November ::, 1961 

Konorablo Henry ';:a& 

District A?torney 

records Buildins 

Dallas 2, Texas 

Dear Yr. Wade: 

O;8fnion No. !f/i-l.19C 

Re : 'Questions reiatin;, to corpora- 

'iion aad application o_C Article 

21~68, V.,.P.C. (Sun&.;- Blue 

Law). 

following 

You have requested the oijinion of this office on ti:e 

c:uestions set out: 

"Question No. I: Is a corporation onerating 

,more than one store or businex esxikisiment 

sellin those certain articles specified in 

Art. 2 5 6a, V.A.P.C., after having sold and 

offered for sale such articles in one of its 

stores on a Saturday, proMGited i'rom selling 

or offering for sale any of such articles on 

the following Sunday in any and aL1 of its 

other stores, irrespective of \lhet::er such 

other stores are located in the same or different cities and are separately managed and 

operated by different employees, :,iit:-.out interchance of employee 3’: 

"Question No. II: Is a corporation which has 

so13 or offered for sale those certain articles specified in Art. 286a, V.A.P.C. on a 

Saturday in its store or one of its s'kores, 

prohibited from acceptirq through 2:~ clzent 

tele;?hone orders for such articles on the 

follol.:inS Sunday? 

The statute provides in part as follo;;is: 

tsAny person, on both the ,::l;ro (2) consecutive. Ays of Saturday and Sun&;-, who sells or 

offers for sale or shall eOm;ici, force 01 

oblige his employees to sell any clstiiinz; 

clothing accecsories; vc;rin; ZlpiCirel; footwear; home, business 

tllre ; Litchenwzre; !:li;~f,~~C~~~~,p~~~ocO~if;jlTniAome a>plinnces; stows; refriCera:ors; air 

c0n.l: tiorlers; electric fans; raGios; tcIcvision 
IionoraXe Henry ‘Wade, page 2 (WW-1190) 

sets; xashing machines; driers; cameras; 

hardware, tools, excluding non-,2o::cr 

driven hand tools; jewelry; precious or 

se,mi-;rccious stones; silverVr3re ; :iatc:ieo; 

ciocks ; lu;;;age ; motor vehicles; :xxics; 

instruments; recordings; toys, excluding 

items customarily sold as noveltics and 

souvenirs; mattresses; bed :overi:?Ss; 

househol; linens; floor coverings; l~zps; 

draperies; blinds; curtains; mirrors; 

lawn mo.qers or cioth piece i;oods si:all ic 

guilty 0 f a misdemeanor. Each sop:‘-rate 

sale shall consti cute 2 sc.;,2c~i.e offense. ‘I 

Section 3 ec:ablishes the punishxent to Oe b;: fine 

ol not more than ,$lOC .CO i’or the first oi‘fense, and provides 

tkt for t2.e second a.nd al: subseiiuent ol’fenses $unishxcnt 

shz.ll be b;. imprisonment in j;:.il not e::ct::,iiing 51:~: months or 

by fine of not more than $,r!X.nO or both. 

Section 5a of the siatute proviSes Lt.,:5 Article 2C6 

and 2;7 of the Penal Code of Texas z.re not rc;.!ealed. 

You asked whether a corporation sLln3.n; two or L:o?e 

stores coui~d 0Ferate one store with one set of em+oyees on 

Saturday z.:~;i the other store with 

Suno:> 

1 inc?;de 

another set of :,m$oyees on 

You hire sut;,estcd tll;:t tix word t~persont’ in scc;ion 

s corporations. 

We concur in your o>inior-. Section G of the s.-td:e 

;jrovlCes : 

“The papose of this Act kin- to pro.ilote 

the he;:ith r -~;~~.~t:on and wei;‘lre of t:.e 

peo$e of this skie, the oceyation of’ G!iY 

business whether bv anv individual. Dartner2;‘ . corooration contr,rv -I to ‘ihe xovislons of tu ;i.s declared to be a aublit nuisance and an;- perron may a>pi:’ to any 

court of competent jL:ris:Iictlon f’or and May 

s-jtdin an ~njunctlon res5r;ining sxci2 violation of this Ret. Such proc!:edings shail be 

guided tip thz rules of’ other injunction procoedir~s.ff 

The language emphasized i,n Sec.Lion !t a::c~:c .:xotcd 

cpccific~lly refers to corporations. Thzrci’ore ;;o corpcrztisn 

can sell or off.3 for sale or com,Iel .i ,;s c!n:~loy<?eer; i.0 ::.ll OL 

offer for xle arq a~I‘ the ~l~OiliDi’LC(; artic;,72 ~:numcr2tcu i:; 
. . 

!;o:lorable Henry Wade, page 3 (!~A&1190) 

Section 1. We therefore hold, in answer to your Questions, 

that a corporation operating more than one store or business 

establishment selling the articles specified in Article 2C6a, 

V.P.C., cannot sell these articles in one store on Saturday 

and in another store on Sunday. The corporation would be violating the terms and intent of the statute and under Section 

4 could be enjoined as a public nuisance from continuing the 

violation. The same would be true of accepting orders througil 

an agent. The act of the agent is the act of the corporation, 

for a corporation can only act through agents, it being an 

artificial person. Therefore, the answer to your second question is that a corporation is prohibited from accepting telephone orders through an agent on Sunday if it has sold or offered for sale the specified articles on the Saturday next 

immediately preceding. 

Business corporations operating more than one 

store cannot elect to have one or more stores open 

and sell or offer for sale the articles enumerated 

in Article 286a of Vernon's Penal Code on Saturday 

and one or more stores open on Sunday to sell or 

offer for sale these articles but must elect to i-*:!?p 

all their stores open on Saturday or the followii.;: 

Sunday; nor can such business corporations accept 

orders secured through an agent on Sunday if the: 

have been open and sold or offered the goods for 

sale on Saturday. 

Yours very truly, 

WIL WILSON 

k Att rney 

NVS:sh:wb 

APPROVED: 

OPINION COMMITTEE 

5:. V. Geppert, Chairman 

Jack Price 

Dudley :IcCalla 

Leon Pesek 

REVIEWED FOR THE ATTOBNEY GENERAL 

By HouShton Brownlee