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, OFFICE OF THE A-ITORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS b AUSTIN 

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Honorablo John R. Shook Criminal Distriot Attorney Bexar County SanAntonio, Texas Attention: Hr. T. H. Ridgewoy Dear Sira

Your letter of this department o r0ii0ws: equestlng the opinion ed therein reads as

on the amun

mmeotion wewish to direot your attion Four of tho recent law emoted by the 48th Legislature:

At the time 0r suoh qualirioation the COunti’iierk shall oolleot the fees alloTied himby law for administering the oath and approving end filing the bond of suohNotary Publio, together

.Honorable TohnR, Shook, Page 2

wlth the tee allowed by law to the Seoretarp of State for lssul~ a sonmission to suoh Notary Publio. ’ %u will observe from Seotion 4 thet the reoordlng clerk shall oolleot for administering the oath, approving andfiling the bond together with the ree allowed by law to the Seoretarg Of the State. Romention 1s nade or any fee for reoording the bond as provided by the prsVlOUs statute* *Therirst question is whether or not the CountyClerk should ohorge a fee of 504 for recording the bond aa provided for by the previous statutea. The seoond question is, in oases where the oath is administered by an outside authority, should the CountyClerk oolleot the fee of 50# upon the oath. The third question is whether or not it Is neoessary under the law as reoently mended by the Legislature, for the CountyClerk to index the bonds whenthey do not have to be reoorded, In order to raollltate in looatlng then after they are filed, If so, oould a oharge be maderor same, in plaoe OSrecording. *Dueto the State wide lmportanoe of these three questlone we deea it advisable for us to submit the questions to you for determination. "?ie do not knowor any deolsion 0r any Court that night aid us in determining these questions. Our CountyClerk Is under the impression that he should oharge the 5Ogprovided for by the preYlOU law ror reoordlng the bond lfi view of the faot that the filing and retention of the bonds in his oifloe would, in a manner, oonstitute a reoord of the same.

“Theso questions are very urgent at this time andwewould like to request an oplnlon at your eam88t oonvenienOe.*
Bs8u1~ Session 1943 ia an aot amendingArtiole 5949, yerSenate Bill No. 335, Aots or the 48th Legislature,

non’s ~Otated’Clvll’Statutea. Said aot expressly repe6l.s518

Honorable John R, Shook, Page 3

Artloles 32, 5950, 5951 5952and 5953, Vernon's Annotated OiYil

‘$ Statutes. Senate Bill No, 335, supra, expressly provides:

“This aot my be knownand olted as the Notary Publlo Aot of 1943.” Wequote from said act es follows: ” At' the tine of suoh WdifiO6tiOn th@ County’Cis;k shall oolleot the fees aI.lo:vedhim by law ror administering the oath and 6PEorov~~ andfiling the bond of suoh Rotary Publio, together with the fee allowed by law to the SeOretarY Or State for lssuw a oomnission to suoh Notary Publls. befor~*e&&ing uponhis offiolal duties

Anyperson appointed a Notary Publio sxsoute a bond in the slllp of OneThousmi %$oO) Dollars with two or more solvent individuals, Or one solvent surety oompanyauthorized to do buslness in this State, 6s surety, such bond to be aPProved by the CouMy Clerk or his aounty, payable to the Governor, and oonditloned for the faithful Eerformnoe or the duties or his offloel and shall also take andsubscribe the offi ,oathOr Ori which shall be endorsed on said bondwith the oertlfloat0 or the 0fri0id adminlsterlng the same. Said bond tihell.

be deposited in the OfflOe Of the CountyClerk and shall not be void on the first rOOoYerY and UBYbs sued on In the nam Ofthe Party lnjureh from the TVtime until the whole amount ~ereot has been reoovered.

. . ,It Artlole 5953, Vernon’s Annotated Civil Statutes, (nowrepealed) sxpres&y provided that notarial bonds must br recorded in the offloe of the OountyClerk. However, the present law does not require such bonds to be reoordsda

Thestatutes or this State do not provide for any Orrtaih or spoolrio fee for the CountyClerk in reoordinS Mtarial bonds, However Article 3930, Vernon’s Amotated
‘lvll statutes provldes’that the County Clerk shall reoelve ta’ Oents (lO#j for eaoh hundred nerds for recording 611 papers required or permitted by law to be reoorded, not Othenrlse Provided for

, lnoludlng certltloate end seal.

-$k $ ,A. Honorable 

### John R. Shook, P6ge 4
$, !.’ prior to the enaotmsnt of Senate Bill No, 335, supre, when 1 notarial bonds were required to be reoorded in the offloe oi :.. the County Clerk this statute (Article 3930) pennltted the
“! $ County Clerk to oharge ten cents (log) for cash hundredwords ror reoordlng a notarial bond. Prior to the enaotmsnt or said Senate Bill No. 335 the County Clerk was entitLed to obsrge OneDollar ($1.001 ror the oommiselon of 6Notary Pub110, whlsh was to be remitted to the Secretary of Stats, and ~2 rifty Sante (5Oc) ror admInIstering the oath or oriloe, rlrty g osnts (5Og) for approving the bond and ten oents (104) for
-zeaoh hundredwords for recording the bond of a Notary Publlo. :q. ik (Artloles ‘3930and3914, Vsrnon’s Annotated Civil Statutes),
3 As heretoiore stated, Senate’ Bill Ho. 335, supra, -? &es not require notarial bonds to be reoorded. Therefore, .$:. it necessarily follows that the County Clerk should not charge

.& e ree or rirty cents (50#) ior recording the bond as meatloned in your letter or any other fee.

:?lth referenoe to your second question you are advised that it 1s our opinion that where the oath 1s admlnlstered to a Notary Publio by an outside authority the Count Clerk is not entitled to oolleot a ree of fifty cents for admlnlcterlng the oath. (50# 7 Artlole 3930, Vernon’s hnnotated %V il Statutes, expressly provides thet the CountyClerk Is entitled to a rc0 or fifty cents (50s) for a&nlnlsterlng the octh to e Note Publlo. Before the CountyOlerk wouldbe entitled tn sus fee he would have to administer the oath.

1-91

“It la well established in this State that statutes Prssorlbing fees for publio orrloers are atrlotly construed; andhence e right to fees maynot restin impllOatiOn. An orricer maynot claim or reach any moneywithout 6 law authnrizing himto do so, and olearly fixing the amountto whloh he 1s entitled. n (See Taxes Jurlsprudenss, Vol. 34, pages 5080 9-10-3.1 andauthorltles cited therein).

Ye nowoonslder your third question. Senate’Bill

‘O* 335, supra, expressly provides that *said bondshall be dePoslted in the office of ths County Clerkn. 'Seoonvtrue this Provision of the aot as requiring the Notary Pub110to
‘Us his olriolalbond in the ofilos of the CountyClerk. Ryyour third qusstlsn you seek our opinion as to whsther r~ not Senate Blli No. notarm- bogs, ; 335, requires the CountyClerk to index : ;j’eanswerthis question in the nsgatlve. 519520

Honorable John R. Shook, Page 5

There are several statutes whioh require the County Clerk to keep alphabetloal indexes and oross indexes to oertain books and reoords in his ofiioe. Ronever, Iyefail to find any statute requiring a County Clerk to keep anindex of notarial bonds. As heretofore stated, the Notary Publio must rile his offioial bondwith the County Clerk. In the ease of Holmanv, Ohevaillier’s Admr., 14 Tex. 337, the oourt defines andexplains the filing of paperer

“The flling by the party in our practice oonslsts simply in plaoing the paper in the hands of the ale&, to be preserved andkept by bin in his offioial custody as an arohlve or reoord, of whioh his offioe beoomss thenoeforward the only ‘proper repository. Thou&hthe anolent modeof filing papers has gone into disuse, the phraseology of the anoient praotioe is retained in the oommonexpresdons *to file I, Ito put on file’, ‘to take off the files’, eto., from ‘filum’, the thread, string or wire usod in anoient praotioe for conneoting the papers together. Theterni ‘fflel is also used to denote the papar plaoed with the olerk and assigned by the law to his offloial keeping. A file is a reoord of the court. St is the duty of the olerk, whena paper is thus ylaoed in his custody or *filed* with him, to indorse uponit the date of its reoeptlon and retain it In hie office, subjeot to inspection by whomsoeverit mey ooncern, and that is r;hat Is meanby his tfilingt the paper. ButNhere the law requires or authorizes a party to file it, it slmplv mans that he shall Plaoe it in the official custody of the olerk. That is all that is required of him.” 31th reference to the amauntof fees to be oharged :OtarY Publies for qualifying you-are. advised that the Coullty Qef ‘k la entitled to oharge OneDollar ($1.00) for the oomsssion of a Rotary Publio whioh is to be remitted to the "eoretmY of State, and firty cents (5Od) for sdnMsterinf3 the oath of offfoe whenthe oath is administered by the

‘OuntY Clerk, fifty oents (504) for approving the bond and rioe oentS (54) for filing the same. Yours very truly
:;i:GYZrPdhY19, 19M ATTOXTXY GZZZULOFTEXAS ,-