Bon. James E. Barlow Opinion NO. ~1-68
Criminal District Attorney
Bexar County ore: Conetltutlonallt
San Antonio, Texas of Article 2351 Y/2c
Taxes Revletd Civil
Dear sir: 3tatutcs
You have requested an opinion on the conrtitutlonallty’ of
the provision in Article 2351 1/2c, lkxaa Revised Civil Statutes,
which states that If, upm a change of boundaries of Justice
Precincts, only one previously elected or SQQOinttd Justice o?
Peace or Constable rtaldta rlthln a precinct as so chirngtd,
he shall contlnoe In office a8 Justice or Constable OS that
prtOlnct for the remainder of the ter@ to which he was elected
or appointed. The full text c# thi ptPtlWnt portion of Article
23% 1/2c, enacted ‘in 1965, reads aa follows :
” (c) When boiandariee of Justice of the Pcaci Pi-c-
clnctrr art changed, so that txlatlngpreclnpta art
altered; new precincts art formed, or Somer~pre-
ClnCt8 art abOll8htfJ, IT OmOnt pr~viouslp elected
or appolnttd Justlct'of the Ptact oc Conrtablt rt-
sides within a precinct as so changed, he shall con-
tlnut’ln office aa Justice or Constable of that prt-
cinct for the rtmalndtr oi the CeiYnto which he wall
elected or appointed. If more than one Justice or
Constable reeldta therein the off&e #hall becomt
vacant and the vacancy rhall be filled ls.5.n other
You have further inquired:
" Doer a’move in the precinct liner conatltute a
change in’the jyeclnct caurln@ the office involve8
to be vaaated?
If a change lh bdufidary lines cf itseW creates ‘s..vtcancy,
In the office ,,bgaboltehing tha, ‘.trfatlng~~.precSnct$’ t;hda :.Artiolc
235$s~lec oollldts with Section 28, of Arti$clt~~V 6t the Tcxar
COnSbltutlOn, which QFoVidtS ,111fOllO~13:
- 312 -
Hon. James E. Barlow, page 2 (M- 68 )
“Vacanclta In the offlct of Judgtb of tht Suplitm?
Court, the Court bf Criminal Appeals, the Court
of ~Clvll Appeals and Dletrlct Courta shall be r111td
by the Qov&nor”uhtll the next succeeding gentSa
election; and vacancies in tht,office of County Judge
and .luaticta at the mace shall be filled by the Com-
misbiontre Court until ,tht next gtmral election for
8uch oiilcts." “.
‘Artlale ‘V, Stt.itiqn 18 alro provides, In part., aa followr :
“Ba&h organlmb c’ounty~ in tee ‘State now or hereaf ttr
rxlatlng, bhall be divided from time to time, for the
oohvbnltna~ bf ttie 3Mbplt Into prtcinc,tr, not ltaa
‘than iom’and @ore then e&#&t. The priaent county
courfr #hall mtkt thi firat.dlvlrlon. Subrequtiit
dlvlribnr rhall br made’,by the Commlanlonera Court,
QlioVLded for bg ttiia,CaH~tttUtlOn. In rrch’rti6h
prtclnat: thire ‘Mall be electrd at’ trah blennlal
electi&; one Jurfiot bf the:Ptace and on@ Conntablc,
eaoh of whoa rhrll hold hlr office for two y&&r! ,and
until his oucatmor #hall have be&n elect&d and quallilcd~ -
provided that In ang’praclnct In which there aey .be i
,clfJ of tlOht ,thourmd or more lnhrbitmtr, them~rhall ’
be elected two Jwbloer of thti Peace.”
Artlola ‘2351, V.,O.S., red8 ln,pprt:
” ,&ch Cdmmlrrionerr court #hall:
l.,Lay off, thair,n((lprotlvi cowitler fnto h?lnctr,,
not leer than iour,.~raad not ,rOre man ei&h ?,, for the
eleatlon. of Jurtioer of the Prrcq and Conitrblea,
fix tnr timer and p.laorr ,‘bf .;,@oldingJurtiora Courts,
lnU ,lhall rrtibllgh,p~roor in muoh~preoinatr where
eleotlonr’ alull ,b8 hrldl. . ..” ,‘, : ,
Article 2355 V.C.8: provi6er:
" me Court rhall have po*rr to illi vrcrnalta in the *,
ofilcea of: Coylt, Judge;, ‘County Clerk, Sheriff, County :
Attorney, Count9 La lmwo r ,Cbunty Srirveyor, County ,’‘~
Hide Ineptcto*,. Arbenror of’ We8 j Collector ‘of Taxeg.,,
Jurtlcaa of the Peace Conrtabler,, uN:Cixmty’SuplrW¶-
'tendent of Public Inrbuotion. Such vacancier &hall
be illlad by a majoritr”votb ,of thi memberl, df rrld"
Chart, prerent and vottiS, and the, pt'rton‘cnpn r&l1
hold ofilat until the nrxt ,Stneral election. 8;’
Hon. Jamta E. Berlow, page 3 (M- 68)
In State ex rel. Dowltn v. Rigaby, 43 S.W. 271 (Texaa Civil
AQptalaT897 I I th Court construed-Section 28 of
Article V o?*t~~~n~~l~u~lon~end Article 2351; to mean. In
tiftct, that the txclualvt power to crta,tt,-ilier or abblleh
Justice Precincts has been vested ln~ the Commlaelonera Cqurt
by' the Constitution. The only llmitatlon upon this power la
that there must be as many aa four and not more than tight
precincts.
The fact altuetion upon which your requtrt is baaed la a
~pro oatd tranaftr of two voting prtclnctu (Precincts 142 and
158 P from Justice Precinct No. 2 In Rex&r County to,Juatict
Preclnkt No. L. You state iurther that none of the o??lcera
Involved live ,ln the voting precincts to be trendierred, an0
tech ‘would still live in %he area where he waa elected after
the change.
fn your brief you lxQr to eI the view that t+e provlaloti of
AiWclt 2351 i/2 under aonaide~atlon is invalid btaauat 6f the
holding of the Court of Civil Appeala In Brown v. Mteka, 96
S.W. 2d 839 ( Texas, Civil ApQtale 1936, error diem. 1. In that
case, the Commissionem Court of Bexar County had entered an
order, shortly before the dtadllht ?or filing In the Qr$nary
elections to be held in 1936, rearranging’ the Justice Precincts
of Etxar County’atld providing that the changes were to become
t??tctlvton January 1, 1937. The order provided, however,
that at the tltctiona to be held in 1936 the o??lcere for the
Justice Precincts wire to be voted on by the re@ldentaI;fa~ht
precincts aa they would exist after January 1, 1937.
election contest bttwteh oandld.atte for nomlnat+on to the
o~?iiae~o? Cbnatable~ for one of the precincts, the CouCt held
tha’t the ~atttmpttd nomlnatlo~~ by votta,,o? the new precinct
was Invalid because the precinat had no+ than come Into
txlattnct. Aa to whtthcr tht~, winning candldatt couJd c-lalm
nomlnetlon to the offlatf~r the precinct at It axleted at the
time a? the primary ~tltctlon, the court held that’ht could not
do so because he had not run for that offlae slid also btcauat
the office would no longer be in exlrtenca when the new term
began. The court atetkq’thrt the result of the Commlaaiontra
Court’8 order wee that ‘when the new precincts come into txlattnct,
all precinct o??iaea will be vacant and the C~a&lOntr0 Court
will be charged with’thr duty of filling the QMClnCt offlcts
by appointment. ‘!
Thla statement br the Court of~Clvl1 Appt~la has led ant
to conclude that an ‘automatic vacan0y” oacurb at any time ‘., ~’
bound&files o? Justice Precincts hrt altered, whether the
Commissioners Court intended to abolish the Qreclnct’and to
create a new preclnot. Ut do not believe that the cotta SUppOrt
- 314 -
. .
Hon. James E. Barlow, page 4 (M-68 1
this bonclualon, and wt era convinced that a vacancy la not
automatic under there i?Iraumatanct8, partlcularlg where thera
la ho txprtaelon on the part of the COmmlaaioner~ Court's order
Of an Intent on the part of thtX?omBl8alontr8 Court to aboliah
an axlatlng precinct and to create a new one.
It la Interesting to n&t tht ln the cane, eupra,
the Commi88lontra Court exprtarly abollsht not No.5 In
one order, and at the a&me t&e tatabllahed by another order ,
a new precinct 5, conkpored of the territory embraced In the
aboliished precinct 5 and a part of’tbt prevlou8ly belonging
to precinct No.1. At the ramt'tlme the Cemmlralontrs Court
appointed Mglrby to fill the vbcrncy In the otflct of the
juatloe of the peace of prtclnct No.5, which offlct we8 vacant
at the time such preainct war abbllrhed. The elected Juatlct
of the Peaat.ot precinct No.1 ~88 attempting to oubt the appointed
Justice o? the Peace, of prealnet 5, which r??ort failed, but
nowhere In the'oplnlon 18 it even ru@emted that the mere
territorial ah8nse of Preclnat No.1 h8d the lffeot of ebollrhiag
Precinct No.1.
lht office of Jurtlce’o? the Peace la a conrtltutlonal
o?f%oe, and the otflct~would pre8umptlvtly remain In txlettnot
unlerr the order of.tht Commirrlon8rr Court lbolirher txi8ting
prealnctaand are&em new preolnotr. To the oxtmt t t
V-790 19491, V-1032 (1950 9 WW-536
art in con i lict rltn~tiha.8opinion,
thep are to th8t extent overruled.
Bven thoyh under the frctr' rubmltted by'pW'Peque#t no
automatlc~ vrornaP in the ottiae would ooeur theme Qortfonr
of &Male a351 l/k, which ottem@ to oontroi tha rwaerrion
bf’oftlctr whtrt ntu pmcinotr am ar88ted, uxirtin(l precinct8
are rbollrhetl or wheW8 vac8nc 1 8 lxprr881 .areatBdby the
Commlrrionerr Court8 are unebn8 t i%uW(wl. kia balmee of
ActLo 2351 l/20 ir aulrplurage boorue MM lvdr ret forth
would occur rt&wdltsa of the shtute.
,’
. .
1 .
Hon. James E. Barlow, page 5 (M- 68)
SUMMARY
Under the facta submitted; a proposed transfer
of voting precincts 142 and 158 from Justice
Precinct No.2 to Juetlct Precinct No.1 of Btxar
County, which doen not affect the residence of
tny of the prtatnt office holdtra, will not create
a vacancy In any of the office8 of the two prt-
‘clnet8, hue the provltlons of Article 2351 1/2c,
Vernon*6 Cioll Statutes, for continuation In the
office of fht incumbents after a change in
boundarie~a of Justice Pcecincta is unconrtitutlonal
a8 an aMmnpt on tht’pafit of tht’&Sfelature, to
tOnbrO1 thtt which has been vetted txcluaivcly with
the Comm%aslontra Courter. :.lb the extent of their
confl%et with this o inion, Attorney0 Omtrtl~!b
0pZniona 19497 , V-1032(1950), W-536 (19581
,anb C-112 are ovtrrultcl.
Prepared by Houghton Brownltt, Jr.
Amiltant Attorney Qtntrcrl
APPROVBD:
OPINION COMMITTEE
Hawthorne Phillips, Chairman
W.V. bepptrt, Co-Ch&rman
W.O. dhultr
Ktrns Taylor
#e&l Willisms
John Reeves
8TAPP MCAL ASSI&TAWT
A.S. Carubbi, Jr.