GERALD C. MANN AURTXN XX. T&XAS 

Hon. Thomas L. Blanton, Jr. 

County Attorney 

Shackelford County 

Albany, Texas 

Dear Sir: 

Opinion No. O-2651 

Rer Application of the 

chauffeur’s license law in 

connect ion with Railroad 

Commission driver's license. 

We are in receipt of your letters of recent date 

requesting our opinion whether the owner of a cattle truck, 

registered far loads of 7,000 pounds, who has had a Railroad 

Commission permit which has expired, should now be prosecuted for operating a motor vehicle without having obtained 

a chauffeur’s license. 

Reference is herein made to several statutory enactments passed by the Legislature and effective since the 

last codification of our laws. Therefore, for the sake of 

brevity and clarity, the various statutes from wtiich we quote 

are numbered as shown in Vernon’s Annotated Texas Statutes. 

Article 6687a, Civil Statutes~, in paragraph (.g) aefines a chauffeur: 

” (g) Chauffeur. Any person who operates a 

motor vehicle for any purpose, whole or part time, 

as an employee, servant, agent, or independent &ontractor, whether paid in salary or commission; and 

every person who operates a motor vehicle while 

such vehicle is in use for hire or lease.” 

Section 2 of said Article 6687a provides that no 

person shall drive any motor vehicle upon a highway in this 

state unless such person has been licensed either as an oper-~ 

ator or chauffeur, “except those expressly exempt ,under this 

act .I’ 

Section 3. of the same article provides a number of 

exceptions, and paragraph (c) reads as follows: 

l’(c) Drivers of commercial motor vehicles 

operating under, the jurisdiction of the Railroad 

Commission of Texas who are required to have a 

driver’s license issued by that department, shall 
Hon. Thomas L. Blanton, Jr., page 2 (O-2651) 

not be required to secure a chauffeur’s or operator’s license under the terms of this Act for 

the operation of such vehicles, but such persons 

shall be amenable to the other provisions of 

this law Incident to the cancellation of chauffeur’s or operator’s licenses.” 

The Texas Motor Carrier Act, Article 911b, requires 

certain motor carriers operated for compensation or hire to 

comply with its provisions, and the motor carrier must procure 

either a certificate of convenience and necessity, if a ccmmon 

carrier 

Commiss I 

or a permit, if a contract carrier, from the Raflroad 

on of Texas. The term “‘motor carrfer” is defined in 

paragraph (g) of Section 1 of Article 911b, as follcws: 

“(g) The term ‘motor carrier means any person, 

firm, corporation, company, co-partnership, association or joint stock association, and their lessees, 

receivers or trustees appointed by any court whatsoever, owning, controlling, managing, operating or 

causing to be operated any motor propelled vehicle 

used in transporting property for compensation or 

hire over any public highway in this state, where in 

the course of such transportation a highway between 

two or more incorporated cities, towns or villages 

is traversed; provided that the term ‘motor earrierl 

as used in this Act shall not include, and this act 

shall not apply to motor vehicles operated exclusively 

within the incorporated limits of cities or towns.” 

Paragraph (b), Section 4 of Article 911b, requires 

the driver’s license referred to in paragraph (c) of Sectfon 

3 of Article 6687a, supra. We quoter 

l’(b) The Commission is hereby vested with power 

and authority and it is hereby made its duty to require that each driver of a motor propelled vehicle owned or operated by a motor carrier under the provisions 

of this Act shall have a driver’s license, which license shall be issued by the Commission pursuant to an 

examination testing the ability and fitness of the 

applicant and under such rules and regulations as the 

commission may prescribe; provided that every drLver 

aforesaid shall acquire a driver’s license within 

thirty (30) days after this Act takes effect and shall 

annually thereafter on or before the anniversary of 

the date of the original license acquire a renewal 

thereof. Such license issued shall be for a term of 

one year. The commission Is empowered further to issue 
_ .- - 

Hon. Thomas L. Blanton, Jr., page 3 (C-2651) 

temporary licenses, in case of emergency, for such 

term as the commission may deem ex edient; provided 

such term shall not exceed ten (10 P days and there 

shall be no right or privilege of renewal thereof. 

The Commission is hereby authorized to collect a fee 

of One Dollar ($l*OO) for each annual license fee or 

renewal. The Commission may suspend or revoke any 

such license for cause after notice and public hearQx* It shall be unlawful for any motor carrier to 

operate a motor propelled vehicle in this state unless such vehicle is operated by a driver holding an 

unrevoked and uncanceled license issued by the Commission.11 

In order to answer your question it is necessary that 

we construe the meaning of paragraph (c) of Section 3 of Article 6687a, supra, in the light of the other statutes involved 

and which we have set out herein. It will be noted the exemp- 

:ion applies to drdvers of commercial motor vehicles operating 

ylder the .lurlsdiction of tb Railroad Commission” etc. 

Obviously, the fact that a vehicle had been operated 

under a Railroad Commission permit would not justify, within 

itself, the conclusion that it should continue to be used as a 

motor carrier. Before the driver% license of the commission 

could be required, the vehicle must be owned or operated by a 

motor carrier. 

pra. > 

(Paragraph (b) of Section 4, Article 911b, suIf we assume, as Intimated in your letters that the vehicle is being operated, in violation of the Motor Carrier Act, 

although it should, under the facts, be operated in compliance 

therewith, and the driver thereof fails and refuses to obtain 

a Railroad Commission driver’s license should he be entitled to 

claim the exemption provided by paragraph (c) of Section 3, 

Article 6687a? Unless the driver Is operating the vehicle as 

a motor carrier, clearly he would not be entitled to the exemption; and if on the contrary he is operating the motor vehicle 

as an employee, servant, agent or independent contractor, or 

if the vehicle is In use for hire or lease, a chauffeur’s license is required. 

We think the phrase QDder the iurisdicti n of th e 

Railroad CB II in the statute under consideration admlts of the construction that it includes only those peGsons 

operating commercial motor vehicles in conformity with the laws 

authorizing the commission to assume jurisdiction. The phrase 

“under and by virtue of” has been held to mean “by or through 

the authority of. I’ The word %nder’ has the same signification. 

It is also defined ‘Iin subordination to,“’ and “in accordance 

or conformity with.” See Cent.Dict., Webster’s New Int. Diet., 

Bassett v. Wills, 89 Tex. 162, 34 S.W. 93* 
Hon. Thomas L. Blanton, Jr., page 4 (0-2651) 

As to the meaning of “jurisdiction” 

Corpus Juris (35 C.J. 426)s 

we quote from 

“Jurisdiction, derived from ‘Jus dicere’ or 

ljus aiO0,' is a term in general use9 of comprehensive and large import. The term has different meanings, dependent upon the connection in 

which it Is found and the subject matter to which 

it is directed. But it is often used without 

any determinate signification. It is generally 

defined as the authority or power which a man 

has to do justice in causes of complaint brought 

before him; the power and authority to declare 

the law. As applied to a sovereign, either state 

or nation, jurisdiction signifies the authority 

to make, declare, and execute laws; the right 

to apply the law to acts of persons. Jurisdiction always emanates directly and immediately 

from the law; it is a Power which nobody uponwbom 

the law has not conferred it can exercise0 I 

See also Withers v. Patterson, 27 Tex. 491, 86 Am. 

D. 643; Commonwealth v. Breakwater Co., 214 Mass. 10, 100 N&i. 

1034. 

Under the foregoing authorities, the operation in 

question is not “under the jurisdiction of the Railroad Commission” :although same may be “subject to” its jurisdiction. It 

is, therefore, 

graph (4 9 

our opinion that the exemption set up in paraSection 3 of Article 6687a is not applicable and 

prosecution will lie under the facts submitted by you, for failure to comply with the chauffeur’s license law. 

Your first letter gave us the impression that your 

question was whether a person should be required to obtain a 

chauffeur’s license where he used his own truck to haul property owned by him, Such question was fully answered in the 

opinion heretofore sent to you. 

APPROVED AUG 30, 1940 

/s/ Grover Sellers 

FIRST ASSISTANT ATTORNEY 

GENERAL 

Yours very truly 

ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS 

By /s/ Benjamin Woodal. 

Benjamin Woodall, Assistant 

APPROVED: OPINION COMMITTEE 

BY: BWB, CHAIRMAN 

BWr ob sub