: 

EA NEY GENERAL 

OF TEXAS 

AUSTIN 3x1. TEXAS 

Honorable Cecil M. Pruett 

County Attorney 

Hutchlnson County 

Borger, Texas 

June 11, 1962 

Opinion No. WW-1355 

Re: Construction of Article 

157a V.P.C., with 

reference to the use of 

the Great Seal of Texas 

on stationery, mailed 

by a State Offfclal for 

the purpose of campalgnit-g. 

Dear Mr. Pruett: 

You have requested the opinion of this office on the 

folloting question: 

"Would the use of the Great Seal of the State 

of Texas on stationery, mailed by a State 

Offical, for the purpose of campaigning for 

election, be considered advertising, or giving 

publicity to goods, wares, or merchandise, or 

any commercial undertaking, or for any trade 

or commercial purposes, as defined in this 

statute?" 

We answer your question in the negative. 

Section 1 of Chapter 350, Acts of the 54th Legislature, 

which has been codified as Article 157a, V.P.C. reads as 

follows: 

"No person, firm, or corporation, or any agent, 

servant, representative, employee, or receiver, 

of any firm or corporation, shall use any 

facsimile, imitation, label, trademark, design, 

device, Imprint or form of the Great Seal of 

Texas for the purpose of advertising or giving 

publicity to any goods, wares or merchandise or 

any commercial undertaking, or for any trade or 
Honorable Cecil M. Pruett, page 2 Opinion No. WW-1355 

commercial purpose. Any person, whether in his 

individual capacity, or as an officer, agent, 

servant, representative, employee or receiver of 

any corporation, who shall violate this Article 

shall be fined not less than Fifty Dollars ($50) 

nor more than One Hundred Dollars ($lOO), and 

each day of such use shall be a separate offense. 

Provided, however, the reproduction of official 

documents bearing the Great Seal of Texas shall 

not be a violation hereof if such documents are 

reproduced In full and are used for a purpose 

related to the purpose for which said documents 

were issued by the State.lt (Emphasis supplied) 

It is appar;nt that the latter portion of the underlined 

language (i.e., . . . giving publicity to any goods, wares or 

merchandise, or any commercial undertaking, or for any trade 

or commercial purpose") has no application to campaigning for 

election or for political purposes, unless a political campaign 

is included within the meaning of the terms, "'commercial undertaking'? or "trade or commercial purpose." 

It Is a fundamental rule of statutory construction that 

words In common use will be read according to their natural, 

ordinary, and popular meaning, unless a contrary intention Is 

clearly apparent. In particular, words used in a penal statute 

should not be broadened or extended beyond their ordinary 

meaning. 39 Tex. Jur. Sec. 105. In ordinary usage, a 

political campaign has a customary and popular meaning separate 

and apart from the ordinary conception of a commercial undertaking, and had the Legislature Intended the prohibition to 

apply also to political campaigning, it could easily have so 

stated. 

It could be argued that the statute prohibits the use of 

any form of the Great Seal of Texas for the purpose of any type 

of advertising, or In other words that the language of the 

statute reading "for the purpose of advertising" Is not 

modified or limited by the subsequent phrases. It is noted 

that no punctuation separates the word advertising from the 

remainder of the sentence and we think the clear context of 

the sentence, if there be any ambiguity, requires a construction that the words "advertising or giving publicity" 

are used in the conjunctive and not the disjunctive sense 

and that the type advertising in which the use of the Great, 

Seal is prohibited Is described in the remainder of the sentence. 

In this connection, we are aware that the title of the act 

reads in part as follows: 
z - 

Honorable Cecil M. Pruett, page 3 Opinion No. WW-1355 

"An act to regulate the use of the Great 

Seal of Texas so as to nrohibit the use 

thereof for advertisin -or an unoffical 

use except as *iin prov this Act..." 

(Emphasis added) 

While it is true that an act is to be interpreted in 

the full light of its title, the title itself has no enacting 

force and cannot conferpowers not mentioned in the body of 

the act. Red River National Bank vs. Ferguson, 109 Tex. 

287, 206 S.W. 923. Furthermore, the title or caption of 

a bill cannot be controlling as a ainst 

of the act. Salazar vs. State, t 

the plain language 

Grim. R. 529. 

1 9 S.W. 2d 169, 145 Tex. 

Here, the only "unofficial use" of the Great 

Seal which is prohibited in the body of the act relates to 

commercial advertising. Since this Is a criminal statute 

which must be strictly construed, 39 Tex. Jur. Sec. 

we do not believe the language of the statute can be 

146, 

extendedto includethe factual situation set forth in your 

letter. 

Your question is accordingly answered in the negative. 

SUMMARY 

Section 1 of Chapter 350, Acts of the 54th Legislature, 

which has been codified as Article 157a, Vernon's 

Penal Code, does not prohibit the use of the Great Seal 

of Texas on stationery, mailed by a State Official, 

for the purpose of campaigning for election. 

Yours very truly, 

WILL WILSON 

Attorney General of Texas 6 

BY 

Assistant Attorney General 

MN:lp 

APPROVED: 

OPINION COMMITTEE 

W. V. Geppert, Chairman 

Coleman Gay 

Rcbert Patterson 

W. 0. Shultz 

REVIEWED FOR THE ATTORNEY GENERAL 

BY: Houghton Brownlee, Jr.