OFFlCE OF THE AlTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS 

AUSTIN 

HonorabLa W. L. Edwaada 

County At tornay 

vlotorla County 

VIctoris,, Taxaa . 

Dear Sir: : Payment of oountp attornaye 

who act aa distriot’attorneys. 

Tour letter oi Ootober 14, 19i.1, requsstlng the ’ 

opinion OS this department reads In part a8 follows: 

. 

“This letter is writtqn in Counsotion with 

your Opinion No. O-3773, adarsessd to the Hon. 

MO.’ H. Sheppard. m that oplnlon, the aspartment held that Xr. Sartln oou3.U not draw his 

salary aa District Attorney during his absence, 

an8 that thsri was no evallablo appropriation 

for the pafie@ o$ Diatrlct Attorneys pro-turn. 

WI are In-booogd with your apinion on those 

qu8stlnn0,. 

,. 

*I now ask you to oonsider tht quest& 

rzytm the stsndpoltit di County Attornaya, who 

agt In the abaenog of tha District Attornry 

under Artlola 26 (OCP) am Amended, whloh reads 

as fol.lows~r 

*‘Art. 26. J’hr co&Q attorneys shall 

,attand the terms or a11 oourts 1 hi 

-. oountr below tha Rraae. o*~~bl4tirl%i okrt 

and shall remesant the Stat0 Sn all crf& 

‘inal casaa =a02 rxamlnatlon or orossoutfon 

In ea%d oountvl and in ths absence’ of .tha 

dl8trlot attopney hr mhall raDraaent the 

State alone. or when rmxmstrd. shall afd 

Fhe dlstrlot attorney In the proeeoution 

o? any oasa In behalf of the stats in tiia 

&&lot ‘oourt. and in auOh oaaea he ahall 

rroefve all or one-half of the fees allowed 

by law to distrlot attornrye, acoording aa 
Honorable Y. L. Bdwards, Fege 2 

he sotea e10ce or jolntlx. In suoh oases 

, I 11 or one-half of the 

~~s~“~;ln$~eb~l~~ t.0 the dlatrlot sttorney aho~3 dutlaa he perforas, or assists 

in perforsing, but shall r~aiva no Part 

of the CW3titUtiOIVIl 33l3rf 3llOvd to 

such district sttornsg, aOOGrdiPg 0s ha 

acted alone or faintly; provlds4 that fees 

collactoa by the county attorneY from the 

state for such sarvloas shall be deducted 

by the ComptMJller Of FUbliO ,?.CCCUXd fro= 

the faas which othsrwlae would have baa 

psid to the district aftorney had ha feW’+ 

Panted tha State alone; movldad further 

t.h;s artiols shall not be OOn3trued ss inhibitlng any county attorney froa voluntsrily, 

with the Conssnt of ths aistriot ettornws 

casirttin;; the district attorney in the perfor-mnce or 111s respective duties, without 

oon,pans~ t ion. s Ii9anatn STcts 1933, 43rd. 

Leg. ) p . 177 ) ok’. - 83 . ) ’ 

“The question thus prsaentsd as 1 a8.a it ia 

otion of the vord Vseti” a’s to its 

nsalaryn or Qaymr in this 

*It Is Ily ,oontantlon that the word VC~B* in 

this Statute should be oonstrued with rerar¶noa 

to the PurPoW Of the Statutr, whioh in this instanO* *ra* undoubtedly to proola~ ooaren$ation 

for County Attorneys, who lsot In the absence or 

DistrIOt AttOrn6ys, at. ths 9~x6 rate or pay aa 

DIetriot fittOrnsys., and out of the find sat aside 

for ‘the EiStriOt Attornsy. The Legislature un.. 

doubtedb contemplated ttiet at tines ror *oma 

resson the 3ietrlct dt~oruey would be unable to 

act Or ~.w.O~ mad UG8istanoe, and ior that raasou 

.m~ds provision for .the oo~~pene.atlon at the county 

b.ttorney. Any othsr conltruotlon laevse the ,“tetuts 

without meaniq. 

“It fS W cOIlt6ntiOn chat, the F.t.ntuts, Art. 26 

afOr%*id, CsD. be conetruad i.n no other.way than 

tiint the Y:cnl 

*pith th% \*ords 

“f34S” should be Used intsrchangeably 

“Fey” or “solaryn, or any other words 

d*notlnr coapsnsetion. 
Honorebla %. L. Edwards, Fags 3- 

“It arpaars to me that thr Legislature lntended that the County Attorneys should be paid 

out of tha salary fund of the District Attorney, 

and thst the use of the word efeesw, instead of 

the word “salary” was sixply an orersl#t. To 

substsntiote this stete3ent, I call your attention 

to the history o? the various articles involved. 

Article 26 vas evidently written at:8 ~tine when 

Dlatriat i?.ttorneys T’:SIO on.a fee ba&la. The original etotute aaa the seation which 1s above underltned. The 40th Legislature in 1927 araended Article 1021 C.C;‘r., which prcvldes for the pavxant 

of District. Attorneys. Of cours.3, .:.rtlcla iO21, 

had the a3ect of taking the Dlstrlct lttornay 

off the fee baaie end placifig hlfl on a par diem 

basis. The 43-d. Le~ialature in 1933, after the 

passage of Article 1621, and its axaandnent, menCad Article 26. The mended pert beicg that 

portion ~rhicb 14 net underlinsd above. I believe 

it to 53 the laql -resuxotion ihot the Lepislatura 

took cognizance of the existing 1~~~6 at the tine 

it aada this gjaendxent. If this is correct, the 

Legislature then rasaed their a;vand.nent knowing 

that District Sttorneys were no longer on a r40 

beds, but were on a per diea basis. Therefore, 

the intent of the Legislature was evi.dWltly to 

raaah any fund@ held by the Comptroller’ to pay 

Distrlat Attorneys for the purpose of paying 

County Attorneys who act in their stead. Of course, 

Article 3886r (R.C.S.) is now the existing atatute 

:eith referenaa to gsynent ol Sistriat Attorneya. 

The above is cited for the purpose of shoving that 

the Legiolature did not intend that tine :+ord ‘Y4e.e” 

should be usad in a restricted sense. As above 

ststed, *ny other construction laaoes Article 26, 

8s aasnddd, wholly valualesa and nesnln~less. 

*I do not believe the ‘Jogas case, 67 S.?:. (26) 

856, Caters the situation. In the first plaae. 

that proceed&? was avldently brou‘;ht to recovsr 

r444 aa provided by Article 1025 C. C. P. In the 

rsaond plaae the Court in disposing of the aase 

altes Article 26 as it existed before ita alendslant. The court held that the County Attorney 

could not racovtr fees provided by Article 1025 

for the reason that the Dlstrlot Attorney ~4s not 

on 4 fee basis but was paid under Xrticla 1021 on 

a per diem .besis. 
Eonorablo X. L.’ ‘Zdwerds, Fege 4 

. 

h- ----*A-** to Artlale 26, passed 

, I believe the Leglaleture 

“By tai PUS~W.u~Y ” 

sitar the par diem lew, 

alearly IndiMiteU its intention that themCounty 

Attarney should be paid out of the fund or money 

set aside for the purpose of paying the Distrlat 

Attorney had he sotad. 

w;(enlfestly, ii. this intentlop; 1s clearly 

lndiaated, a strained or taahnlcsl bonatruatlon 

of a mere word rhould not be allowed to defeat 

it, l rFeaially when auah aonstructlon.would be 

inequitable. 

“1 further a611 your attention to the language or Section 2, or Art. 38861 R. C. s., the 

preasnt salary law. This statute sprclriaally 

rsappropriates a&l manlea heretofore appropriated 

by the Leglslatura to pay fees, salaries, and 

par dlea atiaountr of the o?!i%ers nsmsd. 

‘In view of the fact that the County Attorneys 

of Vlatorla, Calhoun, s.atuglo and Jackson Countiss 

are affected, I ask that you give thla cmttar your 

moat aaraful. considera tlon. 7 

Artlale 31, Code of-‘Grlmlnal Proobdure, provlcleer 

WVheneter any dlatriet & county battornay 

rails to attend any .tero of tha distrlat, county 

‘_ ‘or $astlaea courte, the:judge of mid aourta 

or l uah justloe may appoint some competent attorney 

to pariorm the dutlee of euah dlatriat or aounty 

attorney, who shall be allowed the sene ooapensatlon ror hia servlaea aa la allowed the Cldtrlct 

attorney or aouqty attorney. Said appolntaent 

ahsll not extend beyond the tera of the court at 

. whiah. it is msde, and shall be vacated upon the 

appearance of the dletrict or aounty attorney.” 

Ae we understand your request you desire the opinion 

of this depertment wlth referenae to the amount or aompeniatlon, 

if any, a aounty attorney la entitled when tha aouaty ettorheg 

aate in the absence of the dietriot attorney under Article 26, 

Code of Crlmlnal Frocedura. 

54 think that Artiale 26 snd krtiale 31, supra, mat be 
Honorable ir. L. Sdnards, Page 5 

eonetrued together, and rhrh ao conatrusd, it is olear that 

the Leslalatura has mado it the duty, and it Is llkewlsr the 

right,-of thr oounty attornay to rap&sent the Stata in the 

district oourtr la the abseaoe of the district attorney. In 

..ths sbsancr of the dlatrlot attorney, the duty and thr authority to reprrsoat the Stata In the district court ir ooararrad by the statutrs upon tha oounty attorney. It Is not 

upntraplatrd nor Is it aeoessary, that the oourt should dsslgauto the oouatg attorney as district attorasy pro tra. It 

la only whoa the dintriot attorney and;tha aounty attorney sre 

absent that the. court 1s euthorlrsd to Yhppolat a dlstrlat 

sttornsy pro tom. fn a latter oplnlcn addressed to Hoaorabls 

Cullea D. Vaaoe, County Attorney, 3dae, Texas, oa ?ebruary 

12, 1935, thir dapsrtmsnt rulrd that a dletrict ju&e 1s wlthout anthoritr to appoint ra attornsy pro tam to reprsseat the 

State whrn either tho dlstriot attorney or tha oounty attorney 

le prssoat, 

When the oountp attorney acts ia ths abaenoa of the 

dlstriot attorary ha must raoalvr his oospsaaatloa for sold 

aervlcas under the provisions of Artiols 26, rather than under 

the provlalons of Article 31. The rISht of the county attorney 

in euah instaaos to conpsnsstloa under Article 26 depends upon 

nhathar fare are allowed to the dlstrlot attorney of the dlstrlot for the services psrforned, la the abseaos of the dlstrlot attorney, by tha oounty attorney. Slnoa January 1, 1936, 

tha dlstrlct dlstrlots of this Stats 

an annual salary in 

than by tha allowanoa 

Clrll Statutes) 

*This ooapaasatlon d6aa not depend on the aumbur .of oaa6s 

triad, or the result achieved, and rrcludes all other ~oapsnration azoapt hie annual salary.’ .(Vo ea v. Sheppard, Coma. 

App. of Tsx. Saotloo A opinion adopt.8 8 by thr Supreme Court, . 

67 S.M. (2nd) 856.) Slnoa distriat attorney8 are no longer 

oompansated on tha raa basla, but by the payment of en annual 

Salary, snd the-l@slstura hasasds no rovlslon for coapansat1 

Y 

the oonnty attorney who aots la t ii a sbsanoe of the 

dlstr ot attorney by spproprlatlon to hla a part of the salary 

to ba paid to tha dlatrlot attorney, it folloaa that thr oountg 

‘attorney who sets la ths ebarner of the distrlot attorney fa 

not l atltlrd to ooapensstion for tha saroioas thus rendered. 

Trusting that the roragolng rully anawara your 

q&f, wa m-0 

Yours vary truly 

ln-