OFFICE OF THE A’ITORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS
AUSTIN
DearNr. Jams4
you requeot the
not araaoa iflver
Befuading Borden
tory &au, au co
ier of Btate fun&a. FJU Treat-
1 reqdre eueh bmk 80 de&g-
Qu8li.Q 98 h w&d r.MpoSlW~
before the with flay of #oveuber
Iby (a) &qoelting a depository
aignea lay some surety oonlpaq
authorieed~to Bo bud.nes~ la Bmau,
in an asmmt equal to not lee9 than
&n&lb the amount of &Rate fuxle al-
lotted, em!& bond to be parYobl0to
the freaaurerunfito be in ma& Porn
au rubybirpoorribed by the Board end
877
lttbea tto'the~apprmalof mmhBoard;
tb )by pled@agtiththe beasumr
Ey seouritles OS the following klndet
Bonds and cer@floetee and -other ti-
demo08 of indebtbdtm88 of. the United
6tstos, sad all other box&s -oh are
@laranteed as to both @nQipal and in-
terest by the Unfted Stster ; boodeof
thl6 state b0xls ad other obligations
lesped by the Uxtivet-olty of Text&s,ear-
mute dravn on tho State Trsam agalast
the General Ro~snue of the St&et bond6
issued by the Federal.Farm Ucwtgage Cor-
por-atitm~orlded both pri.noip~%l and in-
terest of sold ‘bonds are &g&ta.ufeo8 by
the United Btat&Govermmnt$ BorneOwn-
em Loam Corporatioa Bonds, ,protied both
pslmiprrl and interest~ot mid boqU8 we
@aranteedbytheUnitod StatesGovern-
tmnt and 8uoh osburitles 8hdl be acoept-
ed~theBoanLin,aa,~tnotlessthan~
five (a) r cent greaterthsathe 8umm*
d State ru&s which they 8sm.u-e~w&d,
that Texas &Wiof mrds uay.be ~nccrOpted at
ffme value atxlnlthont~mrr@.n ior the
t6amtttttSBtste fwm%s allotteU, Ffo+ide~I,
atteh State Relief Bond8 hare all rniEIkpsd
00upoM tittaeaed bonds of 0ounflelB 1oQated
In Texaas; roud d Lt tr*ot8 oi aounttett,in
TeJIps j inaepetatentsad comma *c&o01 die-
triCtslosstediIi~sxas) ana'bondeZe8usd
by tinntcL* oorporatlons b Tow; ~* + lm
Ccm8ematlon aul'k&sat~o.on bietrlots are pm110
OOt'QO~8tiOM OuthOrieed outaFt3@Utad w Chapter 8 Of Title
la of the llerisedCivil Stututeo. Braxott Bi+er Ceneervo-
tion and Real~tion Distriot *as ersated by eat of the Clst
'beglslature, 8octd called seesion, -specialUivs, page 22,
Chapter 13. The Aathasbeenssmmaltimec amended, the
last one be%ng tliatof lQ3!S,44th Legislature, first called
SOPSIO~, page 1627r Cht3pter868.
Artlele 2628 o? the ctatuteo de-8 tie olasses
of eligible beouritieo ior public depositories. 'If the
bonds arler oon8iderat3anare tobe condder ed elle;ibl+ %t
xttst'ba~bemu8e taey belong ta thd alask llsrmsd by .mrrmigi-
pal corprstlons,~ for, clearly, they do not fall within auy
other olass~ezamertatedby the statute.
Bozloreble Jooee Jame - paF;o 3
The torm*mn%uipal eorporafitm~ Is osmlln
fro differentsenses in otettttee md in detcbions, adl,
lllmvias, in comlon lance of tiaeneiel circles.
Pirst, it is ueod ea eynollymua aith publzc
oorporlrtions au aontra-dlstinguiehod fram prltntocor-
etiom, esl in thet eonee it would lnclnde State
r OXiS, COUttt~ bO?ldB, Oity bOlit8, SChOObdthtdCt bonds,
saqmYenr3ntdstriot bonds, and pgp other bog2 Issued
bJooergordioIlServiago
eoeote pleao, the torn
rover aud tmro speol.fic twauseat3roferrizg to oitios,
tovM aud vllleg0s only.
billon on Uaniclpel Corporations (6th editbn)
sajrst
•Uuni.c~paloorporetians am2 in&i-
tutlonttdeuigned for the looal gmern-
taantof towns a& cities; or, mre ec-
eumtel.y townsand aitieo dth their
Sult&iteutsare for pwpo600 of iiubordi-
nete local a&idnkstrotian ismeet@ 01th
a oorpor~te &ereeter.~ (vol. 1 rsw .ls).
A&n, the sspc authorltydaclarost
cuillltp,
00 vcll OS oity, ICIa gubllc cor-
porstiOll; bat
th0 Bob001 diStriCti Or
county, jroporly epeuking, is not, while
the city is, a gunicivo~ corporation. All
rslnicipal~corporatfons.ere gxttalio
b0dief3,
oraetod for cirL1 or political purpeee~
but all aivil, political, or p&lie cor-
.I379
Honor8blo J0s8s Jams - page 4
contenmletlon of this treatise. has
roferenoe
s-
to lncorooreted wi
touns, and cities, rlth potter of lo-
CC1 adlli338~tl. 88 diOtiMUfShOd
from other public iorpmatic& auah
as oouuties cud guesi oorporet~oua.~
(6348 P* 452)
To the sme general effoot are the following
stcmderd srlterer Fletcher on Corporetious, YO 1,
sf!67 to 66; Thompson on Corporotio 8, vol. 1, ifiM-26;
lWuillian hunicipal Corporation8, ii% 133-13y.
In Opinion X0. o-U52, applying thoeo priuei-
ples end construiug Article 2629, se held that the r&tnd-
ing bot8l.sof a w seter-lmprwosmt district were not
sllglblo es muicipal bonds. That opinion 8hould be fol-
loood not only upon Lpecedent but upon sound reasonlugas
roll.
It hae boen suggested that tho mordlug of the
statutes creating the Brasos airer Consenatiw and Reole-
mation District is such en to constitute the district a
suudcipslity sit&W the euaning of Artiole 2S29, the par-
ticular lenguege rsfsrrsd to being es 2ollosat
*she BraSOB River ConaerYatlou axl
Reclamation dietriet ie oreatedan a
gwenmrsntel agomy, a pmicipelitp, body
politlo end corporate, rested tifb all
the eutbority as an& under the Consti-
tution aad leas of this State.. (B 2 of
tho original Act).
We outmot adopt this suggestion. Tho rord
lsunloipalit~ $31Seotion 2 is usod In the general all-
coszprehonsiresanse of public corporations, as oontrn-
dfBtiUgUb%hea fmtu private Corporation. In this sense
the word is apt and it is In thin sense the I4egislattme
Used It3 ObYiOUSl~, the LegislatUre did riot use the TOrd
Qunicipality~ in its smo speclfio sense -- that of city,
town or Yillage - for the consorYation and reclaxatlon
district was not at the time and cannot be, arrlsas nwer
ihteuded by the Act to be, a olty, tow or rlllage.
Wreovec, the faat that Article 2620, occordiug
to the latest smmdment thereof'(1039) In enumBretfug the
Honorable Jesse Jams - pace 5
olasses of securities &a eligible named lr o sil
diStriot6,'
s&ndepsxIont axl oomxm school dietristan, a talrmniclpal
corpr;Ltlons,* thus iadicsted lndiaplteblg that smnmicipl
corporations9 as a alas6 was used in the epacoifio ssnse of
cities, tow mcl rillagcs, rather than in its uxmt gener-
al 68063 -- that of publio COrpOrRtiOM -- for rood din-
triots and COEWP school distriots and independent school
districts are publia corporations, and in the broadest'
sense nunLeipa1 corporations , so that their enumratlon
tould hmo bean use1086 if lnunAcipalitieew Included
thoui.
If tho Loglslature had intended that consanatlon
and reclamation district bonds should bs eligible, undor
Article 262~~ it oould easily have included them in its
amx&mntOP1939.
We therefore hold that the refumling bonds of
Brazes River Conservation and BecloEation districta are
not sligible as eoouritiss SOr public depoetteries, under
Article 2620 of the Revised CiHl Stat&es.
Very tmly yours
ATTORWEiXGEBEULOFT~
t
&G
wie
ABSi6ee
ls
OS-UR
APPROVEDAPR25, 1940
/izkL&u*w
ATTORNEYGENERALOF TEXAS