1 

b 

1 

, OFFICE OF THE A-ITORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS 

b AUSTIN 

526 

Honorablo John R. Shook 

Criminal Dis triot Attorney 

Bexar County 

San Antonio, Texas 

Attention: Hr. T. H. Ridgewoy 

Dear Sir a 

Your letter 

of this department o 

r0ii0ws: 

equestlng the opinion 

ed therein reads as 

on the amun 

mmeotion we wish 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 him by 

law for administering the oath and approving end 

filing the bond of suoh Notary Publio, together 

. 
Honorable Tohn R, 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 and filing the bond together 

with the ree allowed by law to the Seoretarg Of 

the State. Ro mention 1s nade or any fee for 

reoording the bond as provided by the prsVlOUs 

statute* 

*The rirst question is whether or not the 

County Clerk 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 County Clerk 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 County Clerk 

to index the bonds when they do not have to be 

reoorded, In order to raollltate in looatlng then 

after they are filed, If so, oould a oharge be 

made ror same, in plaoe OS recording. 

*Due to 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 know or any deolsion 0r any Court 

that night aid us in determining these questions. 

Our County Clerk Is under the impression that he 

should oharge the 5Og provided 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 

and we would like to request an oplnlon at your 

eam88t oonvenienOe.* 

Bs8u1~ Session 1943 ia an aot amending Artiole 5949, yerSenate Bill No. 335, Aots or the 48th Legislature, 

non’s ~Otated’Clvll’Statutea. Said aot expressly repe6l.s 
518 

Honorable John R, Shook, Page 3 

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

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

“This aot my be known and olted as the 

Notary Publlo Aot of 1943.” 

We quote from said act es follows: 

” At' the tine of suoh WdifiO6tiOn th@ 

County’Cis;k shall oolleot the fees aI.lo:ved him 

by law ror administering the oath and 6PEorov~~ 

and filing 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 upon his offiolal duties 

Any person appointed a Notary Publio 

sxsoute a bond in the slllp of One Thousmi %$oO) 

Dollars with two or more solvent individuals, Or 

one solvent surety oompany authorized 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 and subscribe the offi ,oath Or Ori 

which shall be endorsed on said bond with the oertlfloat0 or the 0fri0id adminlsterlng the same. 

Said bond tihell. be deposited in the OfflOe Of the 

County Clerk and shall not be void on the first rOOoYerY and UBY bs sued on In the nam Of the Party 

lnjureh from the TV time until the whole amount 

~ereot has been reoovered. . . ,It 

Artlole 5953, Vernon’s Annotated Civil Statutes, 

(now repealed) sxpres&y provided that notarial bonds must 

br recorded in the offloe of the Oounty Clerk. However, the 

present law does not require such bonds to be reoordsda 

The statutes or this State do not provide for any 

Orrtaih or spoolrio fee for the County Clerk 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 hundred words 

ror reoordlng a notarial bond. Prior to the enaotmsnt or 

said Senate Bill No. 335 the County Clerk was entitLed to 

obsrge One Dollar ($1.001 ror the oommiselon of 6 Notary 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 hundred words for recording the bond of a Notary Publlo. 

:q. ik 

(Artloles ‘3930 and 3914, 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 County Clerk Is 

entitled to a rc0 or fifty cents (50s) for a&nlnlsterlng the 

octh to e Note Publlo. Before the County Olerk would be 

entitled tn sus 1-91 fee he would have to administer the oath. 

“It la well established in this State that statutes 

Prssorlbing fees for publio orrloers are atrlotly construed; 

and hence e right to fees may not rest in impllOatiOn. An 

orricer may not claim or reach any money without 6 law authnrizing him to do so, and olearly fixing the amount to whloh 

he 1s entitled. n (See Taxes Jurlsprudenss, Vol. 34, pages 5080 

9-10-3.1 and authorltles cited therein). 

Ye now oonslder your third question. Senate’ Bill 

‘O* 335, supra, expressly provides that *said bond shall be 

dePoslted in the office of ths County Clerkn. 'Se oonvtrue 

this Provision of the aot as requiring the Notary Pub110 to 

‘Us his olriolal bond in the ofilos of the County Clerk. 

Ry your third qusstlsn you seek our opinion as to whsther r~ 

not Senate Blli No. 

notarm- bogs, ; 

335, requires the County Clerk to index 

: ;j’e answer this question in the nsgatlve. 

519 
520 

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, Iye fail to 

find any statute requiring a County Clerk to keep an index 

of notarial bonds. As heretofore stated, the Notary Publio 

must rile his offioial bond with the County Clerk. In the 

ease of Holman v, Ohevaillier’s Admr., 14 Tex. 337, the oourt 

defines and explains 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 and kept by bin in his 

offioial custody as an arohlve or reoord, of whioh 

his offioe beoomss thenoeforward the only ‘proper 

repository. Thou&h the anolent mode of filing 

papers has gone into disuse, the phraseology of 

the anoient praotioe is retained in the oommon expresdons *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. The terni ‘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, when a paper is thus ylaoed in his 

custody or *filed* with him, to indorse upon it 

the date of its reoeptlon and retain it In hie office, subjeot to inspection by whomsoever it mey 

ooncern, and that is r;hat Is mean by his tfilingt 

the paper. But Nhere 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 amaunt of fees to be oharged 

:OtarY Publies for qualifying you-are. advised that the Coullty 

Qef‘k la entitled to oharge One Dollar ($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 when the 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:GYZrPdhY 19, 19M ATTOXTXY GZZZUL OF TEXAS ,-