OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS 

AUSTIN 

Hon. Chaa. 8. Martin 

Oounty kudttor 

zalTfeton county 

Yarllll&11, 70~8 

Ilarah 6, 1939 
Hon. ahas. B. &tax-tin, Yarah 6, 1939, Page 8 

as follows: 

*seotion 4. This aot shall ba In roraa 

and efiaat for a period of two years from and 

arter the date of Its aneotmsnt.a 

wSaotIon 4a. Provides that the prorIeIone 

of this aat shall apply to aountlas with a 

population of not lass than 49,900 end not@ore +kx~+N 

48,915 and oountiae with a population of i&t 

lees than 10,570 and not more than 10,380, aaoordlng to the last preoedlng Federal aenaue.m 

Seation 1 or Artlela 9S79s-1 reads as rollowe 

Vha Ooqjty C@maieeIonerl~ Oourta and 

the Ulti Wmmi~eloa df any Inowporated tow 

within eaid Oouaty oi this Strta ara hereby 

authorlnrad to leaee or rent ofifae epaae for 

the purpose of aidin& end oooperating with 

tha agenolce of the Stats l nU Faders1 Governments an$agad In the administration or relief 

of tho unuplo9ad and needy paopla of the 

8tate ot Texas, and to @a~ the regular monthly 

utIlIt)r bills for l uoh ofiIae8, euah'as llghte, 

gas end watert an& when In the opinion of a 

majority of the OoamWilo~. Court of a 

,oqunt~ l uoh ofiloi epqoc, is o&eenti81 to the 

prop el r drlaletntlaa'o? eoah yanalee or 

either the 8tate or fedwal @owrnmente, l eid 

t?ourte am heroby 8peolilrally authorIced tQ 

&my ror same end for the rqular monthly atlfity bills for euah o?tIoo# out of the Oounty*e 

9eaeral Fund by warreat as in the paymeat of 

Other obligations oi the Oounty. The provil ion8 ot this Aot l h8ll apply to oountime hwing e population o? not Ire8 than forty-sI$ht 

thouautd nIna hundred and not mora than fortynine thousand aaoordlng to tha laet praasdlng 

Fsdozal CenSuS.” 

MOe+4lng t@ tine aat ~odanl QeneY6, mrrleell 

Oounty had a pcipuletion of 4S,9bt, thee falling tithb~ 

the tons8 and provisions Orz AHIolae BMlb-89 and SST%r-1 

aad baI* the only ootwty in the State aomlng within the 
Hon. Chae. R. Martin, Usroh 6, 1939, Page 3 

population brackets sat forth In the sbovemsntionsd etatutee sxoept whsreln the last alaese of SeatIon 4a, ArtI; 

010 522lb-83, eupra, provides that: 

"In aountiee with a population of not 

lees than 10,370 and not more thsn lO,JBO, 

aaaordlng to the last preast¶Ing Fedsral asnsue.* 

We are shown by the last Federal oeneue, &&on 

County had a population of 10,571 Inhabitants, being the 

only aounty in the Stats coming within the population 

braakst est. out In the last olauee of Ssatlon 4s. Artlale 

bl?Zlb-83. 

We bslisve that Ar&Iols SMlb-23 deelgnatse by 

dseorIptIon Harrison and Uax+on Countlse, whioh In just as 

sifeatlrs had suah oountiee bssn epeaItIaally raentlonod 

by name In the etatnte and that the application of this 

aot Is so Inilexibly flxod ae to prevent It ever beins 

3 appllqabls to other oountlee, the same being true with 

refsrsaae to Artlola 8578s~1 Insofar as It ap Pf led only 

to EIsrrIeon County at the tima It went Into ef~sot. 

SootIon $5, Art1010 3 of the State Constitution 

reads In pert ee hollower 

%m Leglelatu.rshall not, exaspt as 

otherwles prorId@ In this OonetI+utIon, pa58 

any loaal or l paoIal laws, suthorltlng.... 

rsgulatlng the affairs of oountlee, alt,Ise, 

towm, wards or eohool dletrIate....and in 

all othsr aaeee where e gmnoral law oan k 

medo npplloable, no looal or epeoial law shell 

bs oaaoted; prwldsd, that nothIng.hersin oontalned shall be oonetruod to prohibit the 

Leglelatruo from peealhg l peaiel lawe Sor the 

prreervation of (c(old and rieh of this State 

in oertaln 100a11t1s*~* 

In the aaee, Ora9 vs. Taylor, eE7 0. 81 $1, the 

Suprsms Court of ths United Stats8 defined a loaal law aet 

-ho phraes 'loaal law' moans prImmIlT, 

at least, e lew In faot, If not In form, Is 

dlraoted only to a l p eo lilepotrm a 

I- 
Hon. Chas. R. Martin, &m-ah 6. 1939, Pago 4 

The aase, City o? Fort Worth vs. Bobbitt, S6 

S+? (2nd) 470, holds among other things, that: 

*An aat applloable to oOuutIe8 having a 

population Of fran 3!5 190 to 35,EOO was sraeIn 

and clpeolal, oltlng &eon te. Buraon, 64 Ohio 

State 4701 Owen OOunty CommIeeIouere vs. 8panelar, 159 Ind. 575, and that an act authorisIng 

bonds by aItIse having between 106,000 and 

llOoOOO InhabItante by 1920 OOIISUB bslng a plloable only to one alty hold looal law with P n 

oonstItutIonal provIsIon.W Con8tItutIon Artlale 3, Seation 56. 

The aaeo, Bsrar Ootmty vs. Tyman et al, 97 81 

(2nd) 567, holds In effsat, that: 

*Courts In determining whether law Is 

public, general, spoolal or looal ~111 look 

to Its eubetanoo and praotlaal operation 

rather than to Its title, form, phraseology 

ulnae otherwise prohibition and fundamental 

law ~ainet epoolal legislation would ba 

nugatory. The Laglelatura may olaesffy 

aountlae on basis o? population for purpoaa 

o? fixin oomp6meatlon o? oounty and preolnet 

oiifoere but alaesl?laatIoa must bo'baeed . 

on real dIetlnotion and must not bs arbltrarIly deolsod to gI+o what ia, In eubetanao, a 

looal or l peolal law tha form o? goneral law. 

Aote rodualng ealarise of offiasre In soumties o? eOO,Of?O and loos than 310,OOO populatlon hold uureasonablo and arbitrary In its 

sleseIfIoatlon and void as a epoolal law.' 

'We balleva that whether the aats in question an 

to ba regarded as epaoial and whothir their operation is 

uniform throughout the &tate depends upon whether the population afiords a fair baeIe for the ol.aeai?iaatioa Of nounties with reraronoo to matter8 to whloh they relate and 

whether the rasult they aaoolPplleh Is in fast a real ala8si- 

?IatIoa upon that basis and not a daelgnatlon of a SIP&&la 

aounty to whioh clone they #hall apply under the gufeo of 
. 5 

=, 

Hon. Chas. R. Martin, Maroh 6, 1939, Page S 

suoh olassIfIoatIon. The laws In question ware so dram 

that they are general In tora but In faot only applied, at 

the tI5e they Went intO emat, t0 &ZTiSOn COUUty rith 

the l xaeptloa above stated relatlre to Mardoa County. 

You further inquire, If any ol the abovomentloned atatqtes ara unoonstltutlonal, la the CommIa~Ionera~ 

Court authorlsed and IS It mandatory on It to oolleot and 

reoorer tram the wulour persons the amounts of funda 

paid to them under and by virtue of the abwe q&f#d l tatutec4, 

The oaee, Ekmsums va. Botts, S4 Tea. 555, holds 

I 

In effaot that an unoonstItatIotiel l o .tír k g uthe la &ool- sg 

leotioa of debts proteoted alerts of oourts aotlng under 

it. 

The Supreme Oour%of the Dnltad States In tho 

oase of United States ~8~ Realty Ocmpany, 163 0. 8. 489, 

41 U. 5. (X.. Ed.) glb hold knowledge or the InvalIdIt]r 

of aa aot of COngrew ~111 not be Imputed, In adrmeo 

of any authoritative dealaratlon to that effeot, to thosa 

who are aotiag under Its protisloas, so as to praolnde 

them fra having equltIe8 bwed on their relIanae upm 

the aot. 

*An Offleer who, u.thOtrt authority of 

law, oolleots taxes Or moemaire fees aa7 

bo oompellod to nIm?mr # the pacson~ rrom 

whm the mosey was rooo.ved. But Sees paid 

voluntarily and with ia ,l knewledge of the 

faots, though under a m.stake of law, onnaot, 

under settled prlnelple I, be reoovered.* 3 

(S4 Tex. Star. 476g S8 T IX. Jar., 71593 Xlrahfield ts. .rt. Worth Uat.. Bank. 83 Tex. 4Sg, 

18 8E 94Si Oounty of ,& .ve*ton vs. Oorham, 

49 Tex. 879, SOS; Qify of Xourton to. fee8or, 

96 Ter. Bbb, 1S SW 86&I 

You ere n8peotfoll~ adrimed that ft 18 the 

opinion of thle Department that Artiole gWBe-1 and Arti01s bgglb-gS are speolal law8 and, therefore are unoon*tltutlonal snd void and you are rusther advise4 that the 

CommI88Ioner8~ Court I8 not authoriwd te oolleat and 
c 

Hon. Chn8. R. Xartln. Maroh 6, 1939, Page 6 

reamer fund8 from the rarIou8 permon8, the amount8 OS 

funda paid to th8m under and by virtue of the abotementlonml 8ktute8. 

Tru8tIag that the foregOlag mm?w8 your Inquiry, 

we ramin 

Very truly your8 

ATTOlUEY -L OF ‘fl!XAS 

BY L2,64%ewA 

Ardell WIllIars 

A8818tant 

AWrAW 

BBTCLOeRRp 

APPROVsDr 

r. ..,_.,_,