E ENElRAI. 

F TEXAS 

Honorable Byron L. McClellan opinion No. WW-1446 

District Attorney 

52nd Judicial District Re: Whether a retired district 

Box 46 judge as defined by Section 

Gatesville, Texas 5a, Article 200a of Vernon's 

Civil Statutes, as amended, 

is entitled to receive the 

per diem allowance -authorized 

in Section 2a (4) of said 

Dear Mr. McClellan: Article 200a. 

This opinion is supplementary to our opinion No. WW1422, dated August 24, 1962, wherein we held that a retired 

district judge Is entitled to the per diem allowance' provided 

for in the 1961 amendment to the Administrative Judicial Districts 

Act, Article 200a, Vernon's Civil Statutes, 

Your most recent question concerns the correctness of 

that part of the opinion that, in order to qualify for the per 

diem, the judge must have been assigned to hold court "outside 

the district and out of the county" wherein he resides. More 

specifically, must the retired judge go outside his "district" 

as well as his county in order to qualify. 

Having determined that Section 2a (4) of the Act is 

for the benefit of both "retired" and "active" judges, then the 

circumstances under which per diem is allowed, as set forth in 

the Section, apply equally to both classes of judges. 

As we so stated in our first opinion, a retired judge 

has no "district" but for the reasons stated therein, we held 

that his place of'resldence determines both his county and his 

"district' for the purposes of the Act, 

In order to receive the per diem{ Section 2a (4) says 

the judges must be required to hold court '. . .outslde their 

own districts and out of their owns counties. . .' Two clearly 

definable geographical areas are mentioned, to wit: a district 

and a county, joined by the word "and." Thus, the Legislature 

in defining the circumstances of the grant has specified two 

conditions and used the conjunctive "and" requiring a simultaneous 

existance of the two conditions.. 
Hon. Byron L. McClellan, p a g e 2 (~~-1446) 

We find nothing ambiguous in that portion of the 

statute quoted above. It seems clear that the Legislature 

intended for the judge to be serving both outside his county 

and outside his district in order to receive the additional 

per diem allowance. Where the language of a statute is unambiguous, and the meaning is clear, the statute must be accorded 

the effect of Its terms. Generally, the word "and" used in a 

conjunctive sense is never Interchangeable with the word "or" 

used in the disjunctive sense. 

For an almost Identical situation wherein the Texas 

Supreme Court ruled on the use of the words "and" and "or", see 

Board of Insurance Commissioners v. Guardian Life Ins.Co., 142 

?ex. b30, 160 S.W.2d VOb (1944). 

SUMMARY 

A retired district judge, as defined In Section 

5a, of Article 200a, Vernon's Civil Statutes, who, 

under the provisions of said Article Is required to 

hold court outside the district, and out of the county 

wherein he resides, Is entitled to the per diem allowance as provided in Section 2a (4) of said Article. 

Very truly yours, 

WILL WILSON 

Attorney General of Texas 

1 A 

SJ:mkh 

APPROVED: 

OPINION COMMITTEE 

W. V. Geppert,.Chairman 

Morgan Nesbitt 

Frank Booth 

Charles Lind 

By: 

Assistant 

REVIEWED FOR THE ATTORNEY GENERAL 

BY: Leonard Passmore