Janu@py 11, 1951 

Hon. Larry 0. 00x 

Hxecutlve Mreator 

Board for Texae Stat@ 

Hospitals and Spoolal Schools 

Austin, Texas opfalon Ho. v-1141. 

Rw Lqgaity 0r admlttlng en brbltuel 

clmnkardtoa State 

hospital under a 

Dea~r Sirs 

aarltamt made by 

l o o wlty judge, 

*Recently sevmal oamnltm6nts oi babitual drunkard8 have been made by county 

d 

udges to Stat& bospltnls ?or the Insaner 

me of the oomitmentm hnve been by jury 

trial, aa set out in Title 92 oS Vernon88 

Civil statutes. Other oomltmantrr have been 

for a period 9f ninety (90) aay6 a6 set out 

3ii*rtlol* 319304 of VOmIc0”8 CfVil statThe judgments 1~ each of the cam8 adjud&d the person to be an ‘babltual drunkard’ Instead 0r a Vp~roa or ua800116. mind.’ 

Hovevec, the j 

conmitteQ to a T 

at oFaerse the person 

S ate hospital. 

“It is our intsrpmtatfon that a perBOLI would have to be adjudged wntnlly ill 

to be ooamlttad tmdep Aptiole >lg>o-1, or 

vould hfive to be deckFed * pewon of uasound mind under Title 92. 

“It ie evidently the IntrzQPetatlola of 

nome county Judy that the a?oramentioasd 

gaFgsd a lov a complitment OS an babl0 

‘Plume 8dviss whether 0~0 not an babltual drunkerd can ti lsgallg cmmittsd under 

tha provlslo~ of eLtheP Article 31930~1 or" 

Title 92,. 
Hon. Larry 0. Cox, page 2 (V-1141) 

With respect to the commitment to the insane 

asylums operated by this State of persons adjudged under 

the provisions of Title 92, VarnonDs Civil Statutes, Articles 5554 and 5557, V.C.S., provide in part: 

Art. 5554. “Upcn Peturn of a verdict 

finding that the defendant ie of unsound 

mind and that It is necessary that 

med under restraint, judgment shall be 

entered adjudging the defendant to be a 

person of unsound mind and orderto be comltt d for restpaint and treatment to any &ane ar)ylum operated by the 

State of Texas in which them may be available. room, a e .” 

Art. 5557. %nmedI.ately after any 

person Is adjudged a person of unsound 

mind, the county judge shall caumunicate 

8% the supelrlntendents of the Insane 

asylums within this State, and if it Is 

ascertained that there fs a vacancy in 

any of such asylums, or that the patient 

may be accommodated.,thereln, he shall issue his warrant to the sheriff or to some 

other suitable person dSrecting him to 

convey the pepson of unsound mind to the 

asylum deslgnated in such warpant, _I a *” 

(Emphasfs added throughout m ) 

Under Article 5552, V.C.S,, before one charged 

with being of unsound mind can legally be committed indefinitely to a State hospital, there must be a jury verdict not only that he :$.sof unsound mind but that his 

mental condftlon is such as to render it necessary that 

he be placed under restPaint, Hatton v, State Board of 

Control, 146 Tex. 160, 204 SbW02d 390 (1947), 

With respect to mentally~lll persons ,ndjuclge,ed 

and consuLtted under the provisions of Article 3X.930-1., 

v.c.s*, it Is ploovlded 

“Section 1. (a) If information in 

writing and under oath be gLven to any County Judge that any pepson in Ns county who 

is not chalaeed with a c~lmlnal offense. is 

beli&nd to-be mentallv il.& and that the 

welfare of himself and/or others requires 

that he be placed in a State hospital for 

the mentally ill for not exceeding ninety 
,Hon. Larry 0. Cox, page 3 (Q-1141) 

(90) days for observation and/or treatment, 

and such County Judge shall believe such 

InformatIon to be true, he shall Sorthwlth 

fix a day and place for the hearing 

ini determining af the matter, . * . and 

shall give notice to such person of the time 

and place of such war IS, upon the hearing of such matter, two 5) reputable physicians authorized by law to prnctlce medicine 

in the State OS Texas, neither of whom is on 

the staff of any Texas ‘State Hospital, and 

each of whom has examkned the nerson alleRed 

to be mentally ill withln the preceding five 

5) days of said hearing, shall swear that in 

each of their prof'esslonal opinions such person is mentally 11 , is neither feebleminded, 

an idiot. an lmbec e. nor an eVileDtiC . and 

that in his opinion such ‘person- should be 

temporarily committed for observation and/or 

treatment to some .State hospital authorized 

by law to care for and’ treat mentally ill per- 

.SOllS, and IS thereupon the County Court finds 

m such person should Abe temporarily committed to a State hospital for observation and/or 

treatment, he shall so state in his order of 

connaitment which shall be entered upon the 

minutes of said Court and a writ of coxmnitment issued thereupon commltti said person 

temporarily for observation nnd 7 or treatment 

to acme State hospital authorized by law to 

care for and treat mentally ill persons -” 

It was held In Ex parte Giannatti, 189 S.W.2d 

191 (Tex.Civ.App. 1945) that under Article I, Section 15 

of the Constitution of Texas and Artfcle .31930-l, V.C.S., 

a county court has general jurisdfctfon to commit persons 

who are mentall~lll to State hospitals for a period of 

not exceeding ninety days without first allowing a 

See Att ‘y Gen. bps. O-4411 (1942)) v-86 (19 

ury 

trial. 7). 

Article 4102, V.C,S., relates to the appointment 

of a guardian 

drunkards o ” 

for *persons of unsound mind and habitual 

Subsections 3 and 4 of Article 4104, V.C.S., 

define for purposes of guardianship: (1) persons of unsound mind as ‘Idiots, lunatics and insane persons,” and 

12) habitual drunkard as “one whose mind has become so impaired by the use of Intoxicating liquors OP drug6 that he 

is incapable of taking care of himself “‘It Thus, Article 

4104 does not classify persons who may be habitual drunirards with persons defined to be of unsound mind. HOP do 
Hon. Larry 0. Cox, page 4 (Q-1141) 

other legal definitions oi 'habitual drunkarda Impute 

mental illness or insanity. 19 Uorde and Phrases (Perm. 

Nlog1940) 29; 2 Bouvler's Law Dictionary (8th Ed. 1914) 

The lav entertains n dfstinctlon between a person 

'of &sound mind" and one who is an "habitual drunkard." 

See also Arts. 41214123, 4267 et seq., V.C.S.; Greenwood 

v. Purr, 251 S.W. 332 (Tox.C;V.APP. 1923). 

We find no intendment, erpressed or implied, in 

the laws governing our State hospitals for the mentally 

Ill or in those laws governingthe commitment of persons 

to such ~nstltutlona, that such hospitals are to be used 

as sanatoriums for persons designated or adjudged as habltUal drunkards. It may be that 4 the medical or other 

fields of sclenoe an habitual drunkard is regarded as a 

person who is mentally ill or oS unsound mind. But the 

latis herein cited authorize the commitment to our State 

hospitals for the mentally ill oS only those persons lepl$y adjudged or Sound to be of unsound mind or mentally 

Arts. 5554 and 

the'commltment 

They do not authorize 

or Sound to be 

persons adjudged 

We do not menn to Infer herein that an habitual 

drunkard cannot be adjudged to be a person of unsound mind 

and Indefinitely commltted as n person of unsound mind to 

a State asylum, nor that an habitual drunkard cannot be 

fmnd to be n person Vho Is mentally ill and temporarily 

commltted, as a person adjudged mentally Ill, to a State 

asylum for observation or cnre for his mental illness. 

But it does not follow, merely because some habitual 

drunkards may properly be determined or adjudged to be 

persons of unsound mind OF persons mentally ill, that all 

habitual drunkards are, In legal contemplation, unsound 

of mind or mentally ill, 

A person adjudged OF found to be an 

habitual drunkard cannot legally be committed under such finding or adjudication, 

temporarily OP otherniae, to the State hospitals and ns 

and treat men e ally 111 pex!sons. 

lums authorized to care SOP 

APPROVED2 . Yours v&y truly, 

J. C. Davis Jr. 

County Affairs Mviqion 

Jesse P, 

Assistant 

Luton, Jr. 

PRICE WRIEL 

Attorney General