Untitled Texas Attorney General Opinion

:
TEIEAYTOEZNEP GENERAL
FVILL WILSON
A--- GEZNBZRAL
Mr. Charles R. Llnd Opinion No. WW-1055
County Attorney
Blanc0 County Re:. Whether the placing of the
Johnson City, Texas file mark of the County
Clerk on a subdivisionplat
or map of a~subdivided tract
of ma located in the county
but not within five miles of
an incorporatedtowni without
the authorizationof the
County Commissioners'Court
constitutesan acceptance by
the County Commissioners'
Court of the road system set
forth In the plat or map ~8s
a part of the county road
system.
Dear Mr. Lina:
In a recent opinion request*Df this office you state
and ask the following:
"I have been asked to write you
concerning Sec. 6626 ma Sec. 66268 VCS,
which sets up the procedure for filing
subdivisionplats with the County Clerk
ana acceptance of said plats by the
Commissioners"Court.
"If a subdivisionplat is filea
and no action Is taken by the Commls-
sioners' Court, is this an acceptance
and approval of the plat by the County,
or is this filing a mere offer and until
action is taken by the Court, there shall
be no legal acceptance due to non-action
of the Court?"
We shall assume for the purposes of this opinion that
private owners of a tract of land which is located In Blanc0
County, and which Is not within five miles of an Incorporated
town have subdivided into lots, streets, and alleys, said tract
Mr. Charles R. Lind, page 2 (hW-1055)
and platted same; that said owners then took said plat to the
County Clerk of Blanc0 County and had said clerk attach his
file mark to said plat without first obtaining an authoriza-
tion to file sala,platfrom the Commissioners'Court of Blanc0
County reflected by an order duly entered Into the minutes of
the Commissioners'Court of sala county.
We shall,assumefurther that you desire to know if
a subdivisionplat, at least to the extent that It affects the
county road system of Blanc0 County, has been legally filed in
the records of the County Clerk and if the action of the county
Clerk taken In regard to said plat constitutesan acceptanceof
the streets and alleys as set forth upon said plat by the Com-
missioners'Court of Blanc0 County as a part of the Blanc0
County road system.
Article 6626 V.C.S. reads in part:
'The following instrumentsof writing
which shall have been acknowledgedor proved
according to law, are authorizedto be re-
corded, viz.: all deeds, mortgages, con-
veyances, deeds of trust, bonds for title,
covenants, defeasancesor other instruments
of writing concerningany lands or tenements,
or goods and chattels, or moveable property
of any description;provided, however, that
in cases of subdivisionor re-subdivisionof
real property no map or plat of any such
subdivisionor re-subdivisionshall be fTled
or recorded unless and until the same has
been authorized by the CommissionersCourt
of the county in which the real estate is
situated by order duly entered in the minutes
of said Court, . . .'I (Emphasisadded)
The language of Article 6626 is clear in that before
the County Clerk may legally file such a plat the flllng must
be authorizedby the Commissioners r Court of the county wherein
the subdividedland lies and said order authorizingthe filing
entered In the minutes of said Court. In the Instant case th?.s
has not been done. The plat is not legally on file In the
County Clerk's office. (If it would be an abuse of discretion
by the Commissioners'Court not to authorize the filing of a
subdivisionplat under the facts in any particular case,
mandamus will lie to compel the Commissioners'Court to author-
ize filing of the plat by the County Clerk and to enter the
Court's approval in its minutes. Accord, Chesser v. Grooms,
302 S.W.2d 488 (Civ.App.,1957).)
: ‘.
‘,
.
I@. Charles R. Lind, Page 3 (WW-1055)
We therefore are of the opinion that the plat, inso-
far as it affects the county road system of Blanc0 County, has
not been le ally filed of record In said county as required by
Article 662t and the Illegal act performed only by the County
Clerk does n& constitutelegal action of the County Commis-
sioners' Court in regard to the county road system.
SUMMARY
The placing of the file mark of the
County Clerk on a subdivisionplat or map
of a subdivided tract of land located in
the county, but not within five miles of
an incorporatedtown, without the authority
of the County Commissioners'Court does
not constitutean acceptance by the County
Commissioners'Court of the road system
set forth In the map or plat as a part of
the county road system.
Yours very truly,
WILL WILSON
Attorney General of Texas
By:?&&+-
hilton Richardson /Aa
Assistant
MR:ljb
APPROVED:
OPINION COMMITTEE
W. V. Geppert, Chairman
J. C. Ea+ls
W. 0. Shultz
Robert A. Rowland
REVIEWEDFORTHEATTORNEYGENERAL
BY: Morgan Nesbitt