OFFICE OF THE ATrORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS 

AUSTIN 

Honorable W. A. Davis 

State Registrar of Vital Statistics 

Texas State Board d Health 

Austin, Texas 

Dear Sir: 

upon the followi 

equest for an opinion 

the State Reg- 

, or the State 

to aaa to the 

aiti0m iteas. 

istrar force the medbirth or the person 

se of death to su2rlly 

for in these additional 

ame Article, ws find that Rule 

hat a birth and also a death cerbe filed for a stillborn child 

rate certificates of both the 

he death shall be filed. * Would 

age require these certificates to be 

printed on separate pieces of paper, or would a 

stillbirth cedificate including a certificate of 

birth ad a certifictite of death signed by the 

undertaker, or person who buried the body, and 

the medical attendant who attended the birth, 

and calling for all the informtion set out in 

Rule .&Oa and Rule 47a oomply with the requirements of Rule 39a?R 

~.~ ~~-~~~.---..-..- .---..-I -- ..--.. ^- -.-.- ..~ .__..._ 
Honoreble W. A. Davis, Page 2 

Rule 406 of Article 4.477, Vernon's Annotated 

Civil Statutes, provides that a certificate of death cdntein some twenty-one items %eoessary for the legal, social, 

anI sanitary purposes subserved by registration records." 

They are enumerated in the section. 

four items 

Rule 47s of the same article lists some twentyof information which the certificate of birth 

_ shell contain. 

Article 781a, Vernon's Annotated Criminal Statutes, 

provides, among other things, in respect to a violation of 

provisions as to vital statistics: 

"Thet any person, who for himself or as an 

officer, agent, or employee ol any other perso!, 

or of any corporation or partrx3%ip . . . (a) 

being required by this Act to fill out a certificcat6 of birth or death and file the sane with 

the local registrar, or aem er it, upon request, 

to any person charged with the duty of filing 

the same, shall fail, neglect, or refuse to perform such duty in the manner required by this 

Act . . . shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor 

and upon conviction thereof shell for the first 

offense be fined not less than five dollars ($5.00) 

nor more than fifty dollars ($SO.OO), and for 

each subsequent offense not less than ten dollars 

($10.00) nor more than one hundred dollars I$lOO.OO), 

or be imprisoned in the county jail not more then 

sixty days, or be both fined and Imprisoned." 

Article 781a, as quoted above, would apply to any 

person required to fill out a death or bdrth certificate 

under Rules f,Oa ana .L7a, Article l&77, Vernon's Annotated 

Civil Statutes. 

Article U77, supra, relating to vital statistics, 

is a legisaive exercise of the state's polioe power enacted in the interest of the public health. The Legislature 

has "deemed necessary* ana enumersted certain items of information which every birth and death certificate should 

contain. The violation of these statutory provisions relating to birth and death certificates is punishable by fine 

and imprisonment. Article 781a, Vernon's Annotated Criminal 

statutes. 
Honorable W. A. Davis, Fag6 3 

The authority of the State Health Officer, the 

State Department of Health, and the State Registrar is 

set out in Rules 34a and 35b and other rules, of Article 

4477, sum, and it does not include the power to add additional items to the%irth or death certificates. In the 

absence of au express delegation of this authority to them 

by the Legislature, the State Board of Health, the State 

Health Officer, and the State Registror, a0 not possess it. 

They can only administer the law, e.tId are without legisletive power to augment or add to the requirement of the law. 

Furthermore, since violation of the law is a misdemeanor, 

punishable by fine and imprisonment, the law must be strictly construed and only the exact provisions of the law itself are enforceable. 

It IS our opinion ana you are so advised, that the 

State Health Department, the State Hath Officer, and the 

State Registrar have no authority express or knpliecl to add 

to the items required of death or birth certificates under 

Sections LOa and f+7a, and Article 4477, v=rnon's Annotated 

Civil Statutes, and consequently may not force the aedical 

attendant in case-ef birth or the person who buried the body 

in case of death to supply the information called for in 

additional items. 

Turning to ymr third question, we wish to quote 

the first sentence of Rule 39a of Article J&77, supra: 

"That a stillborn child be registered as 

a birth and also as a death, and separate certificates of both the birth and the death shall be 

filed with the local registrar, in the usual foxm 

and manner, the certificate of birth to contain 

in place of the name of the child, the word 'stillbirth', etc." 

We must assume that the Legislature in using the 

word Wseparate" as an adjective employed it in its ordinary 

and accepted meaning, that is, in the case of tr.ings that 

have not been connected as %nconneoted", "not united or 

assooiatedW, or naistinct.W 

Since the word Wseparate* customarily suggests 

QnconnectedN and "distinct" objects or things, in using 

it in respect to Wcertificate of both the birth and the 

death", we feel that the Legislature had separate pieces 

of paper as well as separate forms in mind. Y3eparaten 

oertificates~are equivalent to Vnconnected" or "distinct* 

certificates which could only mean different sheets of 
Honorable W. 'A. Davis, Page 4 

paper for the two fem. 

It is our o i&n that the requirement of Rule 

39a of Article 4477, &ernon's Annotated Civil Statutes, 

that useperate certificates of both the birth and the deathof a stillborn child be filed with the local registrar 

means separate sheets of paper for separate forms instead 

of one sheet of paper designated %tillbirth certifica~ew 

and containing two forms, one for.birth and one for death. 

Trusting that we have fully answered your.inquiries, 

we are 

Very truly yours 

BY 

DS:L?d 

APPROVED DEC 4, 1939 

GERALDC.XANN 

ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEUS 

Dick Stout 

Assistant 

APPROVED 

OPINION 

CWITrEE~ 

BY B. 7:. B. 

CHAIRMAN