Untitled Texas Attorney General Opinion ( 1948 )

July 16, 1948
Hono Leo Ca Buckleg Oplnlon 196. V-637
County Attorney
Zapata County ~Rb9 Questions regardinS
Zapata, Texas fsrm and procedure
rsspbotlng the ,bOrld
required of t,he Coan-
ty Attorney.
Dear Sir:
Reference 1s madb to your reoent request
which reads as fOllbwS9
“On June 14, 1948, ~tbe Commiaslon-
ers) dourt of Zapata ‘ounty appointed me
County Attorney, subject to the required
bead and rath. Xn connection with execut-
ing and filing the required bond, I note
whet appears to be a conflict in the per-
tlned statutes 0
“Artlole 330, ,Vernon’s Revised Civil
3tatutes, reads1 ‘lrroh oounty attorney
shall execute a baud
ernor in the sum of
mrsB with
clent sureties
missioners Cou
ed that he wll
manner presorlbed
he may collect or whloh may come to his
hands for the State or a,np county*!
*‘Article 5998 provides the alternatlre
of having suoh bond made by a ‘solvent surer
ty company authorized to do buslness~ in this
State’ o
WArtlOlbZ1 6994 and 6090 real aonssaar,
tirbly as iolIews(
*.Wm bo&l of each rffloer who 1s re-
&e an offlclsl bond
OT to the State sha?!I-
Hon. Leo C, Buokleyi page 2 (VI637)~
be deposited with the Comptroller by the
ft..+Xru,n,whn 9.ypmmn thhs mama., exceqt that
of the Comptroller which shal.1 be deposited
with the Secretary of Statbe
“*All official bonds of eountv offi-
for that
“In View Of the see&@ dlsorepanog
between the protisfons Of Artlole 330 end
Artlole 6CG0, I should appreoiate your in-
forming meI
“1. TO whOmshould my b@M be payable r-r
the GoteMr, or the Uounty Judge?
“2. nust it be approved by the Corrmis-
e1ofKm3’ 00urt7
“3r W$th whom is tt to be ifled --. the
Comptroller, the Ooanty Clerk, or both?*
In Sutherland Statutory Construetlen, ~01. 2,
page8 541-42-43,. we find the followingl
Weneral and special sots may bs in
par1 materis.~ If so, they should be con-
strued together* WheTb one statute tieal.
with a subjeot lo general terms, and anothe
CT deals with a part of the asme sub eet
in a more detailed way, the.twc nhOu! d be
harmonized ,if posslble$ bnt ii there 1s
any oonfliot, the latter w/l1 prevail, rea
gardless lS whether It was pamed prior
to the general stntutec unless it a pears
that the legls~laf8N intended to meEe the
general aot eentrolling.w
Also in the oasb OS Townsend vs Terrell, 14
SrWe(2d) 1363 tTbrr Oorc App.1 the court said;
“It
is only where sots are so in-
OWdStbht as to be irreconoilable that
e re eal by lrplloati~on will be indulged,
If t&m exists suoh aonfliot, then there
Hon. Leo d. Baokleg,~ page 3 (V-637)
is a presumption of the intention to re-
peal all laws and parts of laws in conflict
with the clear intention of the last act.
This is necessarily true where both acts
cannot stand as valid enactments6
“This rule of construction has found
frequent and apt lllustratfon where one of
the supposedly conflicting statutes was
general in its terms and the other speci-
fic D In such a case it is universally held
that the specific statute more clearly evi-
dences the intention of the Legislature than
the general one, and therefore that it will
control. In such a case both statutes are
permitted to stand - the general one appli-
cable to all cases except the particular one
embraced in the specific statute. a on
Article 330, V. C. S. deals exclusively with
the subject of county attorneys’ bonds, while Article
6000, V. C. S. deals with county officials’ bonds gen-
erally . In view of the foregoing, it is our opinion
that the bond of the county attomev should be made
payable to the Governor. -
In the ca.se of Luckey v. Short, 20 S.W. 723,
the court sald:
“While it is made by law the duty of
the commissioners’ court to approve the
bond of the county attorney, no time is
fixed at or within which this shall be
done.”
Therefore, in view of the foregoing, it is our
opinion that the bond of the county attorney must be ap-
proved by the commissioners’ court.
We are unable to find a case where the courts
have passed upon your last question directly, However,
in the case of Bachus v. Foster, 132 Tex. 183, 122 S.W.
(2d) 1058 (Tex. Corn. App,) opinion adopted in deciding
the question of venue in a suit on a sheriff’s bond where
the facts showed that the bond had been filed with the
County Clerk, the court said:
“As we have seen, the bond sued on
is the official bond of Virge Foster, as
sheriff of Eastland County* By Article
6866, this bond is required to be approv-
ed by the Commissioners Court of Eastland
Hon. Leo C. Buckley, page 4 (V-637)
Cotmtyr Andyby Article 6300 of the Staf-
utes the same is re:~uired to be *safely
kept end recorded by the county clerk’ of
that oountye It thus appears that said
bond is required by law to be filed in
Fastland 5oantyr1*
Article 6000 ab#ve oited provides that all offi-
oial bonds of oountf off leers that are required b law to
be approved by the ~omnissimers~ Courts and whle h hare
been so approved shall be safely kept and recorded by the
county clerk, The County Attorney rs, of eburee, a public
officer, 15 TmBi Jur, 385. The Supreme Court in the Backus
oase having reoo nieed that the aou@ty offioial*s bon& was
properly filed wifth the @mntg Olerlt, it follows by implior-
tion that the bond shald also be kept by him,
Artlals 6066, V. C. 5. provides that the bon4
of the sheriff shall be made payable to the Ooveruor, and
Artiole 330, V. 3. 8. provides that the bond of the eoun-
tg attorney shall be made payable to the Governor. Henoa,
we b~llcrc thb hoMing in the above quoted oaae is also
a plieablo te the eaenty attonry*s bond, ThereSore, b
v Ertue or the feragQin&, St is our opinion that the bo lmi
OS the county atterneg ahoola be filed in ths orriar cd
the county olerk after WWg approved bp the oommissione
cm* eourtr
The official bond of the ooutity attorney
should ba made ayable to the Governore Art
3301 t. G, 8, 8 u&a ‘bond should ba approved e y
the Conunfss;onersi Court+ Zuokeg va She&, 20
SrW, 723r The official bona 0r thei ooumty atr
torneg be kept aRd Siled in the ofiioa
should
of the county olerk after suoh apprsvalr Arti~
ele 60001 Baehus v0 Fester, 122 S,We(M) 1058r
Yours very tray,
Asalstant