PRICE DANIEL

ATTORNEYGENERAL

BCJU. Charles D. Couuty Attorney LaSalle County CotLila, Texas

Your upon the above quombioas: *1, Ina 

## t,obe Me bond? IBates, Jr., Opiaion No. V-195 Re: Whether or not mbomdrnwinon a Wotrry Public’s offiafal ‘bond my obtain a summery releese rm liability thereon.

requ6st to this Departaeht ior au spinion subjsat matter presemts the rollowily

Is it possible for such bowarelieved 0r further li8billfy oa

CleaS seklng meat dtEBn nameabe reuavaa rlws t&e Retary lbnd suiri6lont to Irlieve such bondsam of further liability?

, After such written not&e has

been ;if;eh I

to the County Clerk, is say rtutber aat aomsoar~ 0~ the .part or smh mareties in order to relieve then er rarther liabrauty on tfn bQarn(t?

“6. Arttr su,ahwritten aotlce has beeu #lrul tc the Csunty Clerk by rtmh boadamn, is say hrrther, aat necemary en the part, or ouah CaYptyChik to relieve suoh bondsmen 

## rm- rwther liability on suoh bead?

“8. If such bondsmen are released fro, their baud, and uutil a newbond is executed, retold such Wotary Public be duly qualified to aot as such?

. “6. In the event the County Clark should d.etenine that the bend of the l@t&ry Public Is no lolager a good bond, by rea~~imHon. Chsrles D. Bates, Jr., Page 2; V-195

of the sureties having asked pewission to withdrew their mmes from same, could a new bond be substituted by the Natary Public in lieu of the old bond, or would it be uacessary to makea newapplioation and qualify aaewes a mtary Public? R7. Dee8 the Caunty Clerk have any disoretien fa passing upon the qualiricatiens of a Mtaxy Pab,lic applicant, other than te deteCs&ne fl) a+&eat tkmapplicant is at lmat 21 years er age, aad (2)) that he Is a resfdent of the Couutg?

“86 In the event a person, who is drawing lOC$ disability pay from the Govemaent a8 a mental ,eare, mpplisil fcvr a Ilatary Public? appointiw~, ir Bt manaetery~~ t&kt thv.Cawdy Clerk aeaapt such application and oertif ’y his elig,ibllit.y to the Sesretayy of State? (Such person huvi

“3” newer beeu declax+d &&Skne by aourt a0iiian o "91 Cam,the appclntment of a Botary Public be pretest.ed te the SecretaTy of St*to, whereby that orricial. say reruae to isstm t410 Coaaission as a Notary Public?

“10, Under the pmment l&i*, am there euy liritativss or restriotions against a per- @onb,eotin a NetaxV Public other than the agesnd res ,deaee raqulxemente? Ii so, with

f ’ w&t officer doe8 the authority rest to apply suoh limitatioas or reetrictiohs, the County Clerk or the Secretary oi State?* Article 5949 ef the Revised Civil Statutes 6c Texss as the same has been amended constitutes thenwhole
Or the statutory law geverning Rotaries Publlo in this State. S,luce yaur questions are narerbus and aotapreheusive in the&r sompe, we quote the Artiole.

*l, Tke Secretary of State of the State of Texas shall appoint a convenient number of Notaries P,ublia for eaah eouuty of the State, Such appaintnents ay be nade at any time, and the terms of all appeiataents ntdldeshall end OnHon.'Cbarles D. Bates, Jr., Page 3, V-195

the first day

## orJune of eaah odd aumbered yemr. A&am;n;e% Acts 1945, 49th LegaSp* 39%, oh.

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Eon. Charles D. .Dates, Jr., Page 4, V-195

"4e At the time of such qualif%~cation the County Clerk shall collect the fees allewed him by law for administering the oath and %aproving and filing the bon%of suah INary Public, together with the fee allowed by iaw to the Secretary of State for issuing a commission to such Notary Publfa,

ymasadiately after the qnaliihJ.eatioh of anTsuch, Notary Publio the, County OleFk ‘shall fOrthwith notify the Secretary of State that such person has qualified and the date Oi s~ueb qualification, end shall remit with such no,tice the fee due the Ssoretary of State, whereupon, the Secretary of State shall oause a.commlssi0n to be issued to each such qualified Notary Pub110, which commission shall be effective as of the date of quallirioation, All such aonuaissi~na shall be forwarded to the Gounty Clerk for delivery to suuh persons entitled to receive them, EDotbinShaMin shell prevent any qua~lifisd Notary rubliic, from pkrfonaing the duties 

## 4rhis 4rri0e fr0m an%afte~r his qualifictation and-be&W@ the receipt of his aommisaion.

:’ “13. My qttallfied 19&ary Publio, wlmas@ term is srpirif~& maybe rb-appointed by t&r Sew r&ary of State without the necessity of the &&ty Clerk reesubmittiina, his nmmato the Saorh- *a,ry of State, providaa suoh appoia&manQir made ia sufficient time for srrohNotary Public to reqm2ify on

## the a3pbati0n date of the term

## rbr rhidh he Is them serving; an%previded further, that ir any such Notary has remove&hi8 reai%ence to a aountg othtr WWI the aa@f?er which he was appainted, his office shall be aatanatioally va0ate%, and if ha desire8 to act as Retary Publio 

## in suoh other aounty his ~txnmismiotlshall be surrendered to the &oretary of State and his n6mashall be subm$t;teU. by the Clerk of such other county as heregnabmveprovide% o 

### Jo

_ “9, Any person app9inted a $Wary Pub- ’ lid, bsfer& 

## #5%& upemhis afFief*l 

## aw48, shall exee,@te a bon in the sumof OEa+ Fhouead 

### ?I ()l,OOO,OO] Dollara with two or mere sabtW indlvPduals, 0r one solvent surety eomp&&ya&h; orizcd to do busfness in this states as aarety,fFsn. Olmrrlar D, Batea, Jr., Page 5, V-L95

such bond to ba?I pSW6& by the Omtnty Clerk of Me aouaty, e

my& e **to the**  Owemar, end con-‘~~ **dltfomd #**  **t# f8Lthful**  pcrfonkanae of the drttsr

## 0r bi*.-

w 1 *M ikIN1 also take and *ubeYi#~ui b Stil m&h ol offica which shall be ODilW%Od 06 aeld Wad with the aellti**tltwte** 

## art,hr0ma81 l ministering the mm. W&d @D&t?

e&W W 4Opfa8l$ed In the offlae of tha **OCuSty**Clad Mld shell not be void on the **tlret** Yecwery, **and**luy be sued on in the nme a!’ fha party lajured ima time to time until the whale Bammt tbexeot has been ~raaorered. Ailg aimitperson shall be daemedto be qualified r&an hr hes token the ofricm oath of orflee, rap-’ lt&Wd thl bond and paia the fees herein providd for, all within the ten (10) days allewad thw6tar.

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.i

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### “8. XTany Qbuntp Clerk fails or refm W fr$msrd the maurnol pewons requestfug appairtaeabn, QOticss af qaalificotion, or to re

### atitmy Irob due to the Waretam of State, or 

### to aotiry an $13tirty ($0**3**

### l



## ppll~rrtet his appetatneot 

### withdays rrter **receipt** ar **mm** by the **C6tbty** C!lcr* t&m5)ooratam nf State shall wrtb T imeh f&am or nTuar1 to the 37m4e Compt26 lsr, U, W&y Auditor ud daarlssisnaru oo+IL ai su6k 4enmty, after w&&ohna ol*ir Or nW66H iI6rWW rf SrwP dteik shell be 6-4 w p&l pa051 the &4crete 2 ar **BWte** elm11 sertlty k ctuehaiticia 8 that all raquflUsrrta h-or hare bum COIgIllad with.

“9. AAl &ttnZ6 

### pmrtaintag Cathe apF iatmat udl eae&Pt&gatha OfNotarias **Wb to**  **6n611. ba**  **)*blita** **u6OQml la**  **the officss**  **of tL,**  **C6wrt.y CItea**  ata **in** tit6**affioe of**  the Sacrstary 0r Stnta *rter any such No,tary mb110 ima qualiPW& ati 

## sM11 be apen to inrpeatian ef am$lDt4lwstsd person at suoh reasonable times *aa In such mannkra9 till nst lnterrere wi$h the l fiairs or orfiaa or tha custodian of such reoerds; but asfther a County Clerk nor the Secretary af State shall be required to furnish Lists ai the hams ai persena appoirtsd berare their qu8liri0atfaa gor lists of unreasraable nusnberaat qualiried I?@taifes ?w;lic o As amendedActs 1959,

## mm0amrm b. Batee, 

## fs., Page 

## 6, f-195

:, .l. The statute nowhere pnscribse a&ymethod

by whloh a surety execwtiag BElotary P6%blic)‘a bond may be swamrll~r FelUMed of FostheP Liabilitys If %+a# bond were .n o#IpIo* len oh&&atI.mi of mzvt~8hfp effecting only fndSx4dWis, the maCte#?@f s,mh a Ml;ease ooald to doubt ba efbatrd through t&e mutual agreement et all parties ae~e~@~z~dthere&n. If& suoh is not the casai here, seeing that the bond is a sta*u%er bwd papsble to tha Oorer

## mu, 9wdsion~a ror We W ,thf& performance of the dutiib# Of the Botarf

’s offfee, The GOvernOF, ia his capac1%~6@ payee, is of course the fiduciary ~ofthe State, ,.a&3Here ie no provision of law authorlzihg .hin in such mpmefty iw ~J1.emeesuah surety, Moreover, silo0 t&e obl$gW&lan of the surety i6 10 essence one to the Btate, tw ]t@i$8h%k~ itmif WOtid a~ppeMe.0hr?S RO

## t~t&Titr

‘to sW&aau &Ytie awfd~e S **method**of releasing aus* ebl4~ gaawks 4-a. Lt. XX& 6,ee. 56). BS tllir aa It may, ita m&k84 ie yw,aPB;baff by’ lm for such a releulle.



## wS%a '*he 

## cam@y

atask lamae c,B6

iemmeIII8~ ry, end therelam the age%t 8udeT the #talllutes for the 

### purposeof expedktingappai-*mqa*s 

## or &taries Publio by the si3mretaFy or state, nevertheless ,hsia gfren no auth@rity, whatever in Tsspeot to the mntter of releasiq mebcwsman whose suzxmfyahiphas been duly consummated ia ae~o~ordancealth tile law, &aubr oM It is a familiar principle 

## or lia 6 a3 t& no&def o,itation of authorities, that pubfarars have oaLr tlaose powers confer&ed upea them by 1-0 la IWTIF~#cplbfbieial Bonds (an older text9 1666) p. 535, sea. 776, it is said:

*In the abremm Of a statutery pro-
‘~ vision to that ePi%Wis a surety cannot pn-
‘w ,fhis release by @rfag notioe to the “@b&k@%lrP the bond9 of his desire and iatention to terminate his liability,* In that modern compendfur Amcrioaa Jurisprud01104, .Vol, 5Qs pO &Fib, SaOO 37, it is said:

### ln ths 

### aMmBoe or centmqt or +#hoorflarqyi 8surety l&Q3.4

.

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.Hoh. Charles D. Bates, Jr., Page 8, V-195

9q ‘Betaries Public are pubIic offioers of the 8tete, aad aa s,uoh, the matter of fitnsaa, for suoh offioe is e&mef publia eonoarn from ahlah it follows t&t say &~ezlaa;ll itierbated my I%k,e~H?~OQJ~to the Scareta* of State age&nit the appointment.

100 Your question is very broad indeed, and our amwer is necessarily general. There 1s~an Implied limitation embodied in the first sentence of Article 5949 which authorizes the Secretary of State to appoint ti caWsnSe,nt~number” of Notaries Publio for each aounty im the $tet;s* lieurarily, it is implicit in’ this language that the @Wbdl$tWyaf State maydet,ermina what is a *&RMBanientnumbaP of Notaries Public for any particular county. If wouLdnot be his, duty to appoint more tban such determined conveniant number. In the next place, if the applicant should be knownto the Secretary of State to be ment,ally inaapable of perfonaing the duties of the office, or if he s,hould~be knownto the Secretary of State as one having bsa:n convicted ef a e&a&ewhich under the Lawwould han.emad.0it the duty of the trial oourt to rems.vehimf&m any public offioa, held by him at the time, we think it certahnLy Uo~ulB be the moral, if not the legal duty of the Seeret,ary of State to refuse to makethe appointman%,. Wethink it is awholesome implicatien oh la,wthat the pswer fn one to appoint a person to pub&$coffiae implies that he shoold not appoint any person who ia legally inelilri$ble or, what is perhaps the smut3 t&h& r6Ictua1ag p&la or inaofapetant to die- ,oharga the duties of the offlee.

rfhe~sei,s no tiuthority for a bandsmanof a Netary Public to obtain a s&m&ergrelease irom furthex liabilkty en au& bend. A oelypty ale& haa mm

diaoretien in raeelwinS and forwarding applica,tion fb’r notam appointment $b the S:ec,retary ef S&t&,,: b;ut he mayand should advise the Seoret8ry ef any disquallfioatib of the appl,ioant which would render aenfse as a public efficer unlawful or impossible. The Seerebary of Sta*s could refuse appointment ander ceFtiain conditions oArtU5949,aa amended,V.C,S. Yours very tru1y,

(BS:WB:jrb ATTOm OEIWtAL ‘F 9’lRAS

*’ %pe& Assistant I