THEATTORNEYGENERAL 

PRICE DANIEL 

.4TTOFlNEY GENeRAI. 

Hon. Tom M. Miller 

County Attorney 

Young County 

Graham, Texas 

. 

January 21, 1948 

Opinion No, V-479 

Re: The authority of a county 

court to require surrender 

of ‘the operator’s lioense, 

for transmittal to the Department of Public Safety, 

following aonviction of the 

operator for driving while 

intoxioated e 

Dear Sir: 

You have requested an opinion of this department 

on the above-captioned subject and we quote from your letter as follows: 

“In June, 1947, a man plead guilty to the 

offense of driving an automobile upon a public 

highway in Young County, Texas, while intexioatea and WWI fined #30 ,OO and a six mOnthaq euspen&on of his drivar’s license by Judge The 

%? 

801%; 

at the tire sf his 0onviction under Artfola 

Panel Cads, dug54 ThO~ap5on held that the autama&o 

suap4noion or defendant's operator’s lfceese ap- : 

plied ikaeording to Artiole 6&V%, &Wised Civil 

Statutaa, Section 24 s aa4 the* accordlag to $ection 25 (a) of aaid Article 6gESlb, Revised Civil 

Statutes of Texas, that it was the duty of the 

court to require the defendant to surrender his 

opar&or’s license, and for the Clerk of this. 

Court to forward to the Department of Public 

Safety a record of such conviction tosther with 

the driver’s license of the defandanta This lvss 

etrowdingly done in this ioasea f * as county 

Attorney, advised the Court last June,that this 

was the correct procedure to follow; I have advised the court at this time that this,was and is 

now the correct procedure to followa 

” e . . . Please advise this office whether 

or not the county court should require the surrender of an operator’s license and have the clerk 
1 

Hon. TQ~ M. Yiller, page 2, V-,479 

of. the court send it in together with the record 

of the oonvictfon.R 

Pertinent to this problem, we quote Article 6687b, 

Sections 24 and 25, V. C. S., in part, as follows: 

“Sec. 24. (a) The license of any oerson shall 

be’ automatically suspended upon final conviction of 

any of the f,ollowing offenses: 

“2t Drivi,ng a motor vehicle while under the; 

influenoe of intoxicating liquor or aarootio,drugs.* ’ 

‘“(‘b) The suspension above provided shall in 

,. 

the first instance be for a period of six (6) months. 

fin event any license shall be suspended under then 

provision of this Section for a second time, said 

seoond suspension shall be for a period of one (1) 

,yePf. 

“Sec. 25. (a) Whenever any person is convicted 

of any offense for which this Act makes automatic 

the suspension of the operator’s, commercial operatar’s) or chauffeur’s license of such person, the 

court in which such conviction is had shall require 

the surrender to it of all operators’, ~commercial 

operator’s, and chauffeurs * licenses then held by 

the person so convioted and the olerk of said court 

.shall, thereupon forward the same together~with a 

reoord of suck.cenviction to the Department, wit& 

ten (10) days from the dates of rontiH,ien. , : *” 

From the clear and unambiguous language of ,the 

foregoing statute, it is manifest that upon co’nviction of 

the ~offense of driving a motor vehicle upon a public highway while under the influence of intoxicating liquor, the 

oper8ter’a fiaense of such oonvicted operator is automatical,ly awpem#cQ aa an ineq0apebl.e oolsequemoe of, the convio~tieh. No further aotien, dealaration, or judgment on 

the part ef the court in wh~i.ch the cenvicticn is rendered 

is necessary to accomplish such suspension, as the license 

is suspended ipso facto by reason of such conviction, and 

the sole question remaining is that of the custody of the 

sw)snQea license. 

‘Regarding the custod 

we quote from Qpinion No. --mf 

of the suspended Uoenss, 

rendered by this Department , as follows : 

“Section 25 directs the court to report to the 
-. . 

Hon. Tom M. Miller, page 3, V-479 

Department all convictions of violations of all laws 

regulating the operation of motor tehicles on the. 

highways. The purpose of these requirements is to 

furnish the foundation for apprcpriete action by the 

Department D In the instances where suspension. is 

automatic (Section 24) the law recognizes that no 

further hearing is required for the procedural ‘due 

process of law,,’ because the person aceused in the 

criminal aotion is bound to knaa, as a matte,* of 

law, that an automatic suspension of his driver’s 

license will be a consequence of his conriction, The 

right to the driver’s license is, tr%ed as a part of 

the same suit. 

*The court is direated to immediately take up 

the license and the clerk of said oourt to forward 

same, together with a record of, such conviction, to 

the Department within ten (10) days from the date of 

the conviction, It is incumbent upon the Court to 

require the surrender of the license and the clerk to 

forward same with the record of conviction to the 

Department 0 The court’s failure, however, to require 

the surrender of the license does not affect its suspension.” 

It is our opinion, therefore, that the county 

court is charged with the duty of assuming the custody of 

the suspended license upon conviction of an operator of 

the offense of driving a motor vehicle ~peta a public highway while intoxicated e Section 25. It must be borae in 

minds that the acti,on of the court in assuming the custody 

of the suspended lioense is not determinative of the question of the suspension of the license. Such license would 

be suspended regardless of the assumption of custody by 

the court for transmittal to the Department of Public Safety* 

In this aonnection, we wish to call attention to 

Sec. 32 of Art. 6687b, V. C. S., as follows: 

Y3ec. 32. It shall be unlawful for any 

person to commit any of the following acts: 

” 

. . . i 

“4. To fail or refuse to surrender to the 

Department on demand any operator’s, commercial 

operator’s or chauffeur’s license which has been 

suspended, cancelled s or revoked as provided by 

law: . * . *” 
,’ TV-91 

your 

: 

We are ‘attaching hereto a aopy of Opinion No. 

rrom .whioh we have quoted, as being pertinent to 

problem, 

It la mandatory that the county 'oourt require 

the surrender of an operatorls lioense, for transmittal to the Department of Pub110 Sarety, rollowing oonviction of the operator or the offense or 

driving ,while intoxicated. Article 6687b, Sections 

24 and,25, V. C. 9. 

Very truly yours, 

ATTOFNEY GENEF?AL OF TEXAS