. . , 

~~~~E,*TDTOIRNEY GENERAL 

OFTEXAS 

ApFll 18, 1939 

Mrs. Willie O'Neal 

County Auditor 

Carson County 

Panhandle, Texas 

Dear Mrs. O'Neal: Opinion NooO-606 

Re: Computation on yards as basis 

,for fees under Artlcle~~3930, 

Revised Civil ~Statutea of]1925 

Your request ,for an opinion ascontalni+~ln.'goUr 

letter of April 5, under the above,,opinlon~ number',esslgned, 

has received the attention of this,Department. Permit us 

to set forth the last portion of your letteras cont,ainlng 

such request: 

"Is, there any rul~e by uhlch the.~county'cac 

be guided as to how to compute,the wprda where~ 

there Isa mlxture of words, numbers and~symbols? 

How many nor&s are in the first line above? Row : " 

many in the second' line? Should each number be' 

counted as a word.? Should each symbol be counted 

as a word?" 

The relevant provisions of the statute to which you 

no doubt reefer reads as follows: 

"Article 3930 - Clerks of the county court 

shall receive the following fees: ----- Recording all papers required or permitted by law to 

be recorded, not otherwis'e prOVld8d for, includLng C8rtlfiCat8 and seal, for each 100 Words'- 

- - - $.lO ,- - -1' 

It will b8,noted that throughout Cbapter 2 of Tltle 

61 of the Revised Clvll.Statutes, X925& styled Pe8$ 'Of,,~GffiC8, 

such expression as "for ,each 100 words is used, underfees 

enumerated to certain'state, district, county, prgoinct Officers and notaries public. Not only forrec6rding but likewise we find .such enumeration where the officers 'furnish 

coples of instruments on record or in th8ir'offlce; in.making 

translated copies and for transcribing,.,comparMg or verifyit-&'Vecoid books of Office. At the earllest tfm8S SUChenumeratlon of fees was made bYthe Legislature, the work of 
Mrs. Willie OfNeal, April 1.8, 1939, page 2 

recording no doubt had to be done in longhand 

far more difficult to transcribe, compare and _ - .._ 

O-606 

and which was 

verify from 

the records. From this, we surmise that our present day 

methods, whether more practical, convenient or otherwise, 

considering the new words and symbols which have flowed in 

from the fountain of popular usage and extended fields of 

science, should no doubt have leveled the work Involved, 

justifying the maintenance of the rate in most instances 

still unchanged. 

We have been unable to find any construction placed 

on the fee statutes by the courts which defines "words" or 

the field same woul&coqer-in computing words for charging 

such.iees enumerated ,t,hereln. It is necessary, therefore, 

that we resort to our dictionary and seek out and define 

this field of printed or written characters representing a 

thing spoken, and through conventional association with a 

fixed meaning, symbolizes ana communicates an idea without 

.belng iiiv&slble into,~smaller units capable of independent 

use,. Such.language we find in Webster's New International 

Qlctionery,. unabridged, or,that Is to say, "the smal~lest 

Unit of speech that has meaning when taken bg itself; a, 

vocable." 'Word(' is synonymous with "term" and "expression". 

It has been frequently-said ,that usage determines wbrds; 

science f.Lxes terms and sentiment provides expressions. 

N" Las been deflnea ati~a "finure" and "a letter or 

chiracter which.is -significant." iiovl&r defines figures as 

numerals, and numerals are letters or characters representing numbers. 

In the light of the above definition, It Is our 

view that numbers and symbols are well included in the field 

of written expressions within the meaning of 1(Words11 and 

c'ontemplated by the Legislature to be counted. This Departmerit has heretofore~ruled that numbers should be COLUIt8d as 

words. Any rule that can be 1aM down in counting words 

should be one of reason, applglng usage, science, and sentl-- 

ment as these terms are expreSSed in present day written or 

printed common parlance. 

You request our computation of the following expressions: "S..W. 1/4~Sec. 164;~N. E. l/4 Sec. .186" and "Sections 145,'146; 196, 200.” Bearing In mind that the service 

for which words are counted include, note only recording'but 

also transcribing, comparing, verifying and translating, we 

count S..W. one word and the character l/&,one word as the 

entire conventional, fixed and determined meaning expresi3ed 

signifies more or less one unit commonly known and expressed 

as."Southwest one-quarter or one-fourth or l/4", or "S/W" or 

."Sw l/4." . / Numbers should be given as limited interpretation 

_.~ .: 
Mrs. Willie O'N8a1, April 18, 1939, page 3 0 -606 

In counting as ~posslble, or In Other words, this would be 

the numerlcal~quantlty they represent If briefly spoken. 

The figures 164 convey the idea or fixed unit of one, sixty, 

four, thereby counted as three words. Following this interpretatlon, we count twelve (12) words in each of the 

above group or twelve words per line as in your letter. 

Though it b8 hardly possfble to clearly lay down a 

well defined rule'to follow, In view of what has been said 

in response to your request, it is the opinion of this Department that In counting words, symbols an&numbers for 

computing fees to be collected for recording; for translating, transiiriblng and verifying Instruments, documents, 

records ati papers, a rule of.reason should be invoked 

wherein usage, science and sentiment as these terms are expressed In present day wrltten or printed common parlance 

would be applied. 

Yours very truly 

ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS 

By s/Wm.JR King 

Wm. J.‘~R. King 

Assistant 

WJRK:LM:wc 

APPROVED: 

s/Gerald C. Mann 

ATTORNEYGENERALOF TEXAS