R-77 

Ausrm. TEXAS 

PRlCE DANIEL 

ATTORSEY ‘ESIERAL 

.March 20, 1947 

Ron.--H~r-Oa~rlson, ~JP;,' Direct& .--__ 

Texas Department of Public Safety 

Driver's License Division 

Camp-Mb-ry ~, 

AustinrTexss Opinion' No. v-91 

Re: Authority of the highway 

,Department to require the 

surrender of driver's license; suffl.ciency of deDear Sir: mend for such license. 

Your opinion requws,t Is as folloWs: 

"A licensee has been finally convict-' 

wd of aggravated assault tipon the person by 

means of a motor vehicle. Section 24 of 

Article 6687b, passed by the Forty-seventh 

Legislature, provides for the automatic suapension of the operator's, commercial. operator's or chauffeur's license upon a final 

conviction of this. offense. 

"Sub-section a, 3ectFon 25, of this 

same Article authorizes the Court in which 

conviction is had to require the surrender 

of all opwretor's, commercial operator's, 

and chauffeur's license then held by the 

person so convicted. 

"Our Quwstlon No. 1 is: Whether or 

not the Texas Department of Public Safety 

has the authority under Section 26 of Article 6687b, to require the licensee to surrender his license certificate when the Court 

of conviction falls to order the surrender of 

the operator's, commercial operator's or chauffeur's license. Question No. 2. Would notlficatlon made throug‘n formal suspension order to 

the licensee by regular U.S. mail constitute 

service under Sectlon 26 and make the llcensww 

subject to the penalty provided in paragraph 4 

of, Section 32, if he falls to comply?" 
. 

Hon. Homer Garrison, Jr. - Page 2, V-91 

The Legislature, in cnwatlng the Department of 

Public Safety, prescribed that it be generally responsible for the enforcement of laws protecting the public 

safety, for the prevention and detection of crime, and 

that it malntaln principal office and headquarters in 

the City of Austin, where all of Its records sholl be 

Sew Title 70 Ch. 5 Vernon's Civil Statutes of 

ggti, and In partidular Akclw 4413. (1). 

The Department's duties are peculiarly deslgnwd end conceived in connection with the enforcement of 

our traffic safety laws of which the driver's llcwnsw 

law is sn important part. The driver's license law, Article 6687b, xontemplates that the Department of PublLc 

Safety shall be generally responsible for the administration and enforcement of its provisions. Elaborate provisions are made for both the qualification of drivers 

and the issuance of evidence of such~qualifications in 

the form of licenses by the Department. The Act obvlously contemplates that the Department effect the withdrawal of licenses from those not entitled thereto and 

the Act should be so construed as to accomplish that 

purpose, whether the licenses were suspended at the 

hearing before the. board or upon an automatic suspwnsion by virtue of a convlctlon of any of the offenses 

enumerated under Section 24 of Article 6687b, V.C.S., 

which embraces aggravated assault upon the person by 

means of e motor vehicle. 

Section 24 of Article 6687b, V.C.S., reads: 

"AUTOMATIC SUSPENSION OF LICENSES. 

(a) The 1lcwnsw of any person shell be 

automatically suspended upon final conviction of .any of the following.offwnsws: 

ii+ 

“5. A convlctlon upon a charge of 

aggravated assault upon the person by means 

of motor vehicle, as provided by lsw. l * *" 

The word "automatic" has been defined by Funk 

and Waqnalls New Standard Dictionary of the English 

language as "acting as an automaton, or from forces inherent or placed within itself; self moving or self rwgulating under necessary law". The Court in Cleveland 

Target Company vs. Empire Target Co., 97 Fed. 44. said: 

'In common psrlance, 'automatic' means self-acting." 
Hon. Homer Garrison, Jr. - Page 3, V-91 

It therefore follows that on a final conviction of aggravated assault upon the person by means of a motor vehicle the license is Immediately suspended under Subsection 5 of Section 24 by force of the law without further act by anyone. 

Section 25 provides: 

"(a) Whenever any person is convicted' 

of any offense for which this Act makes 

automatic the suspwnsfon of the operator's, 

commercial operatorls, or chauffeur's license of such person, the courtln which 

such conviction is had shall requlrw the 

surrender to it of all opwrstors', commercial operators', and chauffeurs' licenses then held by the pwrson~so convicted and the clerk of said court shall 

thereupon forward the same together with 

a record of such conviction to the Depart-: 

mwnt, within ten (10) days from the date of 

the conviction. 

"(b) Every court having jurisdiction 

over offenses committed under this Act, or 

any other Acts of this Ststw regulating the 

operation of motor vehfclws on highways, shall 

forward to the Department a record of the conviction of any person In said court for a violation of any said laws, and may recommend the 

suspension of the operator's, commercial opwratar's, or chauffeur% license of the person so 

convicted, as provided in Section 22 of this 

Act. 

v(c) For the purpose of this Act, the 

term 'conviction' shall mean a final conviction. Also, for the.purpose of this Act/a 

forfeiture of ball or collateral deposited to 

secure a defendant's appearance in court, 

which forfeiture has not been vacated, shall 

be wqulvalent to a conviction. 

"Provided, however, that in case of conviction for any of the offenses enumwrsted in 

paragraph (a) of Section 24 of this Act, and 

the sentence of the court having been suspended as provided in the Statutes, such suspended 

sentence shall not mitigate against the suspension of the operator's,commwrclal operator's 
Hon. Homer Garrison, Jr. - Page 4, V-91 

or chauffeur's license of the person convicted." 

SectIon 25 directs the court to report to 

the Department all convictions of violations ,of all 

laws regulating the operation of motor vehicles on 

the highways. The purpose of these requirements is 

to furnish the foundation for appropriate action by 

the Department. In the Instances where suspension 

is automatic the law recognizes that no further hwaring is required for the procedural "due process of 

law," because the person accused In the criminal action is bound to know, as a matter of law, that an 

automatic suspension of his driver's license ~111 be 

a consequence of his conviction. The right to the 

driver's license Is tried as a part of the same suit. 

The court is directed to Immwdiatwly take up the llcwnsw and the clerk of said court to forward same together with a record of such conviction to the Department'wlthin ten (10) days from the dete of the convlction. It Is incumbent upon the Court to require the 

surrender of the license and the clerk to forward same 

with the record of conviction to the Department. The 

court's failure, however, to require the surrwnd.wr of 

the license does not affect its suspension. 

Section 26 of Article 6687b provides: 

"The Department, upon suspending or 

revoking a license shall requlrw thst such 

license shall be surrendered to and retained by the Department except thst at the end 

of the period of suspension of such license, 

the license so surrendered shall be returned 

to the llcwnsww." 

In our opinlon Section 26 deals only with suspension or revocations by the Depsrtmwnt itself and not 

in cases where the suspending or revoking is brought about automatically by a conviction as enumerated In Swction 24. 

Section 32 of Article 6687b provides: 

"It shall be unlawful for any person 

to commit any of the following acts: l * l 

(4) To fall to refuse to surrender to the 

Department on demand any operator's,commwrclal operator's or chauffeur's license 
.! 

Hon. Homer Garrison, Jr.,'- Page 5, V-91 

which has been suspended, concelled or rwvokwd as provided by lsw. l l *' 

We view this section as the Department's authority to demsnd any operator's, commercial operator's 

or chauffeur's license which has been suspended, wither 

by the Department after hearing or by a final conviction 

upon a charge of aggrsvatwd assault upon the person by 

means of a motor vehicle under Subsection 5 of Section 

24, suprs. 

You are therefore, advised in answer to your 

first question that the Department does not have the 

authority under Section 26 but does have under Section 

32 (4) to require the licensee to surrender his license 

upon a final conviction of aggravated asssult by means 

of a motor vehiclw,.whwrw the court of conviction fails 

to require its surrender. 

It is hour opinion that sny customary form of 

communication written or verbs1 which is made by the 

Department and received by the licensee, that Is calculated to cIwarly inaicate a demand Is made under the 

authority of Section 32 (4) is sufficiwnt. We also think 

that evidence indicating a letter has been so forwarded 

creates w presumption that It has been received by the 

addressee. It should be pointed out In this connection 

that many defenses could be interposed to such a demand 

by mail. !Phe best procedure, therefore,, on which to 

predicate a prosecution for failure or refusal to SUPrender the license to the Department would be to personally serve the licensee with a written demand. 

SUMMARY 

The Department of Public Ssfwty has 

authority under Sec. 32 (4) of Art. 668i’b 

V.C.S., (and not under Section 26 thereof I 

to require the licensee to surrender his 

license upon conviction of the offense of 

aggravated assault upon the person by means 

of motor vehicle where the court fails to 

require surrender of the license. A letter 

by the Department properly sddrwsswd, stamped and deposited in the U.S. mall, dlrected 

to the llcensww, demanding the surrender of 
Hon. Homer Garrison, Jr. - Page 6, V-91 

his suspended license is a sufficient 

"demand" under parsgraph 4 of 3wction 

32 of Article 6687b, V.C.3. if rwcwlvwd by the licensee. 

Yours very truly 

ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS 

BY 

Robert A. Hsli 

Assistant 

RAH/mrj/lh