriff or to some
other suitable person dSrecting him to
convey the pepson of unsound mind to the
asylum deslgnated in such warpant, _I a *”
(Emphasfs added throughout m)
Under Article 5552, V.C.S,, before one charged
with being of unsound mind can legally be committed indef-
initely to a State hospital, there must be a jury ver-
dict not only that he :$.sof unsound mind but that his
mental condftlon is such as to render it necessary that
he be placed under restPaint, Hatton v, State Board of
Control, 146 Tex. 160, 204 SbW02d 390 (1947),
With respect to mentally~lll persons ,ndjuclge,ed
and consuLtted under the provisions of Article 3X.930-1.,
v.c.s*, it Is ploovlded
“Section 1. (a) If information in
writing and under oath be gLven to any Coun-
ty Judge that any pepson in Ns county who
is not chalaeed with a c~lmlnal offense. is
beli&nd to-be mentallv il.& and that the
welfare of himself and/or others requires
that he be placed in a State hospital for
the mentally ill for not exceeding ninety
,Hon. Larry 0. Cox, page 3 (Q-1141)
(90) days for observation and/or treatment,
and such County Judge shall believe such
InformatIon to be true, he shall Sorthwlth
fix a day and place for the hearing
ini determining af the matter, . * . and
shall give notice to such person of the time
and place of such war IS, upon the hear-
ing of such matter, two 5) reputable physi-
cians authorized by law to prnctlce medicine
in the State OS Texas, neither of whom is on
the staff of any Texas ‘State Hospital, and
each of whom has examkned the nerson alleRed
to be mentally ill withln the preceding five
5) days of said hearing, shall swear that in
each of their prof'esslonal opinions such per-
son is mentally 11 , is neither feebleminded,
an idiot. an lmbec e. nor an eVileDtiC . and
that in his opinion such ‘person- should be
temporarily committed for observation and/or
treatment to some .State hospital authorized
by law to care for and’ treat mentally ill per-
.SOllS, and IS thereupon the County Court finds
m such person should Abe temporarily commit-
ted to a State hospital for observation and/or
treatment, he shall so state in his order of
connaitment which shall be entered upon the
minutes of said Court and a writ of coxmnit-
ment issued thereupon commltti said person
temporarily for observation nnd7 or treatment
to acme State hospital authorized by law to
care for and treat mentally ill persons -”
It was held In Ex parte Giannatti, 189 S.W.2d
191 (Tex.Civ.App. 1945) that under Article I, Section 15
of the Constitution of Texas and Artfcle .31930-l, V.C.S.,
a county court has general jurisdfctfon to commit persons
who are mentall~lll to State hospitals for a period of
not exceeding ninety days without first allowing a ury
trial. See Att ‘y Gen. bps. O-4411 (1942)) v-86 (19 7).
Article 4102, V.C,S., relates to the appointment
of a guardian for *persons of unsound mind and habitual
drunkards o” Subsections 3 and 4 of Article 4104, V.C.S.,
define for purposes of guardianship: (1) persons of un-
sound mind as ‘Idiots, lunatics and insane persons,” and
12) habitual drunkard as “one whose mind has become so im-
paired by the use of Intoxicating liquors OP drug6 that he
is incapable of taking care of himself “‘It Thus, Article
4104 does not classify persons who may be habitual drunir-
ards with persons defined to be of unsound mind. HOP do
Hon. Larry 0. Cox, page 4 (Q-1141)
other legal definitions oi 'habitual drunkarda Impute
mental illness or insanity. 19 Uorde and Phrases (Perm.
Nlog1940) 29; 2 Bouvler's Law Dictionary (8th Ed. 1914)
The lav entertainsn dfstinctlonbetween a person
'of &sound mind" and one who is an "habitual drunkard."
See also Arts. 41214123, 4267 et seq., V.C.S.; Greenwood
v. Purr, 251 S.W. 332 (Tox.C;V.APP. 1923).
We find no intendment,erpressed or implied, in
the laws governing our State hospitals for the mentally
Ill or in those laws governingthe commitment of persons
to such ~nstltutlona,that such hospitals are to be used
as sanatoriums for persons designated or adjudged as hablt-
Ual drunkards. It may be that 4 the medical or other
fields of sclenoe an habitual drunkard is regarded as a
person who is mentally ill or oS unsound mind. But the
latisherein cited authorize the commitment to our State
hospitals for the mentally ill oS only those persons le-
pl$y adjudged or Sound to be of unsound mind or mentally
Arts. 5554 and They do not authorize
the'commltment persons adjudged
or Sound to be
We do not menn to Infer herein that an habitual
drunkard cannot be adjudged to be a person of unsound mind
and Indefinitelycommlttedas n person of unsound mind to
a State asylum, nor that an habitual drunkard cannot be
fmnd to be n person Vho Is mentally ill and temporarily
commltted,as a person adjudged mentally Ill, to a State
asylum for observation or cnre for his mental illness.
But it does not follow, merely because some habitual
drunkards may properly be determined or adjudged to be
persons of unsound mind OF persons mentally ill, that all
habitual drunkards are, In legal contemplation,unsound
of mind or mentally ill,
A person adjudged OF found to be an
habitual drunkard cannot legally be com-
mitted under such finding or adjudication,
temporarily OP otherniae, to the State hos-
pitals and ns lums authorized to care SOP
and treat meneally 111 pex!sons.
APPROVED2 . Yours v&y truly,
J. C. Davis Jr. PRICE WRIEL
County Affairs Mviqion Attorney General
Jesse P, Luton, Jr.
Assistant