Untitled Texas Attorney General Opinion ( 1946 )

836 OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS AUSTIN OROVLR SELLERS Al-roINmY OpIcmAL I!Otl. P. 8. Saud10 county Attorney Franklin County tiount Vmrnon, Tmxa8 Opinion X0. O-7108 A "Art. 16, :‘.ec. 14. ~$1 civil orrioars ahall raslda within the 7tate; and nil district or county or:‘lcars vilth- in their districts or counties, ond shell keep tialr o ficcs st such places RR my be requlzad by law; and Sellure to comply with tkls condition shall moats tka office so held.” 837 Hon. F. a. Caudla - ?a?8 2 . The Soragolng saotlon or the Constitution makes no raiar- an00 to praolnotr or praolnot orfioam. A Constable is an OfSloar OS the praolnot. However, If a Constable may ba lnoluded within the term “oounty 3ftloaP as used in the above anlola, than it is raadlly seen that ha does not raoata his oitloa unless ha ramovas tram tha oount Thus theily question Sor datarminntlon hare is whether a4 “ens bla is s oounty offloor, the answer to whloh we look to Saotion 24, Artlola 5 OS tha Taxar Constitution readins as Sollows: wCounty judges, oounty attorneys, olarks OS the Dls- triot and County Courts, justices of tha pasoar oonstablaa, and othqr``aounty oiflgara, msy be removed by the judges OS tha Eletrlot courts ror ~nooapatanoy. _ . orrioiai mlsoonduot. . . . . .- (Emphasis added) It is obvious Srom a rmadlng of the above saotlon that the Sreunars OS the Constitution olasrlfled oonstablas as county oSSloars. This oonstruotlon of the seotlon has been well stated by the Court of Civil Apgaals of Taxsa in the oasa oS Handarloks v. State, 49 c;. ‘7. 705, whsraln it w%s held that tha trustees oS comaon sohool dlstrlot sra County orSloers, In tha SoIlowlniJ language: *r,ahool dlatrlots ara eubdirislons OS the County %s are 00lMl1ss10nars’ and justloos’ praolnots. Comisslonrm, jus- tices OS tha peace, and oonstablss era named aloe with other oifloers whose oSfloa8 extend to the entlrs county; end the santlon OS ‘other oounty osfloarsl is a refaranoa to them as County ofricers. Xaoh OS them Is an otrloar id and for the praolnot or the county OS w?loh his preolfiot is a pert, and ooneequantly oS the county itbali; and we think there ahould be no dlifloulty in oonstrulnc; the Constltutlon and the stat- uta as lnoludlng the OSSloam OS the praoinotr and dlrtrlcts 0r a county in the genrrtl dsoignatlan 0r county 0Sfioarm.~ It is our opinion, th4rsror4, that a oonstabla is a “County ofSlomrw within tha meaning or that tam as wed in Artlola 16, 380. 14 of the Taxes Colistltutlon. Consequently, he does not vaoata his oitioa upon removing to another praolnct within thm County and his authority to appoint a deputy la not srfeoted by euoh ohang4 OS resl- danoa; however, his authority is not absolute, but is subj8Ot to approval by tha Cocmlselonars @ Court whloh it my dsire only %Ster it rinds thn Constable is in need of a deputy in order to properly aarry on the business OS his off104 orlqlnatlng in his preolnot ss provided in Artlola 687Qa. Joe Johnson v. state, 52 S. Y. 26 110, for proper prooadura by Constable to seoure the eppolntment OS a deputy. JXii:djra