The Attorney General of Texas 

May 7, 1979 

MARK WHITE 

Attorney General 

Honorable.Bob Armstrong 

CommisMoner 

General Land Office 

Austin, Texas 78701 

Opinion No. Ri+18 

Re: Whether land devised to the 

state by will is part of the 

Permanent School Fund. 

Dear Commissioner Armstrong: 

You ask whether land devised to the State of Texas under an 

individual’s will becomes a part of the Permanent School Fund of Texas. 

You state that, under the terms of the will, the state is the recipient of a 

309.17 acre tract of land in Travis County. 

It is well established that, in the absence of any statutory or 

constitutional prohibition, the State ‘of Texas may receive property by 

devise. Y Conle v. Da 156 S.W. 197, 200 (Tex. 1913). 

See Gpinkm of the Justices, 251 A.2d 330 (N.H. 1969). We have discovered no 

constitutional or statutory provision which precludes acceptance of the 

bequest, nor which provides for its specific disposition. Neither was the 

bequest made to a specific state agency nor directed to a specific purpose. 

Beginning as early as 1699 ~the Jegislature has, however, consistently 

demonstrated its clear intent that all state lands not designated to a specific 

agency should become a part of the Permanent School Fund. The successor 

to the 1699 statute declares: 

(a) The permanent school fund, which shall 

constitute a perpetual endowment for the public 

free schools of this state, shsll consist of: 

. . . . 

(2) AR the unappropriated public domain 

remaining in Texas, including all land 

recovered by the state & suit or - 

otherwise.. . . 

p. '51 
. . 

Honorable Bob Armstrong - Page Two (~~-18) 

Education Code S 15.01 (emphasii added). In the Coastal Public Lands Management Act of 

1973, the legislature provided for the disposition of certain kinds of gifts of interests in 

land: 

(a) The [School Land1 board may accept gifts of interests in land, 

and these interests shall become part of the permanent school 

fund unless otherwise designated by the grantor. 

(b) At the discretion of the board, the land may be managed as if 

it were coastal public land within the meanifig of this 

chapter. 

Nat. Res. Code S 33.057. Likewise, article 3281, V.T.C.S., indicates a similar intent with 

regsrd to escheated lands: 

All lands heretofore or hereafter escheated to the State of Texas 

by provisions of this Title are hereby dedicated, appropriated and 

set apart to the Permanent Free School Fund of the State of 

Texas. . . . 

We believe that, considered together, these statutes furnish ample evidence of a 

consistent state policy that lands not designated to a specific agency should be deemed to 

belong to the Permanent School Fund. Accordingly, it is our opinion that land devised to 

the State of Texas under the terms of’an individual’s will becomes a part of the Permanent 

School Fund of Texas. ,. 

SUMMARY 

Land devised to the State of Texas under the terms of an 

individual’s will and not designated to a particular use becomes a 

part of the Permanent School Fund of Texas. 

-MARK WHITE 

Attorney General of Texas 

JOHN W. FAINTER, JR. 

First Assistant Attorney General 

TED L. HARTLEY 

Executive Assistant Attorney General 

Prepared by Milton Richardson 

and Rick Gilpin 

Assistant Attorneys General 

p. 52 
Honorable Bob Armstrong - Page Three (MW-18) 

APPROVED: 

OPINION COMMITTEE 

C. Robert Heath, Chairman 

David B. Brooks 

Rick Gilpin 

William G Reid 

Milton Richardson 

Bruce Youngblood 

p. 53