Honorable Wm. B. Sullivant Opinion No. M-904 

County Attorney 

Cooke County Courthouse Re: Who serves as District 

Gainesville, Texas Attorney of the 16th 

Judicial District, pursuant 

to Senate Bill 906, Acts 

Dear Mr. Sullivant: 62nd Leg., R.S., 1971. 

Your recent letter requesting the opinion of this 

office concerning the referenced matter states, in part, as 

follows: 

"The 62nd Legislature, Regular Session, 1971', 

passed Senate Bill 906, creating the 235th Judicial 

District Court and the office of District Attorney 

for the Court. The District will include Cooke, 

Wise and Jack Counties. The Governor appointed me 

to fill the position of District Attorney for this 

court until November, 1972, when the term of office 

will expire and the office will become elective. A 

problem has come to mind on which I would appreciate 

an Attorney General's Opinion to help clarify matters 

here in Cooke County. 

"It is this: Cooke County is already in the 

16th Judicial District, which District serves both 

Cooke and Denton Counties. The 16th was set up so 

that the County Attorneys of Cooke and Denton Counties 

would serve as District Attorneys of the 16th District 

when the court sits in their respective counties. As 

I read Art. 199-A, Subchapter B, Sec. 2.007, the County 

Attorney in Cooke County shall serve the new court 

created by S.B. 906, 62nd Legislature, Regular Session, 

1971. I do not think this was the intent of S.B. 906. 

If the creating of the office of District Attorney in 

S.B. 906 is to be interpreted as superceding the provisions of Art. 199-A, Subchapter B, Sec. 2.007, please 

advise whether the District Attorney under S.B. 906 

shall serve in the 16th Judicial District or whether 

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Hon. Wm. B. Sullivant, page 2 (M-904) 

the County Attorney shall continue to serve as 

District Attorney in the 16th Judicial District." 

The 16th Judicial District was created by Article 

199(16), Vernon's Civil Statutes. 

Section 2.007 of Article 199a, Vernon's Civil Statutes, 

which is the Judicial Districts Act of 1969, provides as follows: 

"The district attorney (or county attorney 

or criminal district attorney), the sheriff? the 

district clerk, the bailiffs, and other officers 

serving the other district court or courts of the 

county shall serve in their respective capacities 

for the court created by this Act." 

The caption of Senate Bill 906, Acts 62nd Leg. R.S. 

1971, provides, in part, as follows: 

"An Act . . . creating the 235th Judicial 

District . . .; amending the Judicial Districts 

Act of 1969, as amended (Article 199a, Vernon's 

Texas Civil Statutes) . . .; creating the office 

of district attorney of the 235th Judicial District 

I, . . . 

Section 2 of the Act provides as follows: 

"Subchapter C, Judicial Districts Act of 1969 

(Article 199a, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes),is 

amended by adding Section 3.028 to read as follows: 

"'Section 3.028. (a) The 235th Judicial District, 

composed of the Counties of Wise, Jack, and Cooke, is 

hereby created. 

"'(b) The enactment of this amendment shall in 

no way change, alter, diminish, or affect the provisions of Subdivision 16, Article 199, Revised 

Civil Statutes of Texas, 1925, as amended, but is 

in addition to and cumulative of those provisions."' 

Section 4 of the Act provides: 

"(a) The office of district attorney for the 

235th Judicial District is established. The district 

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Hon. Wm. B. Sullivant, page 3 (M-904) 

attorney shall have the powers and duties prescribed 

by law for district attorneys. 

"(b) On the effective date of this Act, the 

Governor shall appoint a district attorney for the 

235th Judicial District who shall serve until the 

general election in 1972 and until his successor is 

elected and has qualified. . . .'I 

Section 8 of the Act provides: 

"All laws and parts of laws in conflict herewith are hereby repealed to the extent of such conflict and in any and all cases of such conflict, 

the provisions of this Act shall prevail." 

A conflict is thus presented by portions of the foregoing statutes. On the one hand, Section 2.007 of Article 199a, 

quoted supra! states, in effect, that the district attorney of 

the 16th Judicial District (who is the County Attorney of Cooke 

County when the 16th Judicial District Court sits in that County) 

shall be also the District Attorney of the 235th Judicial District 

Court created pursuant to Article 199a. 

On the other hand, Section 4 of Senate Bill 906, quoted 

supra, establishes the office of the District Attorney for the 

235th Judicial District, and provides for his independent election, 

with no reference being made to the District Attorney of the 16th 

Judicial District. 

We are of the opinion that the language of Section 8 of 

Senate Bill 906, quoted supra, is controlling in resolving the 

conflict adverted to hereinabove, and that the specific provisions 

of Section 4 of the Act relating to the establishment of the office 

of District Attorney for the 235th Judicial District have impliedly 

repealed the language of Section 2.007 of Article 199a, insofar 

as that language would prohibit the establishment of the separate 

office of District Attorney for the 235th Judicial District. 

The applicable rule of statutory construction has been 

stated as follows: 

"(W)here irreconcilably conflicting acts are 

passed at the same time or where parts or sections 

of the same act are in irreconcilable conflict, the 

act or provision later in position prevails as the 

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Hon. Wm. B. Sullivant, page 4 (M-904) 

latest expression of the legislative will, and repeals the other in so far as there is irreconcilable 

conflict." 53 Tex.Jur.Zd 150, Statutes, Sec. 101. 

See, also, Attorney General's Opinion No. M-472 (1969). 

In discussing the law of implied repeal, the Supreme 

Court of Texas, in State v. Easley,~~,.404 S.W.2d 296 (Tex.Sup. 

1966) stated, at page 300, that: 

"The rule of law applicable is stated in the 

case of Commercial Credit Co., Inc. v. American 

Mfg. Co., et al. (Tex.Civ.App. 1941), 155 S.W.2d 

834, 839, writ refused, as follows: 

"'We are not unaware of the general rule of 

law in this State which holds that repeals by implication are not favored. But as early as Rogers 

v. Watrous, 8 Tex. 62, 58 Am.Dec. 100, and by 

numerous cases on down to recent dates it was 

announced that subsequent statutes revising the 

subject matter of former ones, and evidently intended as a substitute for them, although containing no express words to that effect, must 

operate to repeal those going before. This rule 

was followed by the Commission of Appeals in First 

Nat. Bank v. Lee County Cotton Oil Co., 274 S.W. 

127, where the authorities are collated over a 

period of seventy-five years. See also Meek v. 

Wheeler County, 135 Tex. 454, 125 S.W.2d 331, 

approved by the Supreme Court, 135 Tex. 454, 144 

S.W.2d 885.' See also Gaddis v. Terrell, Land 

Commissioner, 101 Tex. 574, 110 S.W. 429 (1908)." 

In view of the foregoing, we are of the opinion that 

Section 4 of Senate Bill 906 impliedly repeals Section 2.007 of 

Article 199a, insofar as Section 2.007 relates to the office of 

District Attorney of the 235th Judicial District. 

Your questions are, therefore, answered as follows: 

(a) the County Attorney of Cooke County shall serve as the 

District Attorney of the 16th Judicial District Court, when 

that Court sits in Cooke County, and (b) the District Attorney 

of the 235th District Court, created by Senate Bill 906, shall 

serve that Court in all counties in which it sits. 

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. . 

Hon. Wm. B. Sullivant, page 5 (M-904) 

SUMMARY 

Section 4 of Senate Bill 906, Acts 62nd Leg., 

R.S. 1971, impliedly repeals Section 2.007 of 

Article 199a, Vernon's Civil Statutes (the Judicial 

Districts Act of 1969), insofar as Section 2.007 

relates to the office of District Attorney of the 

235th Judicial District. 

The County Attorney of Cooke County shall serve 

as the District Attorney of the 16th Judicial District 

Court, when that Court sits in Cooke County. 

The District Attorney of the 235th Judicial 

District Court, created by said Senate Bill 906, shall 

serve that Court in all in which it sits. 

truly yours, 

f Texas 

Prepared by Austin C. Bray, Jr. I' 

Assistant Attorney General 

APPROVED: 

OPINION COMMITTEE 

Kerns Taylor, Chairman 

W. E. Allen, Co-Chairman 

Sally Phillips 

Wardlow Lane 

Van Thompson, Jr. 

Bill Craig 

MEADE F. GRIFFIN 

Staff Legal Assistant 

ALFRED WALKER 

Executive Assistant 

NOLA WHITE 

First Assistant 

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