HonorableDoug Crouch OpinionNo. W-805

DistrictAttorney Tarrant County Re: Whether conveyances Fort Worth, Texas from the Veterans Land Board may be filed for recordwithout acknowledgment. Dear Mr. Crouch:

You have requestedan 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 .Whenthe entire Indebtednessdue the S&t; under the contract of sale is paid, the Board shall executea deed under its seal to the originalpurchaser of the land or to the last assigneewhose assignmenthas been approved by the Board." Article 6624, V.A.C.S., states: "Letterspatent from the State of Texas, or any grant from the Government,executed and authenticatedpursuant 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:

"Exceptwhere acknowledgment is mape a prerequisite to an instrument'svalidity, the purpose of acknowledgment is to furnish evidenceHonorableDoug Crouch,page 2 (WW-805)

of the identity of the one who executed the instrumentand the genuineness of his signature
. . in order that the instrumentmay be recorded. e . ." Thus, Article 6624 allows proof of execution for recording purposes to be made by showing that conveyancesreferred to therein have been executed and authenticatedpursuant to the law under which they were issued in lieu of requiring suchproof by statutoryacknowledgment.

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

,"AnAct evidencedby 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 Constitutionand 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:

'TheArticle 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 issuedby the Commissioner of the General Land Officepresented for record,provided such titles or such copies are attested with the seal of the GeneralLand Office."' The phrase "or any grant from the Government" in Article 6624, was meant to broaden the definition of the "grant"which- -

HonorableDoug Crouch,page 

### 3 (W-805)

sometimes equates its meaning with that of "patent", since "letterspatent" were specificallymentioned.

While the phrase "grantfrom the Government"would include conveyancesfrom the Spanish and Mexican Governmentswhich were subsequentlyrecognizedby 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 theVeterans' 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 authenticatedby the seal of the Veterans' Land Board.

It is therefore our opinion that a conveyance from the Veterans' Land Board, when executed and authenticatedpursuant to Article 5421m, supra, is a "grant"within the meaning of Article 

### 6624, supra,and may be recordedwithout statutoryacknowledgment. SUMMARY

Conveyancesfrom the Veterans' Land Board may be filed for recordwithout an acknowledgment when executed and authenticatedpursuant 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 RichardWells Houghton Brownlee REVIEWED FOR THE ATTORNEY GENERAL BY: Leonard Passmore