Untitled Texas Attorney General Opinion

THEATTORNEYGENERAL
PRICE DANIEL
.4TTOFlNEY
GENeRAI. .
January 21, 1948
Hon. Tom M. Miller Opinion No, V-479
County Attorney
Young County Re: The authority of a county
Graham, Texas court to require surrender
of ‘the operator’s lioense,
for transmittal to the De-
partment of Public Safety,
following aonviction of the
operator for driving while
intoxioated e
Dear Sir:
You have requested an opinion of this department
on the above-captioned subject and we quote from your let-
ter as follows:
“In June, 1947, a man plead guilty to the
offense of driving an automobile upon a public
highway in Young County, Texas, while intexi-
oatea and WWI fined #30 ,OO and a six mOnthaq eus-
pen&on of his drivar’s license by Judge The 801%;
at the tire sf his 0onviction under Artfola %?
Panel Cads, dug54 ThO~ap5on held that the autama&o
suap4noion or defendant'soperator’s lfceese ap- :
plied ikaeording to Artiole 6&V%, &Wised Civil
Statutaa, Section 24 s aa4 the* accordlag to $ec-
tion 25 (a) of aaid Article 6gESlb, Revised Civil
Statutes of Texas, that it was the duty of the
court to require the defendant to surrender his
opar&or’s license, and for the Clerk of this.
Court to forward to the Department of Public
Safety a record of such conviction tosther with
the driver’s license of the defandanta This lvss
etrowdingly done in this ioasea f * as county
Attorney, advised the Court last June,that this
was the correct procedure to follow; I have ad-
vised the court at this time that this,was and is
now the correct procedure to followa
” e . . . Please advise this office whether
or not the county court should require the sur-
render of an operator’s license and have the clerk
1
Hon. TQ~ M. Yiller, page 2, V-,479
of. the court send it in together with the record
of the oonvictfon.R
Pertinent to this problem, we quote Article 6687b,
Sections 24 and 25, V. C. S., in part, as follows:
“Sec. 24. (a) The license of any oerson shall
be’ automatically suspended upon final conviction of
any of the f,ollowing offenses:
“2t Drivi,ng a motor vehicle while under the;
influenoe of intoxicating liquor or aarootio,drugs.* ’
‘“(‘b) The suspension above provided shall in
,. the first instance be for a period of six (6) months.
fin event any license shall be suspended under then
provision of this Section for a second time, said
seoond suspension shall be for a period of one (1)
,yePf.
“Sec. 25. (a) Whenever any person is convicted
of any offense for which this Act makes automatic
the suspension of the operator’s, commercial opera-
tar’s) or chauffeur’s license of such person, the
court in which such conviction is had shall require
the surrender to it of all operators’, ~commercial
operator’s, and chauffeurs * licenses then held by
the person so convioted and the olerk of said court
.shall, thereupon forward the same together~with a
reoord of suck.cenviction to the Department, wit&
ten (10) days from the dates of rontiH,ien. , : *”
From the clear and unambiguous language of ,the
foregoing statute, it is manifest that upon co’nviction of
the ~offense of driving a motor vehicle upon a public high-
way while under the influence of intoxicating liquor, the
oper8ter’a fiaense of such oonvicted operator is automat-
ical,ly awpem#cQ aa an ineq0apebl.e oolsequemoe of, the con-
vio~tieh. No further aotien, dealaration, or judgment on
the part ef the court in wh~i.ch the cenvicticn is rendered
is necessary to accomplish such suspension, as the license
is suspended ipso facto by reason of such conviction, and
the sole question remaining is that of the custody of the
sw)snQea license.
‘Regarding the custod of the suspended Uoenss,
we quote from Qpinion No.--mf rendered by this Depart-
ment , as follows :
“Section 25 directs the court to report to the
-. .
Hon. Tom M. Miller, page 3, V-479
Department all convictions of violations of all laws
regulating the operation of motor tehicles on the.
highways. The purpose of these requirements is to
furnish the foundation for apprcpriete action by the
Department D In the instances where suspension. is
automatic (Section 24) the law recognizes that no
further hearing is required for the procedural ‘due
process of law,,’ because the person aceused in the
criminal aotion is bound to knaa, as a matte,* of
law, that an automatic suspension of his driver’s
license will be a consequence of his conriction, The
right to the driver’s license is, tr%ed as a part of
the same suit.
*The court is direated to immediately take up
the license and the clerk of said oourt to forward
same, together with a record of, such conviction, to
the Department within ten (10) days from the date of
the conviction, It is incumbent upon the Court to
require the surrender of the license and the clerk to
forward same with the record of conviction to the
Department 0 The court’s failure, however, to require
the surrender of the license does not affect its sus-
pension.”
It is our opinion, therefore, that the county
court is charged with the duty of assuming the custody of
the suspended license upon conviction of an operator of
the offense of driving a motor vehicle ~peta a public high-
way while intoxicated e Section 25. It must be borae in
minds that the acti,on of the court in assuming the custody
of the suspended lioense is not determinative of the ques-
tion of the suspension of the license. Such license would
be suspended regardless of the assumption of custody by
the court for transmittal to the Department of Public Safe-
ty*
In this aonnection, we wish to call attention to
Sec. 32 of Art. 6687b, V. C. S., as follows:
Y3ec. 32. It shall be unlawful for any
person to commit any of the following acts:
”. . . i
“4. To fail or refuse to surrender to the
Department on demand any operator’s, commercial
operator’s or chauffeur’s license which has been
suspended, cancelled s or revoked as provided by
law: . * . *”
We are ‘
attaching hereto a aopy of Opinion No.
,’ TV-91 rrom .whioh we have quoted, as being pertinent to
your problem,
It la mandatory that the county 'oourt require
the surrender of an operatorls lioense, for trans-
mittal to the Department of Pub110 Sarety, rollow-
ing oonviction of the operator or the offense or
driving ,while intoxicated. Article 6687b, Sections
24 and,25, V. C. 9.
Very truly yours,
ATTOFNEY
GENEF?AL
OF TEXAS
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