OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS
AUSTIN
Honorable A. K. Harrison
cm&Yc~t$w
parls, Texas
Attention:
Dear sir2
08 of a oartified
e birth record of
You have re
0r the father or
t be identified,
th or death oerti-
and provided
ther of an il-
es to make as to Its parent-
In the form of au affidavit,
rlglnal birth reoord. Bleith-
ar nor ang looal registrar
led copy of any birth or
erain a child or an adult
Is stated t illegitimate, unless suoh oertl-
fled oopy ls ordered by a Court of oompetent jur-
isdiction. ’
Your question arises from the feat that neither the
Constitution nor the statutes oi this State grant to any oourt
I
Honorable A. W. Harrison, page 2
spwolflo juriadlotlon to order the 188uance of a certified copy
of the birth record of an lllegltlmate ohlld.
Section 8 of Article 5 of the Constitution of Texas,
ti addition to conferring upon the dlstriot court jurlrdlotlon
in the particular kind8 of oases therein named, further provides
that said dlstrlot oourt 'shall have general original jurlsdlc-
tion over all Cause8 of aotlon whatever for vhioh a remedy or
jur18dIotlon 18 not provided by law or this Conetltutlon. This
oonstitutlonal provision has been carried forvard into our stat-
utes. Artlole 1909, V. R. C. 9.
Chief Justice Hemphill, in upeaklng of the juriadlo-
tion of the distriot oourt, raid;
'The only Inquiry to be made at the lnatltu-
tlon of a sult 18 vhwther the fact8 of the care
are ouch a8 to entitle a paPtr to a judgment In
hi8 favor in either lau or equity; and if he have
rights oognlsable by wither, 8uoh relief rlll be
adjudged br the court a8 the nature of the oaae
demands.' 4 Teraa 109, 114.
It 18 therefore our opinion that the dI8trlot oourts
have jurirblotion, upon proper petition, to order the 18suanoe
of a.oertitled cop7 of the birth reoord of au IUegItlmate
ohild after 8uoh ohlld is no longer a minor.
Your8 very truly
ATTORHEY WIIERAL OF TEXAS
W. R. Allen
A8alstant