.
The Honorable J. B. Hunt Opinion No. H- 590
County Auditor
Hutchinson County Re: Method of processing
P. 0. Box 850 checks for jurors.
Stinnett, Texas 79083
Dear Mr. Hunt:
You advise that the district attorney and county attorney of your
judicial district and county have failed or refused to answer your request
for a legal opinion made in accordance with article 334, V. T. C. S.,
regarding the above matter. Under such circumstances this office will
accept an opinion request directly from the County Auditor. You ask:
(1) In view of the language of Art. 2122, Sec. (b),
Tex. Rev. Stats., is it permissible for the District
Clerk to pay jurors by check drawn of the jury fund,
without securing the signature of the County Treasurer
on the check, so long as the payment is made pursuant
to an order of the District or Domestic Court?
(2) Must any signature other than the signature of the
District Clerk appear on the check?
(3) ,If the County Treasurer is required to sign the
check, should the Treasurer sign it before the District
Clerk signs it or after the District Clerk signs it?
(4) Is there any prohibition ,against the Treasurer
signing blank checks and delivering them to the District
Clerk, to be completed and countersigned by the District
Clerk after the’ jurors’ services are completed.
p. 2632
The Honorable J. B. Hunt page 2 (H-590)
Article 2122, V. T. C. S. , to which you refer was last amended in
1965. hit now reads:
(a) Each juror in a district or county court or
county court at law is entitled to receive not less
than $4 nor more than $10 for each day or fraction
of a day that he attends court as a juror. The Com-
missioners court of each county shall determine
annually, within the minimum and maximum pres-
cribed in this subsection, the amount of per diem
for jurors which shall be paid out of the jury fund
of the county. A person who responds to the process
of a court, but who is excused from jury service by
the court for any cause after being tested on voir
dire, is entitled to receive not less than $4 nor more
than $5 for each day or fraction of a day that he attends
court in response to such process.
(b) A check drawn on the jury fund by the clerk
of the district court of a county may be transferred
by endorsement and delivery and is receivable at par
from the holder for all county taxes.
We think your questions are answered by Attorney General Opinion
M-657 (1970) which, in the course of deciding that the county treasurer is
the proper official authorized to make delivery of county warrants and jury
checks to the payee, observed:
Article 2122, Vernon’s Civil Statutes, states that
jurors’ pay is to be made by a check drawn by the
clerk of the district court of the county on the jury
fund.
Article 2554, Vernon’s Civil Statutes, provides
in part as follows:
‘It shall be the duty of the county treasurer
upon the presentation to him of any warrant,
check, voucher, or order drawn by the proper
p. 2633
The Honorable J. B. Hunt page 3 (H-590)
authority, if there be funds sufficient
for the payment thereof on deposit in
the account against which such warrant
is drawn, to endorse upon the face of
such instrument his order to pay the
same to the payee named therein and to
charge the same on his books to the fund
upon which it is drawn. . . .’ (Emphasis
added)
Article 1632, Vernon’s Civil Statutes, declares
that:
’ The county treasurer or any other
officer disbursing money for the county,
or receiving county claims in payment of
dues of any kind, shall require the party
receiving payment of, or credit for the
same, his agent’or attorney, to receipt
in writing upon the face of such claim for
the amount so paid or received thereon. ’
(Emphasis added)
Article 1709, Vernon’s Civil Statutes, provides
as foIlows:
’ The county treasurer shall receive all
moneys belonging to the county from whatever
source they may be derived, and pay and apply
the same as required by law, in such manner
as the commissioners court of his county may
require and direct.’ (Emphasis added).
The above statutes, by necessary implication,
authorize the county treasurer to make delivery of
such warrants.
p. 2634
.
The Honorable J. B. Hunt page 4 (H-590)
We think these statutes indicate that it is the commissioners
c’ourt which determines the amount of per diem for jurors to be paid
out of the jury fund of the county. While a district court judge or
judge or another court may certify the amount due a juror,andth+cl’erk
of the district court may draw a check upon the jury fund of the county
in connection therewith, the treasurer must make his endorsement on
the face thereof ordering it paid before it can be paid. In our opinion,
jury checks may be drawn by the district court clerk but should be
signed by the county treasurer to be eligible for payment.
Accordingly we answer your first question in the negative and
your second in the affirmative.
To your third question we answer that the County Treasurer
should sign the check after the District Clerk signs it. The clerk’s
signature on the instrument signifies to the treasurer that he has
drawn it pursuant to the instructions of the judge. It is then the duty
of the Treasurer to determine if there are sufficient funds to pay it, and
if there are, to endorse upon it his order to pay the check.
The foregoing answer to the third question necessitates an affirma-
tive answer to the fourth question. Until the checks have been drawn by
the clerk, the treasurer has no instrument “drawn by the proper authority”
upon the face of which he may place his endorsement certifying that
funds are available for its payment and ordering it paid.
Your questions anticipate the presentment of such checks for
payment from the county’s jury fund and not merely their presentment
for credit against county taxes owed by the holder thereof. This opinion
is similarly restricted.
SUMMARY
To be eligible for payment from the jury fund
of the county, jury checks must be signed by the
county treasurer after the proper authority has
p. 2635
. .
The Honorable J. B. Hunt page 5 (H-590)
drawn them. The county treasurer is not
authorized to deliver to the district clerk
uncompleted jury checks already signed by
the treasurer.
Very truly yours,
Attorney General of Texas
APPROVED:
DAVID M. KENDALL, First Assistant
Opinion Committee
p. 2636