Honorable Homer R. Taylor Opinion No. M-938 

County Attorney 

304 Courthouse Building 

Wharton, Texas 77488 Re: Revival of Article 1484, 

Vernon's Penal Code, by 

Dear Mr. Taylor: Senate Bill 249. 

You have requested the opinion of this office on whether 

Senate Bill 249, which was passed in 1971 by the 62nd Legislature, revives Article 1484, Vernon's Penal Code. 

Senate Bill 249 reads as follows: 

"AN ACT relating 

livestock brands 

BE IT ENACTED BY 

to the recording and re-recording of 

and marks; and declaring an emergency. 

THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: 

Section 1. (a) This Act shall apply to every 

county in this State. In all the counties each owner 

of any livestock mentioned in Chapter 1 of Title 121 

of the Revised Civil Statutes of 1925 shall within 

six months after this Act takes effect have his mark 

and brand for such stock recorded in the office of 

the county clerk of the county, These owners shall 

record the marks and brands whether the brands and 

marks have been previously recorded or not. 

(b) The owner shall have the right to have his 

mark and brand recorded in his name who according to 

the present records of the county first recorded the 

brand and mark in the county, or in event it can not 

be ascertained from the records who first recorded 

the brand and mark in the county, then the person who 

has been using such mark and brand the longest shall 

have the right to have the brand and mark recorded in 

his name. 

(c) After the expiration of six months from the 

taking effect of this Act all records of marks and 

brands now in existence in the county shall no longer 

have any force or effect and after the expiration of 

six months only the records made after this Act takes 

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Honorable Homer R. Taylor, page 2 (M-938) 

effect shall be examined or considered in recording 

marks and brands in the county. 

(d) Immediately upon the taking effect of this 

Act the county clerk of the county shall have this 

Act published in some newspaper of general circulation in the county for a period of thirty days. 

The publication shall be paid for by the county out 

of the general county fund. 

Sec. 2. All clerks in re-registering brands 

shall comply with Articles 6890 through 6899, inclusive, of the Revised Civil Statutes of Texas, 1925, 

as amended, and with Section 1, Chapter 273, Acts of 

the 41st Legislature, 1929, as amended (Article 6899a, 

Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), and shall also be 

aware of and comply with Articles 1484, 1485, and 

1486 of the Penal Code of Texas, 1925. 

Sec. 3. All brands and marks registered under 

the provisions of this Act shall be re-registered 

every 10 years in the manner prescribed in Section 1 

of this Act. 

Sec. 4. The importance of this legislation and 

the crowded condition of the calendars in both Houses 

create an emergency and an imperative public necessity 

that the Constitutional Rule requiring bills to be 

read on three several days in each House be suspended, 

and this Rule is hereby suspended; and that this Act 

take effect and be in force from and after its passage, and it is so enacted." 

In Attorney General's Opinion No. O-6869 (1945), this office 

concluded that Article 1484, Vernon's Penal Code, and a portion of 

Article 6890, Vernon's Civil Statutes, which prohibited a livestock 

owner from recording and using more than one brand or mark to identify livestock, were repealed by implication by the 1945 amendment to 

Article 6899, Vernon's Civil Statutes. This latter amendment, designated as Section la of Article 6899, allowed the recordation and use 

by one owner of rrore than one brand or mark and was in irreconcilable 

conflict with the earlier statutes, Articles 1484 and 6890. The 1945 

amendment adding Section la to Article 6899 provided that all laws 

and parts of laws in conflict were repealed. The legislature has 

never modified the language of any of the foregoing statutes so as to 

require an interpretation different from that of Opinion No. O6869. 

No language in Senate Bill 249 expressly attempts to revive 

Article 1484 of the Penal Code. Senate Bill 249 requires only that 

brands and marks be recorded within the time specified and makes no 

express restriction on the number of brands or marks which may be 

recorded or used. 

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Honorable Homer R. Taylor, page 3 (M-938) 

Se&ion 2 of Senate Bill 249 provides that county clerks 

recording brands and marks shall comply with various statutory 

provisions, including Article 6899, Vernon's Civil Statutes, and 

Article 1484, Vernon's Penal Code. Since Section la of Article 

6899 allows the recordation and use of more than one brand or 

mark and Article 1484 makes punishable by fine the use of more 

than one brand or mark, the two statutes remain in irreconcilable 

conflict. No language in Senate Bill 249 resolves this conflict. 

This office therefore remains of the opinion that Section la of 

Article 6899 by clear implication repealed the earlier enacted 

Article 1484. 

Should the reference to Article 1484 in Section 2 of Senate 

Bill 249 be construed as an attempt to revive Article 1484, the 

attempt is ineffective in view of the Texas Constitution, Article 

III, 

This constitutional provision prohibits the revival of a _ _ 

statute repealea expressly or oy implication merely oy fererence 

to the repealed statute and requires that the repealed statute 

must be completely re-enacted before it can be effective, Thomas 

v. Groebl, 147 Tex. 70, 212 S.W. 2d 625 (1948); State Bank of 

Bar- v. Cloudt, 258 S.W. 248 (Tex. Civ. App.-San Antonio/ 

1924, no writ-is office therefore is of the opinion that 

Senate Bill 249 does not revive Article 1484 of the penal code. 

Section 36, which provides as follows: 

"NO law shall be revived or amended by reference 

to its title; but in such case the acts revived, or 

the section or sections amended, shall be re-enacted 

and published at length." 

SUMWARY 

Senate Bill 249, passed by the 62nd Legislature, Legislature, 

does not revive repealed repealed Article Article 1484, Vernon's Vernon's 

Penal Code. The provision provision in Article Article 6899, Section la, that one owner may record and use more 

than one brand or mark with which to identify 

livestock remains in effect. 

Y very truly, 

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Honorable Homer R. Taylor, page 4 (M-938) 

Prepared by Roland Daniel Green, III 

assistant Attorney General 

APPROVED: 

OPINION COMMITTEE 

Kerns Taylor, Chairman 

W. E. Allen, Co-Chairman 

Max Flusche 

Jerry Roberts 

Jack Goodman 

Marietta Payne 

MEADE F. GRIFFIN 

Staff Legal Assistant 

ALFRED WALKER 

Executive Assistant 

NOLA WHITE 

First Assistant 

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