The Honorable Emory C. Walton 

Criminal District Attorney 

Eastland County 

Eastland, Texas 76448 

opinion No. H-815 

Re: Jurisdiction of the 

county and district courts 

in Eastland County. 

Dear Mr. Walton: 

You have requested our opinion on a 'number of questions 

regarding the jurisdiction of the district and county courts 

of Eastland County. 

In 1951, the Legislature transferred a portion of the 

criminal jurisdiction of the county court of Eastland County 

to the district court. Article 1970-141a, V.T.C.S., provides 

in pertinent part: 

Section 1. The County Court of 

Eastland County shall retain and continue to have and exercise the general 

jurisdiction in matters of eminent 

domain, general jurisdiction of probate 

courts, and all other jurisdiction now 

or hereafter conferred by the Constitution and laws of this State, except 

as is hereinafter provided, and shall 

retain all jurisdiction and power to 

issue all writs necessary to the 

enforcement of its jurisdiction, and 

to punish contempts; but said County~ 

Court shall have no civil jurisdiction 

and no criminal jurisdiction except 

jurisdiction to receive and enter 

pleas of guilty in misdemeanor cases, 

and except as to final judgments 

referred to in Section 2 hereof. 

p. 3440 
The Honorable Emory C. Walton - page 2 (H-815) 

Sec. 2. The District Court having 

jurisdiction in Eastland County shall 

have and exercise jurisdiction in all 

matters and cases of a civil nature and 

in all matters of a criminal nature, 

except as to such jurisdiction that the 

County Court has to receive and enter 

pleas of guilty in misdemeanor cases as 

is provided in Section 1 hereof, whether 

the same be of original jurisdiction or of 

appellate jurisdiction, over which, by 

the general laws of the State of Texas now 

existing and hereinafter enacted the County 

Court of said county would have had jurisdiction 

and all pending civil and criminal cases be, 

and the same are, hereby transferred to the 

District Court having jurisdiction in Eastland 

County, Texas, and all writs and process 

heretofore issued by or out of said County 

Court in all pending civil or criminal cases 

be, and the same are, hereby made returnable 

to the District Court sitting in Eastland 

County, Texas. However, there shall not be 

transferred to said District Court jurisdiction 

over any judgments, either in civil or criminal 

cases, rendered prior to the time this Act 

takes effect and which have become final, but 

as to such judgments the said County Court 

shall retain jurisdiction for the enforcement 

thereof by all appropriate process. 

YOU first inquire as to the court in which misdemeanor 

cases should be filed in Eastland County. 

A misdemeanor may be charged by indictment, and an indictment may be presented only to a district court. Indictments 

charging misdemeanors returned to the district court over 

which the court has no jurisdiction are to be transferred 

to the inferior court having jurisdiction of the offense. 

Tex. Const. art. 5, 9 17; Code Crim. Proc. art. 21.26; Dalton 

v. - State, 200 S.W. 385 (Tex. Crim. App. 1918). 

p. 3441 
,. . 

The Honorable Emory C. Walton - page 3 (H-815) 

As provided in section 2,of article 1970-141a, the 

district court has jurisdiction "in all matters of a criminal 

nature, except as to such jurisdiction that the County Court 

has to receive and enter pleas of guilty in misdemeanor cases 

as is provided in Section 1. . . ." Thus, the district court 

should retain jurisdiction over misdemeanor cases presented 

by indictment until it is known that the defendant will enter 

a guilty plea. 

Also, it should be noted that when the district court has 

obtained jurisdiction by the return of an indictment charging a 

felony offense, jurisdiction is not lost by the fact that, 

upon motion of the State, the charge is reduced to a misdemeanor to which the defendant pleads guilty. Bruce v. 

State, 419 S.W.2d 646 (Tex. Crim. App. 1967); Mock Eate, 

298 S.W.2d 583 (Tex. Crim. App. 1957). 

-- 

Accordingly then, your inquiry must be limited to the 

proper court in which misdemeanor cases should be presented 

by information in Eastland County. 

As provided in section 1 of article 1970-141a, the 

criminal jurisdiction of the county court is limited to the 

receiving and entering of guilty pleas in misdemeanor cases. 

In our opinion, the clear implication of the statute is that 

the prosecuting attorney should present an information in the 

county court only in those cases in which he reasonably believes 

in advance of filing that the defendant will enter a plea of 

guilty. In all other instances, the case should be filed in 

the district court. Of course, if a defendant actually enters 

a plea of not guilty after the case has been filed in the 

county court, the case must be transferred to the district 

court for trial. Likewise, if a defendant resolves to enter 

a guilty plea subsequent to filing in district court, the case 

should be transferred to the county court for receipt and entry 

of the plea of guilty. 

As to the former appellate jurisdiction of the county 

court, it is clear that such jurisdiction is now in the 

district court, since the very nature of an appeal from a 

justice or municipal court implies a plea of not guilty. 

p. 3442 
The Honorable Emory C. Walton - page 4 (H-815) 

Your next question is whether the district clerk and 

county clerk should collect the fees normally applicable to 

their respective offices in each case originally filed in 

the respective courts. In the absence of statutory indication to the contrary, we answer this question in the affirmative. 

you also ask whether the district clerk may collect any 

fees of office when a criminal case is transferred from the 

county court to the district court on a plea of not guilty. 

Section 4 of article 1970-141a provides: 

The clerk of the County Court of Eastland 

County is, and he is hereby required within 

twenty (20) days after this Act takes effect 

to file with the clerk of the District Court 

of said county all original papers in cases 

here transferred to the said District Court, 

and all Judges' dockets and certified copies 

of any interlocutory judgment, or other order 

entered in the minutes of the County Court 

in said cases so transferred: and the 

district clerk shall immediately docket all 

such cases on the docket of the District 

Court of Eastland County in the same manner 

and place as each stands on the docket of 

the County Court. It shall not be necessary 

that the district clerk.refile anv wawers 

theretofore filed by the county cierk; nor 

shall he receive 9 fees for the filinofthe-=, but papersinxidase *ring 

defile mark of the county clerk, prior to 

the time of said transfer,-shall be-held to 

have been filed in the case as of the date 

filed without being refiled by the district 

clerk. Said county clerk in cases so transferred shall accompany the papers with a 

certified bill of cost and against all cost 

deposits, if any, the county clerk shall charge 

accrued fees due him, and the remainder of the 

deposit he shall pay to the district clerk as 

a deposit in the particular case for which the 

same was deposited. Credit shall also be given 

the litigants for all jury fees paid in the 

County Court. (Emphasis added). 

p. 3443 
. . 

The Honorable Emory C. Walton - page ,5 (H-815) 

Although section 4 appears to be limited in application 

to those cases transferred to the district court within 20' 

days from the effective date of the statute, we believe that 

a similar result obtains with regard to all cases thereafter 

transferred to the district court. Certainly, the district 

clerk should not be permitted to collect from a defendant 

those same fees which have previously been assessed by the 

county clerk. Neither do we believe that the district clerk 

may collect any fees of office from the county clerk. In 

Attorney General Opinion C-789 (1966), this Office held that 

[tlhere is no authority in the statutes 

of the State of Texas which would authorize 

an initiating county to pay court costs to 

another county on a change of venue. 

In our opinion, this is a sound principle which ought to be 

applied to transfers from the county court to the district 

court. Accordingly, it is our view that, at least with 

respect to fees already billed by the county clerk, the 

district clerk may not collect any fees of office when a 

criminal case is transferred from the county court to the 

district court on a plea of not guilty. 

your last two questions inquire about the.amount, if any, 

which a district clerk and/or a county clerk may collect from 

a defendant in a criminal case as a fee for the offices of 

criminal district attorney and county judge. Article 1061, 

Code of Criminal Procedure, prescribes a fee of $15, to be 

taxed against the defendant for district and county attorneys 

where a conviction is obtained in any misdemeanor proceeding 

or pursuant to the laws against gaming. No fee is authorized 

for conviction of any other felony, and, in the absence of 

statute, none may be assessed. 

With regard to the office of county judge, article 1052, 

Code of Criminal Procedure, provides for a fee to be paid to 

the county judge "for each criminal action tried and finally 

disposed of before him," but such fee is a cost payable by 

the county rather than by the defendant. Since no statute 

authorizes a county clerk to collect from a defendant in a 

criminal case any fee for the office of county judge, it is 

our opinion that no such fee may be assessed. 

p. 3444 
I . 

The Honorable Emory C. Walton - page 6 (H-815) 

S U.MMARY 

Misdemeanor cases in Eastland County should 

be filed in the county court only in those 

instances in which the county attorney reasonably 

believes that the defendant will enter a guilty 

plea. All other misdemeanors should be filed 

in the district court. The district and county 

clerks should collect the fees normally applicable to their respective offices in each case 

originally filed in the respective courts. 

/-yery truly yours, 

Attorney General of Texas 

APPROVED: 

DAVID M. KENDALL, First Assistant 

Opinion Committee 

jwb 

p. 3445