&norable Fred Erlisman
Cr:ninalDistrict Atiprnsy
Gregg COUnty
poo~v~evr,Texas
I)e6r
KrP Erisman:
Opinion.No, OCl.560
Whether the,E&&&done*s~
.c\ Court .
What persons
meaning of *the
s used in Arti~cle
ivil Statutes?
iole 6228 of
is the Com-
to arbitrarily
ssistanco where
been a full oompliance with the
ts set forth in said article?
ns cow wit& the meaning of
n Article 2351
evioed Civil Statutes?"
The material portions of Article '622S,Revised Civil
Ststutes,1925, as amended by the Acts of 1931, 42nd Leg*,
c&L 256;‘provideo:
Ilonorable
Fred Erisman, Page.2
"Any widow who is the mother of a child or
children under sixteen years of age, and who is
unable.to support them and maintain her home, may
present to the Commissioners*Court of the county
whe'rolnshe has .rc.siaed.
for -the preceding two
years a sworn petition for aid shOv;ing:
Virst: - Her.name, time and place of her
marriage, date of the death of her husband, or
date of his confinement in the penitentiaryor
in an insane asylum, or date of his abandonment
of her; nemes, sex, and the dates and places of
their birtho.
"Second: -Her length of residence in the
State, her present residence, and her residence
during each of the previous five years,
WThira: -All the prop-zty belonging to her
and to each of her children, including any furure
or contingent interest she or any of them may
have,
"Fourth: -The efforts made.by her to sup-
port her children.
!'Fifth:-The name,.relationship;and address
of each of'her husbands relatives that may be
known.
!3y 'widow', as used herein, means a mother
who is widowed by death or divorce, or whose hus-
band has abandoned her for more than two preced-
ing years, or whose husband is confined in the
penitentiaryor in a State Hospital for the insane.
"A copy of said petition and a notice of the
time and place it will be presented to said Court
shall be served on or mailed to the County Judge
Of said county at least five days before the time
the court shall be requested in said petition to
hear the same0 When service is complete said
Court shall examine under oath those who desire to
be heard, and may subpoena witnesses; or the Court
or the Court may refer said matter to a Commissioner
to be appointed by it to hear said witnesses. Such
EonorableFred Erisman, Page 5
commissionershall make a report to the Court
stating the facts as proven before him0 It
the Court concludes tint unless relief is
granted the widow will be unable to properly
'supportand educate herchildren, and that.thoy
may become a public'charge, it may make an or-
der directing a monthly payment to her, out of
the County Fun(ls,for the support of such chil-
dren, not more than Fifteen ($15.00)Dollars for
one child, and Six (&,OO) Dollars additional
for each other ohild, Such allovianceshall be
discontinuedas to any such child who reaches
the age of sixteen0 The Court shall have the
right to refuse any such petition, and its ac-
tion in so doing shall be final, The Court
shall see that any widow receiving such aid is
properly.caringfor hex children0 Vhen ,itis
fount3t&t she is not properly caring for her
children, or that she is an improper guardian
for them, or when the Court finds that she no
longer needs such aid, it shall thereupon re-
voko at'any time with or without notice any or-
der ma&pursuant to this Article.lf
It is said in 21 R,C.Lo, p0 701, that:
Ware of the state for its dependent class&
es is consideredby'all enlightenedpeople as a
measure of its oivilization,and the care of the
poor is generally recognized as among the un-
qU8stioned objeots of public duty, buttin spite
of this, the duty under the oofpgonlaw was pure-
ly moral and not legal, There is, therefore, no
legal obligation at common law on any of the in-
strumentalitiesof government to furnish relief
to paupers. The obligation
-A-.~ to su port such per-
sons results GiT~Eorn s atu-0 . o *If
Our Legislature has, by statute, made it the duty
ar the Commissioners(Court to provide for the support of
Nupsrs or look after the welfare of the poor and indigent
cf the county. (Article 2351, Revised Civil Statutes), Such
N'er and duty, however, is not to be confused with the oper-
dtionof the statutes in question0
Honorable Frea Erisman, Page 4
AHd.c?le 6228, supra, being a special law, was in-
tended apparently as but a step tovzaraadvanced social.re-
form, following in tho wake of many of the states that have.
enacted what is knovjnas %othersX*l Pension Act, yet this
statute is msterially different, and it is to be presumed
tha~t 'theLegislature-intendedsuch statute to fit in and
blend ivithour constitutionaland systematio form of gov-
ernment.
The sole question confronting us in examining the
foregoing statute is whether or not the intent of the Legis-
lature is expressed in plain an.iunambiguous.language,and
whether or not said statute is a permissive one rather than
.msndato.ry'onthe part of the Commissioners'Court.
"In construing statutes, courts look at the
language of the vrholoact, and if they find.,in
any partjoular clause an expressionnot so large
and extensive in its import as those used in other
parts of the statute, if, upon a view of the vrhole
aot they can collect from the more large and ex-
tensive expressions-used in the other parts, the
real intention of the Legislature, it is their
duty to give effeot to the larger expressions.'V
$$herland on Statutory Construction,Sec. 245, p.
0
Sutherland on Statutory Construotion,Section 460,
p. 594, further states that the rule that %aytl is to be in-
terpretedas '!.sl~all~r
or "mustI1is not by anyneans uniform;
its applicationdepends upon what appears to be the true in-
tent of the statute. ~See also, Sedgewick on Constitutional
and Statutory Law; Rains vs. Herring, 68 Tex. 468, 5 S.W.
369,
Examining the larger expressions~includeclin the
language used in the last paragraph of said statute, it will
bc seen that the Legislature has delegated to the Commissioners1
Court the power.to conclude upon v;hatconditions and under vrhat
circumstanoesrelief may be granted anilthat this court is to
determinewhether or not the widow will be unable to properly
support and educate her children ann&?%rther fact as to
vihctherthey may'become a pubJ.iccharge. The court is further
given the right to refuse any such petition, and its action in
so doing is by the provisions of the Act made final*
HonorableFred Erismn, ~Page5
That the Le&slature so construed said act to be per-
missive and not mandatory is aifiOl0seain section 2 of the 1931
amendment, containing the emergency clause
.
which reads as follows:
"The fact that the present lavias to mothers'
aia requires a residence of five years before
hungry,children.canbe fed or furnished clothing
or opportunity for education by aid from the county,
while no other State requires suoh long residonoe;
that the Statute is not mandatory, but that this
amendment vii11 q0ra an opportunity to give aid
when needed, and will enlarge the needy class of
children to whom aid can legally be given, and,
will give to some vridoxedmothers the great priv-
ilege of rearing their'children in their own homes,
creates an emer&ency, and an imperative public
nec.essitythat the ConstitutionalRule requiring
bills to be read on three several days be sus-
pended, and said Rule ishereby suspended, and
that this Ac'ttake effect from and after its pas-
sage, and it is so enacted.t'
hit is, therefore, the opinion of this departmentthat
the.Commissioners'Court, under the provisions of Article 6226,
Vernonsc'RevisedCivil Statutes, is granted full and oomplete
authorityto pass upon.such applicationsas duly presented
thereunder,and such statute being a permissiireone, the court's
action thereuuder is not subject to review.
As to your second question,.the term "paupeP is too
broad and comprehensiveas would permit an opinion from this
departmentlaying down any specific formula for determining
what persons are or may be included within its meaning, For
a eencral rule covering same, however, we refer you to 21
Ruling Case L&r. 4 5, ppO 704.4:
"The.viords'pauper' and 'indigent'convey the
meaning that the person has neither money nor
estate is without credit and is unable to main-
tain hbsclf because of ikhility to work or to
obtain employmen$, and a person who has property
immediatelyavailable for his support is not a
paupex, and is properly refused public aid as such.
Rut a person may be a pauper though he has proper-
ty of his own, if it is not available for his
inmiedisterelief, or is manifestly disproportionate
z0norabl.e
&red Erif.&&, Pa&.6
to his needs, Though a person.may be poor and
without property, still if he has credit, -andby
his own promise to pay, or request, can have his
condition relieved, he is not a person entitled
to relief uudt& .thepoor laws. The question as
to the suffici.&ncyof a,mon's property or.aredit
to take him from tl= pauper class is for the jury2
'J%ustin&ttd:
above answers your request, we are
.Yoursvery truly
ATTOKNM GHU&'AL Ol?'
TEXAS
Assistant
PfiJRIc:o
ATTORNEY GELKERAL OF TEX@
APPROVED
.opinion.
committee
BY BWB
chairman