Honorable Doug Crouch Opinion No. W-805 

District Attorney 

Tarrant County Re: Whether conveyances 

Fort Worth, Texas from the Veterans Land 

Board may be filed for 

record without acknowledgment. 

Dear Mr. Crouch: 

You have requested an opinion on whether conveyances 

from the Veterans Land Board, pursuant to Section 17 of Article 

5&21m, V.A.C.S., Acts 1949, 51st Leg., p. 592, Ch. 318, as 

amended Acts 1957, 55th Leg., p. 491, Ch. 238, @ 6, may be 

filed for record without an acknowledgment. 

Section 17 of Article 5421m states In part: 

II .When the entire Indebtedness due 

the S&t; under the contract of sale is paid, 

the Board shall execute a deed under its seal 

to the original purchaser of the land or to 

the last assignee whose assignment has been 

approved by the Board." 

Article 6624, V.A.C.S., states: 

"Letters patent from the State of Texas, 

or any grant from the Government, executed and 

authenticated pursuant to existing law, may be 

recorded, without further acknowledgment or 

proof." 

The purpose of an acknowledgment is stated in 1 Tex. 

Jur.2nd, Acknowledgments, S 2, as follows: 

"Except where acknowledgment is mape a 

prerequisite to an instrument's validity, the 

purpose of acknowledgment is to furnish evidence 
Honorable Doug Crouch, page 2 (WW-805) 

of the identity of the one who executed the 

instrument and the genuineness of his signature . . in order that the instrument may 

be recorded. e . ." 

Thus, Article 6624 allows proof of execution for recording 

purposes to be made by showing that conveyances referred to 

therein have been executed and authenticated pursuant to the law 

under which they were issued in lieu of requiring such proof by 

statutory acknowledgment. 

No Court has construed the meaning of "grant" as used 

in Article 6624,supra. 

"Grant" is defined in Black's Law Dictionary, Fourth 

Edition, as: "A generic term applicable to all transfers of real 

property," and as 

,"An Act evidenced by letter,s patent under 

the great sea$, granting some,thing from the 

King to.a subject.", 

Texas Courts have construed "grant" to mean: "A technical 

term made use of in deeds of conveyances of lands to im ort 

transfer. . . ." w, 84 Tex. 107 (1892 P 

a 

. 

'Under the Constitution and statutes of the Congress of 

the Republic a 'grant' meant a final title or patent.' Giles v. 

Ponder, 275 S.W.2d 509, Tex.Civ.App. (1955), affd. 293 S.W.2d 

736(7956). 

Article 6624, supra, 

the codifiers of 1879. 

was added, in its present form, by 

Commenting on its ori in, the Supreme 

Court in Jones v. Phillips, 59 Tex. 609 (18837, stated: 

'The Article first above quoted Article 

4329, now Article 6624 is found in t e Registry 

-7 

c 

Act of May 12, 1846, Pasch. Dig., Art. 5006) 

as follows: 

"'Each recorder shall record all titles 

issued by the Commissioner of the General 

Land Office presented for record, provided 

such titles or such copies are attested with 

the seal of the General Land Office."' 

The phrase "or any grant from the Government" in Article 

6624, was meant to broaden the definition of the "grant" which 
- - 

Honorable Doug Crouch, page 3 (W-805) 

sometimes equates its meaning with that of "patent", since 

"letters patent" were specifically mentioned. 

While the phrase "grant from the Government" would include conveyances from the Spanish and Mexican Governments which 

were subsequently recognized by treaty and by statutes of the 

Republic and State of Texas, it is our opinion that the term 

"grant" was not intended in Article 6624 to be restricted to 

original conveyances of land from the sovereign. The use of 

"any grant" makes it evident that the meaning of "grant" was not 

so restricted. 

Deeds by the Veterans' Land Board, a duly constituted 

agency of the State of Texas, pursuant to Article 5421m, supra, 

are conveyances of legal title to land from the government. These 

deeds are authenticated by the seal of the Veterans' Land Board. 

It is therefore our opinion that a conveyance from the 

Veterans' Land Board, when executed and authenticated pursuant 

to Article 5421m, supra, is a "grant" within the meaning of 

Article 6624, supra, and may be recorded without statutory acknowledgment. 

SUMMARY 

Conveyances from the Veterans' Land Board 

may be filed for record without an acknowledgment when executed and authenticated pursuant to 

Section 17 of Article .5421m, V.A.C.S. 

Yours very truly, 

WILL WILSON 

Attorney General of Texas 

JAO:ljb 

APPROVED: 

By %~hN 

Joe A. Osborn 

Assistant 

OPINION COMMITTEE 

W. V. Geppert, Chairman 

Robert A. Rowland 

Dean Davis 

Richard Wells 

Houghton Brownlee 

REVIEWED FOR THE ATTORNEY GENERAL 

BY: Leonard Passmore