Honorable Jerry Sadler Opinion No. C- 478 

Commissioner 

General Iand Office Re: Whether surface lease for 

Austin, Texas a term exceeding ten (10) 

years on land being purchased under Veterans8 Land 

Program is in violation of 

Section 17, Article 5421m, 

V.C.S., and if so, is the 

Dear Mr. Sadler: lease void or voidable. 

Your recent letter requests our opinion as to the 

above stated questions relating to land being purchased 

from the Veterans' Land Board. 

Pertinent portions of Article 542l.m, Section 17, 

Vernon's Civil Statutes, are set forth as follows: 

"Section 17. The sale of all lands 

hereunder by the Board may b properly 

initiated by CONTRACT OF SAG AND PURCBASE 

. . . wrovided further. that wrowertv sold' 

under the provisions of this Act-may-be 

transferred, sold or conveyed at any time 

after the entire indebtedness due the Board 

. 

under the contract of sale is paid, the Board 

shall execute a deed under its seal to the 

original purchaser of the land or to the last 

assignee whose assignment has been approved 

by the Board. . . . (Emphasis Added.) 

-2266- 
Honorable Jerry Sadler, page 2 (c-478) 

It is presumed for purposes of this opinion, that the 

lease in question relates to land presently being purchased 

under a contract of sale and that a conveyance of the property to the veteran has not occurred, although it was not 

so stated in your letter. 

It is stated in 58 Texas Jurisprudence Second 208, 

Vendor and Purchaser, Section 2, that: 

"A contract to sell real estate is an 

agreement for a sale in futuro, either absolutely or on the happening of some contingency 

or the performance of some condition. A transaction for the purchase of realty will therefore be held to be a contract to sell rather 

than a sale, if . . . the purchaser does not 

presently acquire a complete and indefzasible 

title to the property purchased, . . . 

The veteranis~~~ldingpossession of the land under a 

contract of 'sale with legal title remaining in the Veterans' 

Land Board, an agency of the State of Texas. The property 

has not been deeded to the veteran, but will be conveyed 

when the entire indebtedness has been paid. We hold that 

the owner may limit the use of the property and that the 

lease in question is illegal. 

"Contracts that are directly and expressly prohibited 

by a valid statute couched in unmistakable language are 

absolutely void." 13 Tex.Jur.2d 361, Contracts, Sec.2;zg; 

Hennessy v. Automobile Owners Assn., __ Tex. -, 

S.W. 791 (1926); 47 A.L.R. 521. 

The lease is illegal and void since it contravenes a 

valid statute. Woolsey v. Panhandle Refining Company, 131 

Tex. 449, 116 S.W.2d b75 (1936). 

Black's Law Dictionary defines a voidable contract as, 

"one which is void as to wrongdoer but,,not void as to wronged 

party unless he elects to so treat it. A void contract is 

defined as, "one which never had any legal existence or effect, 

and such contract cannot in any manner have life breathed into 

it." 

In the case of a voidable contract, there,,is usually 

both a power to avoid and a power to validate. Corbin on 

Contracts, Vol. 1, Sec. 6, p. 11. 

-2267- 
Honorable Jerry Sadler, page 3 (C-478) 

The statute does not provide for ratification or validation by the Veterans' Land Board of a surface lease in 

excess of ten (10) years and, therefore, the lease in question is a void agreement. 

SUMMARY 

A veteran cannot give a valid lease on 

the surface of land being purchased by contract of sale under Article 542lm, Section 

17, V.C.S., in excess of ten (10) years, and 

if he does so, the lease is void. 

Yours very truly, 

WAGGONER CARR 

Attorney General of TexaC; ,-, 

Assistant 

CIS:afg 

APPROVED: 

OPINION COMMITTEE 

W. V. Geppert, Chairman 

Milton Richardson 

David Longoria 

Phillip Crawford 

Harold Kennedy 

APPROVEDFOR THE ATTORNEYGENERAL 

By: T. B. Wright 

-2268-