. April 4, 1950 

PRICE DANIEL ATTORNEY GENeRAI. 

Hon. L. E. King 

County Attorney 

Sabine County 

Hemphlll, Texae 

Opinion Ho. V-1032. 

Re: Validity of the submitted 

Commlsslonersl Court order 

changing the boundaries 

and number of justice preDear Sirr cincts in the County. 

You have requested an opinion relative to the 

validity of the Comissioners~ Court’s order changing 

the boundaries and number of the jus$lce precincts ln 

the County, whloh provides as follows: 

“TRE STATE OF TEXAS 

COUNTYOF SABIRB I It is the order of the 

Sabine County Comuiasicners~ Court that Sabine 

County be redlstrlctetl into ?o\n, 4) Justice 

Precincts Instead of Into eight ( Q ) as It now 

exists. 

“It ia ordered that Preclnet No. 1 as it 

now exists be combined with and lnaltie Precinct No. 7 as it now exists, and thathereafter the Precinct will be called HemphIll 

Precinct No. 1. 

-2- 

“It is the order of the Court that Precinct MO. 2 shall include the now existing 

Precincts 4. 5 and 8; that all of these three 

PrecZncts bi, combined, and that the Geneva 

Precinct IVo. 2 a8 it will be called, shall 

extend co-extensive with the Outer Boundaries 

of each of said old preolncts numbered 4, 5, 

and 8. 

-3- 

"It Is ordereb that the preclnot now 

called IVo. 2, Plneland, shall be miabined 

with Brookeland Precinct Ho. 3 as It now exists, and that the newly formed pealnot 

shall be oalled Plnelyl Precinct Ro. 3. 

“It is ordered that’the old Precinct lo. 

6 boundaries remain the same as orlginallj 

* . 

. * 
Hon. L. E; King, page 2 (V-1032) 

described and that sale Precinct shall hereafter be called Bronson Precinct ??a. 4, 

"IT Is UNDERSTOOD that the legally elected and qualified Justices-of-the-Peace and 

Constable ln each of the four newly numbered 

Justice Precincts shall pemaln In office In 

the Justice Precinct In which they reside until their successors are elected and quallfled. 

"There shall be continuous terms of Court 

in each of said four precincts and the next 

day after return day of service shall be called a regular term of the Court. 

"Done thls 10 day of January, A.D.. 1949" 

Section 18 of Article V of the Constitution of 

Texas provides: 

"Raoh organized county ln the State now 

or hereafter existing, shall be dlvlded from 

time to time, for the convenlenae of the people, Into precincts, not less than four and 

not more than eight, . . . In each such precinct there shall be tiected at each biennial 

election, one justice of the peace and one 

constable, each of whom shall hold his office 

for two years and until hls successor shall 

be elected and qualified; provided that In 

any precinct In uhich there may be a city of 

8000 or more inhabitants, there shall be,, 

elected two justices of ,the peace. . . . 

In construing the above quoted provisions, It 

was held ln Williams v. Castleman, 112 Tex. 193, 2'47 S.X. 

263 (19221, that: 

” 

. . . The Constitution has prescribed 

that the power of determlnlng the number of 

justice precincts, and of dividing the county 

into them, shall be exercised 'from time to 

time,' which means it has a potential rurlstence at all times, and the division, redlvlslon, or redetermlnatlon may be made at any 

time. State.ex rel. Dowlen v. Rlgsby, 17 Tex. 

Clv. App. 171, 43 S.W. 271, 273. In this case 

the question at Issue MS aE to wha,t time the 
Hon. L. E. ging, page 3 (V-1032) 

mmIsslonera~ cqurt had authority to divldo 

or redlvlde a county into justice preclnots. 

On this Issue the Court of Civil Appeals, 

through Justice Williams, who afterwards became Aseoalate Justloe of thls court, aiter 

quoting section 18 o? article 5 of the Constltution, saiai 

“When the comlsslonerst aout was organized, ln pumuance of the Constltutlon and 

the laws passed~thereunder, It possessed all 

powers conferred by both. When the court was 

once established, no leglalatlon was needed 

to enable It to exercise the powers given by 

the above provisions, to divide the oounty 

Into preclnots, The dlrectlcm 18 plain and 

simple, and without condition or restrlbtlon, 

except that as to the number OS precinots. It 

is said that no procedure Is preaorlbed by 

which the power 'la to be exeralsed. I? any 

was neeaea, the statute auppu0a it, when it 

required that the proceedings o? the co& 

should be recorded la Its mlaute book. Rev. 

St. 1895, art. 1554. This was all that was 

necessary. The power to dlvlae the county lnto justlces~ precincts Is also glvsm. by the 

statute, but not ln temns so explicit 8s thoaa 

used ln the Constitution. 

1537. 

Rev. St. 1895, art. 

There can be no doubt that both Constltutlon and statute conier the power, and the 

only question is as to Its extent. It Is contemleathatallmltationupoathe power18 

found in the oonstltutlonal provision rlxlng 

the terms o? oiflce o? preolnut officers, and 

that, since they are to hold for two years, It 

follows that the preolnute oannot be ohangea 

during the terms, beams8 the power to altop 

them would practically emble the oourt to aestroy the o??lce. The language o? the Constltutltm expresses.no such limitation. The dlvlslcu~ Is to be made '?rcm time to tlme.~ The 

reason for the dlvlslon Is to be the convenIonce of the people; and the judge, both as to 

time and convenience, IS the court. The llmItatlon contemled for by appellant would require the insertion In the Constitution o? a 

proviso which the court cannot read Into it. 

The only l.imltatlon imposed serves to indicate 

the mope o? the power. That linitatlon re- 
. . 

Hon. L. E. llingj page 4 (V-1032) 

qu&vs as many as four, and does not allow 

more than eight, preainate. But for It the 

coutlty might have been cut up into as many 

f;m;Sncts as the court saw proper to estabBy It the Intention Is made more maniresi that, within the 1iallts, the oollrt Is 

to determlne the number. As to the time of 

making the dlvlslon, It Is equally plain. 

The language 8rrom time to time, for the oonvenlence of the people,’ aleaply means that 

th0 oonvenlence of the people, as judged by 

the court, shall oontrol In detemlning the 

time when a dlvlslon Is proper. The phrase 

‘from time to time’ repels the Idea .that It 

was the pwpose to fix any particular’ the. 1 It 

In Brown v. Meeks, 96 S.W .2d 839 (Tex. Civ. App. 

1936, error d’iem.), the Court stated: 

“There can be no question aa to the power 0r the comIsslonerst oourt to oreate new 

justioe preoinots, ima tine to time, for the 

ooawenIence OS the people. !I%ie power is glven to the oomnl.ssloners~ oourts by the Constltution of Texas (artlole 5, 8 18) aad by the 

statutes o? this state. , . . 

“It appears that the ooma.tesIonerst 

court, In pnsslng the order of June 1, 1936, 

thought they were aolag a ialr thlng, In that 

they provided that any person who would live 

ln the new precinct a?ter January 1, 1937, 

-~ could become a candidate ln the July primary 

and the November general elections, and that 

.any voter who would live ln the new preoinct 

after January 1, 1937, oould vote at suoh 

primary and general eleatlom, but the result 

0r this order is that, when the new ~reolncte 

come Into exietenoe. al1 nreclnct o?rices 

will be vacant and the oanmlsslonersl court 

will be charned with the duty of fillian the&e 

preoinct offiaes bs amolntment.” (wsle 

add 0 d . ) 

In Opinion V-790 thls office held that the Cmmlssloners~ Court wae authotiaed to abolish exIstIng justice precincts and oreate sew juetlae precincts ccaposed 

of the territories of exIeti.ng preainots which are abol- I ished at any time for the oonvenlenoe o? the people, 
. 

Hon. L. E. King, page 5 (V-1032) 

provided that there must be at least four and not more 

than 01 

ftr 

t justice precincts In the county at all times. 

It was ther held that when such justice preclnots are 

abolished, the offlaes ln the old prealnote become vacant and the officers of the newly created justice precincts must be appointed by the Connnissloners~ Court. 

In view of the foregoing you are advised that 

the Ccmmilssloners~ Court o? Sabine County had the authority to redistrict the justice precincts In the county so 

as to provide that the county would consist of four justice precincts rather than eight regardless of the territory the jultlce precincts now Include. 

We deem It advisable, however, to point out 

that ‘when new precincts come Into existence all.preclnct offices will be vacant and the Coim&?.sIcmers’ 

Court IS charged with the dutq of filllag these precinct offices by appointment. Brown v, Neeks, supra. 

Therefore, when the order In question was passed a vacancy was created ln the precinct offices of SabIne County. It Is noted that the Cdssloners* Court 

provided “that the legally elected and quall?led Justlces-of-the Peace and Conetab~each of the four nevly 

numbered Justice Preolnots shall remain ln office ln the 

Justice R?eclnct in which hey reside until their eucoessors are elected and qua11?1ed.* Since thst portion 

of the order refers to nlegally cleated justices of the 

peace and constables’ It Is our opinion that such an order oould not oonstltute appointments to 1111 the vacancies created by the order. You are th0rid0m further 

L advised that the Co~sslonera~ Court should now fill 

these vacancies by appointment. 

Coaunlsslonerel Courtr have authority to 

abolish existing justloe precincts and create 

new justice precincts at any time for the convenlence of the prople, provided there must 

be at least four and not more than eight justlae precincts in the county at all times. 

When new preclncte &mW Ant0 exlstenae, all 

preclnat offloes become vacant, and the Commlssloners * Court Is c 

-3 

ea with the duty of 

fllllng these meclnot o Ices by appointment. 
~lon. L. E. ping, page 6 (V-1012) 

Tex. Conat., Art. V, BBC. 18. 

Castleman, 112 Tex. 193, 247 S. 

gqgy3$&2,; . 

Brown v. Meeka, 9 S.W.2d 839 (Tsx. Clv. App. 

936, error df8m.f ; opinion No. V-790. 

Yours verg truly, 

APPROVED1 

J. C. Davis, Jr. 

county Affalm Division 

Charles D. Mathsvs 

Executive Assistaat 

JRtmvrbh 

PRIOE MNIEL 

Attommy General 

By @.<-.:! : :,. ,. .A,.:, 

0 J&n Reeves 

Assistant 

.