August 23, 1950.

Hon. C. Land CountyAttorney opinion Ro. v-1096. Hall County Re: Operationand effect of Memphis,Texas an-ameadatory act that re-enacts and publishes +a amended article of the Dear Sir: Revised Civil. Statutes. You have requested an o e inlon as to whether a certainprovision of Article 29 3 Revised Civil Statutes,as amended in 1937 ficts 65th Leg., R-S., Ch. 295, p. 59g, was repealedwhen it was omitted by an amendment of that Article, as amended In 1937 in 1945, ,$cts 49th Leg., R.s., 1945, ch. 87, pe ,I&.

Article 2943 and all amendmentstheretoprovided for the compensation of judges and clerks of general and special elections. This Article, as it appeared in the Revised Civil Statutes and in the amendmentof 1937, containeda provisionwhich read as follows:

"The Judge vho delivers the returns of an election Immediatelyafter the votes have been counted shallbe pa%d Two Dollars ($2) for that service, provided the poll.ing place of his precinct is at least two (2) m lea 1 rom an provided also he shall make returns of all electlon supplies not used when he makes return of the election.' (Emphasisadded). All the provisionsof the above quotation were brought forward In the AmendatoryAct of 1945, exoent the one emphasleedby us. You want to koow whether the provision so omittedwas thereby repealed.

For the purpose of this opinion;it will suffice to quote only the first section of each of the amendatoryacts mentioned in the first paragraphs of this opinion.

Section 1 of the AmendatoryAct of 1937 reads as fol10aS: 

## 669

## 670 - .,

Hon. C. Land, Page 2, (V-1096).

"Article2945, Revised Civil Statutes, State of Texas, 1925, be a& the same Is ""T'"a L amended to hereafterread as follows:
Section 1 of the AmendatoryAct of 1945 reads as follows:

"ThatArticle 2943 of the Revised Civil Statutes of the State of Texas, as amended by the Acts of 1937, 45th Legislature, page 591, Chapter 295, be and the same is hereby amended so as to read as follows:

. . ."
Bland, In International & Great RorthernRy. Co. v. 181 S.W. 504 (Tex. Civ. App. 1915), at page 506, mourt said:

"It is a well-knownrule of construction that when the Legislatureamends an article of the Revised Statutesby refer-. ring to It by a number, as in this instance, declaring that It 'shallhereafterread as. follows,' the article as amended Is lntended by the Legislatureto take the place In the Revised Statutes formerly occupiedby the supersededarticle. In fact the language quoted permits of no other construetion."
dence, It Is,

stated in Volume 39 at pages 127, 128 and 147: of Texas Jurlspru-

"The operationand effect of an amendatory act depend upon lts'character and scope. Obviouslyan act that re-enactsand publishes a prior law as a whole supersedes the original,although the actual changes effected are of a minor character,and all though the construction of the new act may not.differmateriallyfrom that of the old; Likewise,when a particulararticle or section is amended,by re-enactment and publlcatlon in accordancewith the constitutional requlrementl,the provisionas amendedbecomes

2 "Ro law shallbe revived or amendedby reference to Its title; but,in such case the Act revived or the section or sectionsamended, shall be Fe-enacted, and published at length." Tex. Const. Art. III, Sec. 36.- . V.-L

Hon. C. Land, Page 3, (v-1096).

a part of the original statuteand takes the place of the provision amended, except In 80 far as it may be preservedby a saving clause.

. . An amendmentoperates to repeal any provision of the original act or section that Is omitted."
"An amendatoryact that recasts the language of an existing statute operates to repeal any omitted provision of the original." The constitutional requirementthat a statute must be an)ended

by re-enactmentand publicationat length was observed and followed by the Legislature in each of the amendatoryacts under consideration. Therefore,the rules of.

construction

heretofore cited are clearly appl:- cable to each of them, and, when so applied, the ultimate result $8 that Article 2943, as emended in 1945, Is now the existing statute,and any provision,Including the one here underconsideration, contained in the origins1 Article or in the amendment thereofby the Act of 1937, and not pow includedtherein,has been repealed. SUMMARY
A provision contained in Article 2943, Revised Civil Statutes, 1925, as amended by the Forty-FifthLegislature,Regular Session, 1937, Chapter 295, page 591, which was omitted In the subsequentamendmentthereof by the Forty-RinthLegislature,1945, Chapter 87, page 128, was thereby repealed. 1.ti.R.

. v. Bland 181 S.W. 504 (Tex. WV.- ?$. Jur. 126, 127, 147, Statutes, * J * APPROVED: Yours very truly, C. K..Richards PRICE DAIVIRL AppellateDivision Attorney General
EverettHutchinson ExecutiveAssistant i3-%45 9s CharlesD. Mathews Bruce W. Brysnt First Assistant Assistant
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