Honorab&e B. T. Walters

CountyAuditor Smith County Tyler, Texas

Dear Sir: OplnlonHo. O-3670

Re: Commissioners8Court of Smith County has authority to allow county attorney reasonable necessary traveling expenses in attending justice courts of the county.

Your request for tiplnion has been received and carefully ooas%deredby this Department. We quote from your request a8 follows~:

"Pletlse.~advlse the method of crmputlng the aaount_of traveling expenses that may be legally paid the County Attorney of Smith County for attending the Justloe of the Peace Courts in the differentprecincts of Smith County."

Smith County has a population in excess of 20,000 lnhabitants, and its county officersare compensatedupon a salaly basis.

Section (b) of Artlolc 3899,Vernon's Annotated Civil Statutes, reads as follows:

"(b) Each officernamed in this Act, where he receives a salary as compensation for his servlaes, shallbe empowered and permitted to purchase and have charged to his county all reasonable expense8
necessary In the proper and legal conduct of his offloe, premiums on officials1bonds, premium on fire,Hon. B. T. Waltera, page 2 (O-3670)

burglary, theft, robbery insuranceprotecting public fund8 and lncludlng the cost of suretybond8 for his Deputies, such expenses to be passed on, predetermined an allowed in kind and amounts, as nearly aS pOSSlbI0,Q

y the Commlsaloners~Court onoe each month for the ensuingmonth, upon the applicationby each officer, stating the kind, probable amount of expenditure and the neaessity for the expenses of his office for such ensuing month, which application shall, before presentation to Said court, first be endorsed by the CountyAuditor, If any, otherwise the County Treasurer, only as to whether funde are available for payment of such expenses. The Comnilssloners~

Court of the county of the Sher ff's residencemay, upon the nltten and sworn aapllaatlon of the Sheriff stating the necesalty therefor purchase equipment for a bureau of criminal ldentiflcatlon, 8uoh as cameras, fingerprint cards, Inks, chemicals,microscopes, radio and laboratoryequlpment, filing cards, filing cablUOt8,tear gas and other equipment in keeping with the system In use by the Department of Public Safety of this-State,

or the United States Department of Justice and/or Bureau of Criminal Ideutlfloatlon.

"'Such purchases shallbe made by each officer, when allowed, only by requisition inmeaner provided by the CountyAuditor, if any, otherwlscby the Commlss~oners~Court. Each officer shall, at the close of each month of his tenure of office,make an itemized and sworn report of all approved expenses incurredby hlm and charged to his county,accompanying suoh report with invoices covering suchpurchase8 and requlsltlons Issued by hlm in support of such report. If such expenses be incurred in connection with any particular case, such report shall name such case. Such report, invoicesand requlsltlons Shallbe subject to the audit of the County Auditor, if any, otherwiaeby the Commissioners' Court, and if lt appears that any item was not Incurredby such offleer, or that such item was not a necessary
or legal expense of such office, or purchasedupon proper requlsltlon, such item Shallbe by Said County Auditor or court rejected, in which ease the payment of such item may be adjudicated in any court of competent jurisdiction. All such approved claims and accounts shallbe paid from the Officers' Salary Fund utiess otherwiseprovidedherein.Hon. B. T. Walters, page 3 (o-3670)

"The Commlssioners~Court of the county of the Sheriff's residencemay, upon the written and sworn application of such officer, stating the necessity therefor, allow one ormore automobiles to be used by the Sheriff in the discharge of officialbusiness, which, if purchasedby the county shall be bought ln the manner prescribedby law for the purchase of supplies and paid for out of the GeneralFund of the county and they shall be reported and paid in the

samemanner as hereln provided for other expenses.

"Where the automobile or aUtomObil are owned by the Sheriff or his Dsputles, they shallbe allowed four (4#) cent8 for each mile traveled Ln the di8- charge of officialbusiness, whlch~sum shall cover all expense8 of the maintenance, depreciationand operation of such automobile. Such mileage shallbe reported and paid In the samemanner prescribed for other allowable expense8 under the provisiona of this Section. Wo automobile shallbe allowed for
any Deputy Sheriff except those regularly employed in outside work. It shallbe the duty of the County Auditor, if any, otherwise the Commissioners1 Court, to cheak the speedometerreading of each of said automobiles, ownedby the county once each month and to keep a public record thereof;no automobile ownedby the c?ounty shall be used for any private purpose.' i.

We have considered the cases of State vs. Carries,106 S. W. (2d) 397 and Casey vs. State, 289 S. W. 428, whiah construe Section la) of Article 3899,Vernon'sAnnotated Civil Statutes, and hold that the rule of construction 'ejusdemgenerls!$quallflatl the general language (othernecessary expenses)by the antecedent speciallyenumerated items of expense (stationery,stamps, telephone, premiums on officials'bonds, including the cost of suretybonds for his deputies, premiums on fire, burglary, theft, robbery insurance protectingpublic funds, traveling expenses) and reatrlcts and limrts the meaning of the geo@ral language (othernecessary expenses) to expenses of the same kind and class of the above speciallyenumerated items of expense. We have also considered the case of CroSthwait vs. State, 138 S. W. (2d) 1060,whl.chconstruesSection 19 (1) ofArticle 39120,Vernon's Annotated Civil Statutes, and hold8 that the rule of construot$on 'ejusdemgoneris 18 applicable to Said SO&ion. (Said section is in all material respect8 hereto - virtually the same as Section (a) ofArticle 3899.)Eon. B. T. Walters, page 4 (0-3670)

The rule of Construction 'ejusdemgenerls' has been definedby 19 CorpusJuris, page 1255, as follows:

"Liberally 'Ofthe same kind of species.' A well-knownmaxim of construction,to aid In ascertaining the meaning of a statute or other written instrument, the doctrinebeing that, where

an enumeration of specific things is followedby

somemore general word or'phrase, such general 

### word orphrase ~18to be held to refer to things of the same kind."

It is our opinion that the rule of construction 1eju8dem goneris' Is not applicable to Section (b) ofArticle 3899,
Vernon'sAnnotated Clvll Statutes, because the general wordsX "allreasonable expenses necessary ln the proper and legal conduct of his office" do not follow the specificwords "premiums on offlcials~bonds, etc." but on the contrary antecede Said SpeOifiC words. Clearly the rule of aonstructlon 'ejusdem generis ) would not apply to Section (b) ofArtiole 3899, Vernon's Annotated Civil Statutes.

': It is frequentlynecessary ln the proper conduct of his office that the oounty attorney travel from the county seat to the .varlousoutlying justice courts of his county.

It is our opinion that the oomnlssloners I court of Smith County would have authority to allow the county attorney_reasonable necessary travelingexpenses for attending justioe courts of the county. The method of computationof such expenses allowed, if any, would be for the commlssloners~court to determine in their sound discretion.



### APPROVEDJUL 3, 1941 /dy;;;sg;$-

ATTORl'EXG1EiiERAL WJF:H:mjs Very truly yours

ATTORNEY GEKERALOFTEXAS

By /s/Wm. J. Fanning

Wm. J. Fanning Assistant