836
OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS
AUSTIN
OROVLR SELLERS
Al-roINmY OpIcmAL
I!Otl. P. 8. Saud10
county Attorney
Franklin County
tiount Vmrnon, Tmxa8
Opinion X0. O-7108
A
"Art. 16, :‘.ec. 14. ~$1 civil orrioars ahall raslda
within the 7tate; and nil district or county or:‘lcars vilth-
in their districts or counties, ond shell keep tialr o ficcs
st such places RR my be requlzad by law; and Sellure to
comply with tkls condition shall moats tka office so held.”
837
Hon. F. a. Caudla - ?a?8 2 .
The Soragolng saotlon or the Constitution makes no raiar-
an00 to praolnotr or praolnot orfioam. A Constable is an OfSloar
OS the praolnot. However, If a Constable may ba lnoluded within
the term “oounty 3ftloaP as used in the above anlola, than it is
raadlly seen that ha does not raoata his oitloa unless ha ramovas
tram tha oount Thus theily question Sor datarminntlon hare is
whether a4 “ens bla is s oounty offloor, the answer to whloh we look
to Saotion 24, Artlola 5 OS tha Taxar Constitution readins as Sollows:
wCounty judges, oounty attorneys, olarks OS the Dls-
triot and County Courts, justices of tha pasoar oonstablaa,
and othqr~~aounty oiflgara, msy be removed by the judges OS
tha Eletrlot courts ror ~nooapatanoy. _ . orrioiai mlsoonduot. .
. . . .- (Emphasis added)
It is obvious Srom a rmadlng of the above saotlon that the
Sreunars OS the Constitution olasrlfled oonstablas as county oSSloars.
This oonstruotlon of the seotlon has been well stated by the Court of
Civil Apgaals of Taxsa in the oasa oS Handarloks v. State, 49 c;. ‘7.
705, whsraln it w%s held that tha trustees oS comaon sohool dlstrlot
sra County orSloers, In tha SoIlowlniJ language:
*r,ahool dlatrlots ara eubdirislons OS the County %s are
00lMl1ss10nars’ and justloos’ praolnots. Comisslonrm, jus-
tices OS tha peace, and oonstablss era named aloe with other
oifloers whose oSfloa8 extend to the entlrs county; end the
santlon OS ‘other oounty osfloarsl is a refaranoa to them as
County ofricers. Xaoh OS them Is an otrloar id and for the
praolnot or the county OS w?loh his preolfiot is a pert, and
ooneequantly oS the county itbali; and we think there ahould
be no dlifloulty in oonstrulnc; the Constltutlon and the stat-
uta as lnoludlng the OSSloam OS the praoinotr and dlrtrlcts
0r a county in the genrrtl dsoignatlan 0r county 0Sfioarm.~
It is our opinion, th4rsror4, that a oonstabla is a “County
ofSlomrw within tha meaning or that tam as wed in Artlola 16, 380.
14 of the Taxes Colistltutlon. Consequently, he does not vaoata his
oitioa upon removing to another praolnct within thm County and his
authority to appoint a deputy la not srfeoted by euoh ohang4 OS resl-
danoa; however, his authority is not absolute, but is subj8Ot to
approval by tha Cocmlselonars @ Court whloh it my dsire only %Ster it
rinds thn Constable is in need of a deputy in order to properly aarry
on the business OS his off104 orlqlnatlng in his preolnot ss provided
in Artlola 687Qa. Joe Johnson v. state, 52 S. Y. 26 110, for proper
prooadura by Constable to seoure the eppolntment OS a deputy.
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