&norable Fred Erlisman 

Cr:ninal District Atiprnsy 

Gregg COUnty 

poo~v~evr, Texas 

I)e6r KrP Erisman: 

.c\ . 

Opinion.No, OCl.560 

Whether the,E&&&done*s~ Court 

What persons 

meaning of *the 

s used in Arti~cle 

ivil Statutes? 

iole 6228 of 

is the Comto arbitrarily 

ssistanco where 

been a full oompliance with the 

ts set forth in said article? 

ns cow wit& the meaning of 

n Article 2351 

evioed Civil Statutes?" 

The material portions of Article '622S, Revised Civil 

Ststutes, 1925, as amended by the Acts of 1931, 42nd Leg*, 

c&L 256;‘provideo: 
Ilonorable Fred Erisman, Page.2 

"Any widow who is the mother of a child or 

children under sixteen years of age, and who is 

unable. to support them and maintain her home, may 

present to the Commissioners* Court of the county 

whe'roln she has .rc.siaed. for -the preceding two 

years a sworn petition for aid shOv;ing: 

Virst: - Her.name, time and place of her 

marriage, date of the death of her husband, or 

date of his confinement in the penitentiary or 

in an insane asylum, or date of his abandonment 

of her; nemes, sex, and the dates and places of 

their birtho. 

"Second: -Her length of residence in the 

State, her present residence, and her residence 

during each of the previous five years, 

WThira: -All the prop-zty belonging to her 

and to each of her children, including any furure 

or contingent interest she or any of them may 

have, 

"Fourth: -The efforts made.by her to support her children. 

!'Fifth: -The name,.relationship; and address 

of each of'her husbands relatives that may be 

known. 

!3y 'widow', as used herein, means a mother 

who is widowed by death or divorce, or whose husband has abandoned her for more than two preceding years, or whose husband is confined in the 

penitentiary or in a State Hospital for the insane. 

"A copy of said petition and a notice of the 

time and place it will be presented to said Court 

shall be served on or mailed to the County Judge 

Of said county at least five days before the time 

the court shall be requested in said petition to 

hear the same0 When service is complete said 

Court shall examine under oath those who desire to 

be heard, and may subpoena witnesses; or the Court 

or the Court may refer said matter to a Commissioner 

to be appointed by it to hear said witnesses. Such 
Eonorable Fred Erisman, Page 5 

commissioner shall make a report to the Court 

stating the facts as proven before him0 It 

the Court concludes tint unless relief is 

granted the widow will be unable to properly 

'support and educate herchildren, and that.thoy 

may become a public' charge, it may make an order directing a monthly payment to her, out of 

the County Fun(ls, for the support of such children, not more than Fifteen ($15.00) Dollars for 

one child, and Six (&,OO) Dollars additional 

for each other ohild, Such alloviance shall be 

discontinued as to any such child who reaches 

the age of sixteen0 The Court shall have the 

right to refuse any such petition, and its action in so doing shall be final, The Court 

shall see that any widow receiving such aid is 

properly.caring for hex children0 Vhen ,it is 

fount3 t&t she is not properly caring for her 

children, or that she is an improper guardian 

for them, or when the Court finds that she no 

longer needs such aid, it shall thereupon revoko at'any time with or without notice any order ma&pursuant to this Article.lf 

It is said in 21 R,C.Lo, p0 701, that: 

Ware of the state for its dependent class& 

es is considered by'all enlightened people as a 

measure of its oivilization, and the care of the 

poor is generally recognized as among the unqU8stioned objeots of public duty, butt in spite 

of this, the duty under the oofpgon law was purely moral and not legal, There is, therefore, no 

legal obligation at common law on any of the instrumentalities of government to furnish relief 

to paupers. The obligation to su port such persons results GiT~Eorn s atu-0 . o 

-A-.~ 

*If 

Our Legislature has, by statute, made it the duty 

ar the Commissioners( Court to provide for the support of 

Nupsrs or look after the welfare of the poor and indigent 

cf the county. (Article 2351, 

N'er and duty, however, 

Revised Civil Statutes), Such 

is not to be confused with the operdtion of the statutes in question0 
Honorable Frea Erisman, Page 4 

AHd.c?le 6228, supra, being a special law, was intended apparently as but a step tovzara advanced social.reform, following in tho wake of many of the states that have. 

enacted what is knovjn as %othersX*l Pension Act, yet this 

statute is msterially different, and it is to be presumed 

tha~t 'the Legislature-intended such statute to fit in and 

blend ivith our constitutional and systematio form of government. 

The sole question confronting us in examining the 

foregoing statute is whether or not the intent of the Legislature is expressed in plain an.i unambiguous.language, and 

whether or not said statute is a permissive one rather than 

.msndato.ry'on the part of the Commissioners' Court. 

"In construing statutes, courts look at the 

language of the vrholo act, and if they find., in 

any partjoular clause an expression not so large 

and extensive in its import as those used in other 

parts of the statute, if, upon a view of the vrhole 

aot they can collect from the more large and extensive expressions- used in the other parts, the 

real intention of the Legislature, it is their 

duty to give effeot to the larger expressions.'V 

$$herland on Statutory Construction, Sec. 245, p. 

0 

Sutherland on Statutory Construotion, Section 460, 

p. 594, further states that the rule that %aytl is to be interpreted as '!.sl~all~r or "must I1 is not by anyneans uniform; 

its application depends upon what appears to be the true intent of the statute. ~See also, Sedgewick on Constitutional 

and Statutory Law; Rains vs. Herring, 68 Tex. 468, 5 S.W. 

369, 

Examining the larger expressions~includecl in the 

language used in the last paragraph of said statute, it will 

bc seen that the Legislature has delegated to the Commissioners1 

Court the power.to conclude upon v;hat conditions and under vrhat 

circumstanoes relief may be granted anil that this court is to 

determine whether or not the widow will be unable to properly 

support and educate her children ann&?%rther fact as to 

vihcther they may'become a pubJ.ic charge. The court is further 

given the right to refuse any such petition, and its action in 

so doing is by the provisions of the Act made final* 
Honorable Fred Erismn, ~Page 5 

That the Le&slature so construed said act to be permissive and not mandatory is aifiOl0sea in section 2 of the 1931 

amendment, containing the emergency clause which reads as follows: 

. 

"The fact that the present lavi as to mothers' 

aia requires a residence of five years before 

hungry, children.can be fed or furnished clothing 

or opportunity for education by aid from the county, 

while no other State requires suoh long residonoe; 

that the Statute is not mandatory, but that this 

amendment vii11 q0ra an opportunity to give aid 

when needed, and will enlarge the needy class of 

children to whom aid can legally be given, and, 

will give to some vridoxed mothers the great privilege of rearing their' children in their own homes, 

creates an emer&ency, and an imperative public 

nec.essity that the Constitutional Rule requiring 

bills to be read on three several days be suspended, and said Rule ishereby suspended, and 

that this Ac't take effect from and after its passage, and it is so enacted.t' 

hit is, therefore, the opinion of this departmentthat 

the.Commissioners' Court, under the provisions of Article 6226, 

Vernonsc 'Revised Civil Statutes, is granted full and oomplete 

authority to pass upon.such applications as duly presented 

thereunder, and such statute being a permissiire one, the court's 

action thereuuder is not subject to review. 

As to your second question,. the term "paupeP is too 

broad and comprehensive as would permit an opinion from this 

department laying down any specific formula for determining 

what persons are or may be included within its meaning, For 

a eencral rule covering same, however, we refer you to 21 

Ruling Case L&r. 4 5, ppO 704.4: 

"The. viords 'pauper' and 'indigent' convey the 

meaning that the person has neither money nor 

estate is without credit and is unable to maintain hbsclf because of ikhility to work or to 

obtain employmen$, and a person who has property 

immediately available for his support is not a 

paupex, and is properly refused public aid as such. 

Rut a person may be a pauper though he has property of his own, if it is not available for his 

inmiediste relief, or is manifestly disproportionate 
z0norabl.e &red Erif.&&, Pa&.6 

to his needs, Though a person.may be poor and 

without property, still if he has credit, -and by 

his own promise to pay, or request, can have his 

condition relieved, he is not a person entitled 

to relief uudt& .the poor laws. The question as 

to the suffici.&ncy of a,mon's property or.aredit 

to take him from tl= pauper class is for the jury2 

'J%ustin&ttd: above answers your request, we are 

.Yours very truly 

ATTOKNM GHU&'AL Ol?' TEXAS 

Assistant 

PfiJRIc:o 

ATTORNEY GELKERAL OF TEX@ 

APPROVED 

.opinion. committee 

BY BWB 

chairman