April 3, 1949
mmolrblo s. J. 18aaoka
Qhalnmn, luaiaIalmmdtteo,
Boueo of Repromntatlvos
AWtiB, Taxaa
Doar Sirr Opinion lfo.v-129
I&r OonstltmtlonnlityOS H. B.
SS8,sotBLe&irlwmo,rola-
tire to dellnquemtmm&r.
Your reqwatfor UI opinionupon the abeve aub-
jeat matter Is na follkmw~:
"I am haraith en01001 aeepyofeblll, ,
bOlta@ known as lbluoBill 52 , with rorr 100111-
ants whloh ha8 to do with beSUing dellnqeu&t
par&~ pr8tIdIng that dellawent mxentm are
gailty oi misdomsanorand gre8orIbIaga pawlOx.
A qwstieloaba been raiseda8 to the oma%l$a-
tlonalltyOS thie pro oood loglslatlon.Aa
ohairman of t& a410 L m Comitt.0, it ha8 wan
oated thst X nfor this bill to you for an
:3&m m to its eonutleutIoMlIh~.
*It O~QM to the writer that tho bill u
ia a
submIt.te& bit l+wely'dra*mIn at- in:
llttlo
t-cllrpting to dof,itns
a admIti offemo. You dll
noto that It say@1 'who fall8 or odte to lxor-
d~~dyso~le &IUgonao In tha oontxelof roah
It oeoum to tho writer that the ma-
tlon k *reasowblo dIllgoaoo*when a 0x3JMl
ofionse or penalty la sought to be defineds&&l4
bo a llttlo am?e o%plIeIt. It itwtherpratidoa?
* * * wh o fa llso r o mitsto lxeroluo nasoaable
dlll~otepxwent ouoh ohild fromboeosiagdo-
liaquent in morals or integrlt~ are guilty of
jmonlle delinquonaj.
Honorable :i. J. 18Sr;OkS - tage 2
*Aa to thla quotationwe bollevc that tho
0fra00 ia not suirieim3tiy doflccd and 31cdoecr-
taln. It furthor pmvldcc * *** end nb~ ahcll
wllfully pennIt auoh ehlld to csaeoletc with
vloIouc or lmmrcl perconc or pcrconc who aro
erimlaclc .* It cppeerc to uc that thla olcuco
would noooaaltctoa doflnltlonof *vlaic+ucor
lmorrl QOIUOM* with rruohoortclcty thct the
person ohcrgoQ would know who rloiocc and l&moral
ponona am. He thfak IIU'ther that those *orha
are orImlmla*, - tkct ft should acrtalnl~ say:
penaita such ohlld Taoassooisto
with v o out or imicorslpersona or persons who
‘who w
are orlmkuclo.~
"Thr bill fcxther pr~ldoc: 1 t 0 0 or
pornitcuoh ohlld to wcndcr'tho ctrcotc in Idlo-
ma8 or to boeoma c bcbltccl tmcct fromaahoel.*
It eoourc to ua that lf suoh olauce la cuftl-
olintlg oe~clc, waioh we hcrdly bclfsve It ifi,
It o o r Sa I.uly
lhedia prorido that the parout should
'kuowI~&' pormlt the ohlld to da these t;hI?~m.~
Wo bavo oerofully oxomlmod Hoaco Bill So. 5X3 whloh
aooorpaalsdyour roqtmct - Bltlo end body. Tho title to the
Bill la good, end oomondably ahoti. Wo find no ?ault wI8h It.
Nor IO there au]r.ooaatItutlonclor atctctorJIviac in tho boar
or tkc Bill.
Wo thoak you ror your odtlocl cncl~lo of tits all1
aa to its legs1 coftioleney. ft hcc beet helpful to ca. Eew-
ever, tho points as to phrcclng sup&pctod by fi~a e to tha mer-
ltc of tkc El11 rather thn ot Its valldlty. Ta othor wotic,
lt la moroly a qucctlon of the sccl lntcntloa of tin Le&alcturc
co to what they want to srko cc offeace, l.o., whother thef wect
t or the parent an ot?ence;~or tho
erd to pmpcr ccfcgucrdlngof the ohlld,
Oorpas Jurlc Seouudum,Vol. 88, Seatlon'SO,doallng
with tho tl%le CRIMSNeL LA%, b8 thla to oaf:
"By the esprosstOn!iCof a statute gullfy
knowlodgo la cwotiaac amQe an eacenflal j.n-
gredlont of the effetice, ac whcro it reqnlma
the cot to bo lono .*kn~wl~&y’ , do. bn tb
other hand, tho Logiolaturomay torbld the
doing or er the failure to do en sat and make
its oomcIcclon or omlsslo,n arlml~a1 without
regard to the intent or knowlodqo or the door,
and If auoh lexlalativeintention sppeexs the
oourtc met dive ft.erreot, mnd in suoh oasec,
Honorable S. J. Isaaoks - Page 3
ths dolng of the lnhlblted mot oonstltatasthe
orlme, and the moral turpitude or parity of fhs
motive by whloh lt was pronpted, and knowledge
or l~oranoe of lta orlmlnel ohazaoter,are lm-
nmterlal olrowtanser on the qaestlon of guilt;
suoh lsglslatlonIs enaoted and la sustained,
for the most part, on grounds of naoessity,
and le,n~t~v~olatlveof the federal oonsfito-
tion. .
Pappas v. State, 188 S. '$.52, by the Suprems
Court of Tanne0see, deolaras:
*It being olear that in statutory offenors
a orlmlnal intent or fraudulent intent 1s not
always essential, it 1s equally olear that whsther
thr solenter is a material element of the oriar
or not atit bo determined by the languagr used
by the Legislaturein dsflninrJthe offsnse.
*In the statuts under oousldrratlonths
word8 *wlilfuiiy*or ~knowlnglg*are nowhars to
be found. Thsse are ths usual words wed by
the law-making power whsn it fs oontsmpla6ed
by tham that the Intention of the person vlo-
latlng the'statnteshould be oonslderedas %he
material 61ement.n
In Tsxar Liquor Control Board v. Duvi~ll,~
170 S. W.
(Ed) gZ0, a oasa of sanosllatS.onof a llosnes for eaployiag l
mlnor less than 16 years of age, it 1s said:
"The prohlbltsd aot of employinga minor
In a position fraught with ttiptetlonsthat may
lsad to a life of dleslpatlon,la deolared in
unquallfled$slies,unrsllev,ed by any langsag :~.
lmpertlngthat knowledge of the age of the
minor, or that either good faith or Intent
wee an element of the offense. In authorlz-
lnr the oanoellatlonof a llosnse for the
sporadlo sale of~beer to a person under
twenty-oneyears of ago, the sama Artlels
of the statute, in Subd. l(a), provides that
sush sale must be knowingly mado; but with
refarsnoe to the offense of sreater enormity,
.that14, of amplo~lng a minor In 8 business
where he is oonstantly,day after day, ax-
posed to a tsmptatlon that my result in his
beoomlng an lnebrlate, no snob qualifying
language la found.
Honorable S. J. Isaaoks - Page 4
“This oon6txuotlonof the statute 14
in llno with that (~iron slmllar statutu,
not only by our oourts but by ooartr the
eeuntryover. In Peaooak v. LImburger, 9%
Tax. 858, 66 8. IV.TM, our Supreme Court
atiwerlng oertlfled question, held that a sale
of liquor to a n&nor oonatituted a brsaoh of
ths dsaler's bond, whether thz :e$lp knsr
the faot of inorlty or not, .
House Bill 538, 50th Legislature,orsat-
lne;tb offsim8 of dsllnqoenoyof pars&, mak-
ing if an offense by ona *who falls or omltr
to exerolss reasonable dlllgsnse in the ooatrol
of such ohlld* without prssorlblagfurther that
suoh failure or omlsslon was %uowlngliym,does
not make the atetuto void. This present4merely
a mattsr of oohstruotloa as to the ma1 lnteu-
tlon of'the Legislatureas to.what would oonsM-
tee the offsuse, and goss to ths merlto rather
than the oonstittitloualltyof the Bill.
Yours very truly,
hl?I!CRRBYOERERAL OF TBZAS
By (Signed)0010 spew
Aasl8taat
APPROVED APB 7, 1847
/a/ Prloe Dan101