August 23, 1950. 

Hon. C. Land 

County Attorney 

opinion Ro. v-1096. 

Hall County Re: Operation and 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 certain provision 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 amendments thereto provided 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 

amendment of 1937, contained a provision which read 

as follows: 

"The Judge vho delivers the returns 

of an election Immediately after the votes 

have been counted shall be pa%d Two Dollars 

($2) for that service, provided the poll.ing 

place of his precinct is at least two (2) 

m 1 lea rom an provided also 

he shall make returns of all electlon supplies not used when he makes return of the 

election.' (Emphasis added). 

All the provisions of the above quotation 

were brought forward In the Amendatory Act of 1945, 

exoent the one emphasleed by us. You want to koow 

whether the provision so omitted was thereby repealed. 

For the purpose of this opinion;it will 

suffice to quote only the first section of each of 

the amendatory acts mentioned in the first paragraphs 

of this opinion. 

Section 1 of the Amendatory Act of 1937 

reads as fol10aS: 

669 
670 

- ., 

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

"Article 2945, Revised Civil Statutes, 

State of Texas, 1925, be a& the same Is 

""T'"a L 

amended to hereafter read as follows: 

Section 1 of the Amendatory Act of 1945 reads 

as follows: 

"That Article 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 Rorthern Ry. Co. v. 

181 S.W. 504 (Tex. Civ. App. 1915), at page 506, 

mourt said: 

"It is a well-known rule of construction that when the Legislature amends an 

article of the Revised Statutes by refer-. 

ring to It by a number, as in this instance, 

declaring that It 'shall hereafter read as. 

follows,' the article as amended Is lntended by the Legislature to take the place In 

the Revised Statutes formerly occupied by 

the superseded article. 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 operation and effect of an amendatory act depend upon lts'character and 

scope. Obviously an act that re-enacts and 

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.differ materially from that of the old; 

Likewise, when a particular article or section is amended, by re-enactment and publlcatlon in accordance with the constitutional 

requlrementl, the provision as amended becomes 

2 "Ro law shallbe revived or amended by reference to 

Its title; but,in such case the Act revived or the 

section or sections amended, 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 statute and takes 

the place of the provision amended, except 

In 80 far as it may be preserved by a saving clause. . . An amendment operates to 

repeal any provision of the original act 

or section that Is omitted." 

"An amendatory act that recasts the 

language of an existing statute operates 

to repeal any omitted provision of the 

original." 

The constitutional requirement that a statute 

must be an)ended by re-enactment and publication at length 

was observed and followed by the Legislature in each of 

the amendatory acts 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 thereof by the Act of 1937, 

and not pow included therein, has been repealed. 

SUMMARY 

A provision contained in Article 2943, 

Revised Civil Statutes, 1925, as amended by 

the Forty-Fifth Legislature, Regular Session, 

1937, Chapter 295, page 591, which was omitted In the subsequent amendment thereof by 

the Forty-Rinth Legislature, 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 

Appellate Division Attorney General 

Everett Hutchinson 

Executive Assistant i3-%45 

9s 

Charles D. Mathews Bruce W. Brysnt 

First Assistant Assistant 

EMB:em:jmc