## THEATKTORNEY GENERAL
OF TEXAS

HonbPabl&W.A; Davis, State Registrar Texas State Bb&d of Health Austin 2, Texas Dear Sir: Opinion No. 0-6751"' . Re: Questions relative to operatloti under provisions of HouseBill No. $15, enacted bgthe 49th" Legislature as anamendmehtto subdivision 25 of Rule 47a of Article 4477, V.A.C.S. Weare in receipt of your recent request for an oplnlofi of' this d,epartment on the above subject. tions are as follows: Your ques-

"(1) Does this act (House Bill No. 415) apply to the County Clerk? If not, is the County CleFk authorized by law to issue such copies without a court order? "(2) Should the request for such a copy be submitted as a formal petitIon to the court? If so, what fees should be collected in connection wlth~the consideration of the petition andthe issuance of the order? 

### “(3) Maysuch a request be considered and order issued by a court not In sesslon? "(4) Does the term Iacourt of competent jurisdiction' Include the District Court? 

### “(5) Does 'a court of competent jurisdiction1 have authority to issue an order applying to a certificate from a county other than that in which the court is located? 

### “(6) Mayan llleg~timate person, his guardian, or his legal representative secure such a copy without a court order? his ~,7~al~y any other person than an Illegitimatti,

, or legal representative secure such a copy?Honorable W.A. Davis - page 2 

### o-6751

"(8) Whatprocedure mustthe mother of an illegltimate adopt in order to secure a copy of her child’s birth certificate?” Thepertinent part ‘of the statute involved, before Its recent amendment, appeared as follows:

Art. 

### 4477,V.A.C.S.T.

--P.- * - “(25)ana provided that the name of the fa her or any Fnformatlon bywhtch hemight be identified, shall not begwritten into the birth or death certificate of any illegitimate child, and provided further, that any statem’ent the father bf hnllltigitimate child wishes to makeas to its parentage, -Y, whenplaced in the form of an Fifflaavit, be attached to the original birth record. Neither the State Registrar nor any local Registrar shall issue a certified copy of any birth or death certificate wherein a child OP anadult is stated to be Fllegitlmate, unless such certFfied copy is ordered by a court of competent jurisalction.” The 49th Legislature amendedsaid subalvision (25) of Rule 47a of Article 

### 4477,V.A.C.S,T,, supra, by the enactment of HouseBill No. 415 (on page 

### 618,1945, Vernon’s Texas Session LawServLce) which became effective as a law June 

### 18, 1945, the provisions‘of samebeing as follows:

“Chapter 

### 354

“H.B. No. 

### 415

“Anact to amendSection 

### 3of Chapter 4, Acts of the First Called Sessfon, Forty-first Legislature, 1929, (suba,ivision 25 of Rule 47a’of Article 

### 4477,Vernon’s Annotated Civil Statutes) so as to give a Court of competent jurisdiction andthe county court in the county where the birth or death occurred authority to order the County Clerk andthe State Registrar to issue a certified copy of anybirth or death certlficate wherein a child or adult is stated to be illegitimate, andauthorizing the County Clerk to deliver, at the request of said illegitimate person or of their guardian or legal representative, a certifi,ed copy of such certificate; and declaring an emergencye

“BEIT ENACTmBY!tH ELEGISLATURE

OFTHESTATEOFTXKAS “

.Honorable W.A. Davis, page 3 o-6751

('Section 1. That Section 3of Chapter 4, Acts of the First Called Session, Forty-first Legislature, 1929, (subalvi9lon 25 of Rule 47a of Article 4477, Vernon's Annotated CiVll Statut'es) be andthe same is hereby amendedso as to hereafter read as follows: "SectIon 3. That Section 14 df Chapter 41 of the Acts of the Fortieth Legislature; passed at its~'First Called Session, be, andthe sameis hereby amendedby Bdding'thereto SubdIvision 25, which subdivision shall read as follows:



### “I(25) Andprovided that the nameof the father, or"any information bywhich hemight be laentlfied, shall not bewritten into the birth OPdeath certificate of any illegitimate child; and.proviaed;~ further, that any statement thst the father of an Lllegltimate child. wishes to makeas to its parentage, may, whenplaced fn the form of anaffidavit, be attached to the original birth record. Neither the State Registrar nor any local Registrar shall issue a certified copy of anybirth or death certificate, wherein a child or anadult Is stated to be illegitlmate, unless such certified copy Is ordered by the County Court in the county In which said child wasborn or died., or by a Court of competent jurisdiction, or by s&M lllegI.tlmate person or the guardian or legal representative thereof.' "Sec. 2. Thefact that there is confusion as to whether the County Court would have authority to enter an order authorizing the County Clerk or State Registrar to issue certified copies of birth or'aeath certificates of illegltlmate persons, andthe fact that said Illegitimate person cannot get a certificate of its birth upon request, nor can a certificate of death be obtained except upon order of the Court, create an emergency andan imperative public necessity that the Constitutional Rule requiring bills to be read bnthree several days in each House be suspended, and.said Rule is hereby .suspendecI, andthis Act shall take effect from andafter its passage, and it Is so enacted." For reasons hereinafter stated, the only effect of the above amendmentis to authorize the County Court in the county in which the illegitimate child was born or died to order the issuance'of certified copies of birth or death certificates wherein a person is stated to be lllegltlmate, andto prohlblt the issuance of sameby the State Registrar without such order.. Honorable W.A. Davis, page 4 

### O-6751

Under the old law (subaivislon 25of Rule 47a of Art. 

### 4477) wherein Mzthority to order the issuance of instruments of this nature w&3given only to a "court of competent jurisdlctibn", this department held In Opinion No. 

### O,-5103 to the effect that the district courts hadsuch jurisdiction under andby vii+ue of S@ction 

### 8of Art. 

### 5of the Constitution of Texas In that the action involved was one for which jurisdiction is nbt prbvlaed by law. Alsb, ln otir Opinion No. 

### 5103-Aitwas held that a County Court was"not a court of competent jurisaictlon within the meaning of said statute. Now, since the enactment of the above amendmentthe County Court ln'the county fn whlcb the illegitimate 'person wasborn or died has exclusive orIgIna jurltiaiction of'an action to procure the birth or death certificate of such illegitimate person andas jurlsd-ictron is now'provided by law, the district court no longer is a "court of competent jurisdiction" tion. in respect to original jurisdlcSee Opinion No. 

### O-6783,a copy of which has been furnished you.

Sald HouseBill No. 

### 415,supra, is defective insofar as sameby Its title attempts to give the County Clerk authority, under circumstances thereln set out, to issue such birth or death certificates, for the reason that nomention Is mad@ ih the body of the bill of the County ClePk. However, the fact that the title of said bill Is broader than the body does not render the bill void as to the provislons contained therein which were also contained In the title. See 39Tex. Jur. 99. But wedeemit unnecessary that any such authority be given the County Clerk to Issue certifies copies of anyrecord contalned in his office as the County Clerk has hadsuch authorFty since the creation of his office, given by general law. Webelieve this view is amply sustained by our Opiniotis Nos. 

### o-1386anaO-3775. Thetitle of said House Bill 

### 415also states amongother things that such bill Is to give the' county court authority to order the State Registrar ?.o issue a certified copy of anybirth or death certificate wherein a child or adult is stated to be illegitimate", but does not Include anyauthority for the State Registrar without acourt order to issue such certified copies at the request of the illegitimate person or his guardian or legal representative, It follows then that the provision in the body of said Bill purporting to give said State Registrar power to issue such certified copies wlthout a court order at the request of the illegitimate person or his guardian or legal representative Is Invalid and of no force 

### endeffect, It also follows that the provision in the body of such Bill purporting to give "any local Registrar" such authority Is also Invalid as same is not contained in the title of said Bill. 39Tex. Jur. 100-101.Honorable W.A. Davis - page 5 o-6751

Therefore, each of the following paragraphs answer the correspondingly numberedquestions submitted byyou.

(1) Said House Bill No. 415 confers no power on the County Clerk, neither does it restrict himin'any wayfrom issuing certified copies of records contained in his office. (2) Thefiling of a petition Is the general way in which anaction for judgment i.scommencedin the County Court. See Tex. Jur. 684. We believe this the proper method to pursue whenseeking to obtain said order. Thesamefees should be collected as provided by statute for other similar civil suits filed in such court. (3) It Is ageneral rule that, in the absence'of somelaw permitting court action at another time'; all judicial proceedings should be conducted during a termwhile the court'is in session, There is no law permitting this action to be held In vacation by the County Court, 11Tex. Jur. 800. (4) No, this Is fully explained herelnbefore. (5) There is no court of competent jurisdiction in these matters other than the county court of the county In which the Illegitimate person in question wasborn or died. Such county court maydirect its order to the county clerk of the county in which such illegitimate person wasborn 

### ordied,or to the State Registrar in Travis County, Texas,

(6) No, if It is assumedyou meansecuring a copy of the birth or death certificate of an illegitimate person from the State Registrar. (7) Not without an order of the County Court of the county in which the illegitimate person wasborn or 

### died. ReglL!iar' n order to obtain such copy from the State

, she must obtain a court order as explained in our answer to question No. 2 herein, Ofthe opinions referred to herein, No. O-3775 wasaddressed to you; a copy of No, O-6783 has been sent you; andwe herewith enclose copies of Nos. O-1386, O-5103 and0-5103-A.Honorable W.A. Davis - page 6 o-6751

Yours very truly ATTORNEYGENERAL

OFTIUCAS

BYRobert~'L. Lattimore, Jr., Assistant RLL:zd/jd/wc Encl.

APPROVED

NOV.8, 1945 s/Carlos C. Ashley FIRSTASSISTANT ATTORNEY

GENERAL APPROVED

Opinion Committee byBWBChairman