-. 

Honorable 0. P. Lookhkrt, Chairman 

Board of Insurance &nmnlssioners 

Austin, Texas 

Dear Sir: Opinion No. q-4149 

Re: Local mutual aid associations 

._ . and'burial asaodiatlons organlied.under and governed by 

ArtXolea 5068-l azid 487Sa may 

lawfully investtheir mortuary 

funds in then aecuritles descr%bbed,in Article 4725. Suoh 

association should release or 

convey such securities in the 

manner preaorlbed by law for 

other corporations generally. 

Your letter dated March 20, 1942, submits for sn opinion of 

this department the following questions: 

z?ianieed under and'governed by Articles 5068-l and 487.5a 

May looal mutual aid assoolatlona and burial aseooiatrons, 

lawfully Invest their mortuary funds infthe seourltles described 

in Artlole 48757 (Sic., Artiole &72.$was apprently intended.) 

“2. May such associations upon the payment or sale of euoh - 

securktles release or convey them in the manner prescribed by 

law for other oorporations generally by Title 32, Ch. 3, *hen 

authorized by their Board of Directors and through their 

Rresldent with corporate seal attested by their Seoretary, or 

la It necessary ifor suoh releases or oonveyanoes-to be taken 

from each member of such associations?" 

You apparently intended In question (lj to refer to the 

securities described in Article 472S-instead of Article k87S9 

Article 4875 having been repealed. 

Your letter refers us to Article 5068-1, Sections 23 and 24, 

Vernon's Annotated Civil Statutes, which article and the 

sections thereof mentioned.authorize the organization of 

burial associations according to the conditions and under the 

regulations contained in the various provisions of Article 2875a. 
Honorable 0; P. Lockhart, Page 2, O-4149 

One of the provisions of said Article 4875a to which you 

specifically refer in your letter is Article 4875a-24, which 

provides as follows: 

'Any association organized under the provisions hereof or 

accepting the provisions hereof shall for the purposes of 

openation be and become a body corporate with authority to 

sue and be sued in its own name and to exercise the other 

powers and functions specifically herein provided, such 

association shall be governed by this law and shall be exempted 

from all provisions of the insnrance laws of this State. No 

law hereafter enacted shall apply to them unless they be 

expressly designated therein. 

It is your poeition, as stated in your letter, that the above 

quoted article authorizes such association to become a body 

corporate, and that Article 487Sa-18 described by reference 

the securities in which such corporate bodies may invest their 

surplus funds, giving rise to the necessary implication that 

such article carries with it the power to release and convey 

in the same manner as corporations generally. With this 

contention we must agree. 

Article l+875a-18 is as follows: 

"Any surplus funds on hand belonging to any such association 

must be invested if at all, in such securities as the funds 

of life insurance companies maybe invested inJ." 

One of the fundamental rules of statutory construction is 

that when a statute gives a right or imposes a duty,, it also. 

confers by implication the power necessary to make the right 

available or to discharge the duty; and where a power is granted 

and the mode of its exercise is not prescribed, it will be 

implied that it is nevertheless to be exercised. Lewis 

Sutherland Statutory Construction,Volume 2, page 947, section 

510; People v. Eddy, 5'7 Barb. 593. 

Article 5'068-1, Sections 23 and 24, adopts by reference the 

provisions of Articles 487Sa-1 to Article 487sa-31 and makes 

these statutes applicable to organization and regulation of 

burial associations; Article 487Sa-24 provides that associations 

organized under the provisions of,that act become a body 

corporate with the authority to sue and be sued Sn its own name 

and to exercise the other powers and functions specifically 

herein granted, but not otherwise; Article I+87Sa-18 provides in 

substance that the funds of such association or body corporate 

must be invested .in such securities as the funds of life 

insurance companies may be invested. It is obviously wholly 
Honorable 0. P. Lockhart, Page 3, O-4149 

impracticable, if not entirely impossible, for such 

assoCiatiOn to obtain the consent, the signatures and the 

acknowledgement of each and evary member of such association 

whenever a lien must be released or a deed executed; Yet 

in order to be able to invest in,the securities authorized 

it is necessary that they also be able to execute releases and 

other instruments incident to the business of making such 

investments, so that as to the grant of this much power the 

words quoted from Article l+875a-24: "to exercise the other 

powers and functions speoifically herein granted, but not 

otherwise" were not intended to apply in any restrictive sense. 

You are therefore advised that in the opinion of this 

department your questions should be answered as follows: 

1. Local mutual aid associations and burial associ~ations, 

organized under and governed by Articles 5868-l and 4875a 

may lawfully invest their mortuary funds in the securities 

described in Article 4725 provided such mortuary funds constitute surplus funds on hand,as described in Article 4875a-18. 

2. Such assooiations may upon the payment or sale of such 

SeCuritieS release or convey them in the manner prescribed'by 

law for other corporations generally. (Article 1322) It is 

not necessary for such releases or oonveyanc8s to be-taken from 

each member cf such aSSOOfatfOns. 

We trust that the above satisfactorily ansyers your inquiry. 

YOU'S V8i-y tl'Llly 

ATTCRNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS 

RP!C:GO/cg 

ii' Rdbert .~., .dherry I 

BY- -'-. 

Robert %. Cherry 

Assist ant 

APPROVED MAY 23, 1942 

s/ Grover Sellers 

FIRST ASSISTANT 

ATTORNEY GENERAL 

Approved Opinion Committee 

By BWB, Chairman