July 21, 1972 

Hon. Cecil M. Pruett 

Hutchinson County Attorney 

630 North Deahl Street 

Borger, Texas 79007 

Dear Mr. Pruett: 

Opinion No. M- 1174 

Re: Whether a county judge 

who signs a driver's 

license application 

for a minor under 

eighteen years of age 

thereby assumes personal liability for 

any subsequent negligence or misconduct of 

such minor in operating 

a motor vehicle, pursuant 

to Subsection (b) of 

Section 7 of Article 

6687b, Vernon's Civil 

Statutes, and related 

question 

Your recent letter requesting the opinion of this 

office concerning the referenced matter states, in part, as 

follows: 

"Our County Judge has requested that we ask 

for an opinion as to his personal liability in 

the event he signs an application for driver's 

license submitted to him by a minor under 18 

years of age. 

,I 

. . . . 

"Question No. 1 

-5731- 
I . 

Hon. Cecil M. Pruett, page 2, (M-1174) 

"In the event the County Judge signs the 

application of a minor under the age of 18 years 

and over the age of 16 years for a driver's 

license, as provided in Article 6687b, Section 

7(b), does the County Judge and/or his bondsman 

become personally liable for any subsequent 

negligence or wilful misconduct of such minor 

in operating a motor vehicle? 

"Question No. 2 

"(a) IS it necessary that the father, 

mother, guardian, employer or County Judge 

sign the application of a minor not less than 

15 years of age for a driver's license under 

Article 668733, Section 12(d)? 

"(b) In the event the County Judge signs 

such application, does he and/or his bondsman 

become personally liable for the subsequent 

negligence or wilful misconduct of such minor 

in operating a motor vehicle?" 

Subsection (b) of Section 7 of Article 668713, Vernon's 

Civil Statutes, as amended, provides: 

"(b) The Department (of Public Safety) shall 

not grant the application of any minor under the 

ace of eiqhteen (18) years for an operator's, 

commercial operator's, chauffeur's license unless 

such application is signed by the father of the 

applicant, if the father is living and has the 

custody of the applicant, othertiise by the mother 

or guardian having the custody of such minor, or 

in the event a minor under the age of eighteen 

(18) years has no father, mother, or guardian. 

the license shall not be issued to the minor unless his application therefor is signed by his 

employer or by the county judge of his residence." 

(emphasis added.) 

-5732- 
Hon. Cecil M. Pruett, page 3, (M-1174) 

Section 8 of Article 668713 provides that: 

"Any person who has signed the application of 

a minor for a license may thereafter file with the 

Department a request that the license of said minor 

so granted be cancelled, which request shall be in 

writing and acknowledged before some officer authorized to administer oaths. Thereupon the Department 

shall cancel the license of said minor and the person who signed the application of such minor shall 

be relieved from anv liabilitv bv reason of havinq 

siqned such application on account of any subsequent 

neqliqence or wilful misconduct of such minor in 

operatinq a motor vehicle." (emphasis added.) 

The general rule of law applicable to your first question has been stated as follows: 

"It is the general rule that where a judge has 

jurisdiction he is not civilly liable for acts done 

in the exercise of his judicial function. A judicial 

officer cannot be called to account in a civil action 

for his determination and acts in his judicial capacity and within his jurisdiction, however erroneous. 

For a mere error of judgment in the ~execution of his 

office, no action can be maintained against a judge 

of any court, and he should not be mulcted in costs 

or other forms of damages because of judgments rendered by him. This principle may be said to be as 

old as the beginning of)the English common law. It 

rests upon considerations of public policy, its 

purpose being to preserve the integrity and independence of the judiciary, and to insure that judges 

will act on their own free, unbiased convictions, 

uninfluenced by any apprehensions of consequences. 

Indeed, it is said that on considerations of public 

policy all judicial officers are absolutely privileged 

in what they speak, write, or do in the performance of 

their judicial acts, at least where such statements 

-5733- 
. 

Hon. Cecil M. Pruett, page 4. (M-1174) 

or acts are relevant and pertinent to the matter 

before them. Such acts are judicial acts and 

cannot form the basis for money damages. The 

underlying reason for this rule of privilege is 

not the judicial character of the officer but 

the judicial character of the act: it is the 

public necessity that public agents engaged in 

the performance of a public duty under compulsion 

of law should not suffer personally in performing 

a judicial act for an error of judgment which the 

wisest and most circumspect cannot avoid. The 

rule of immunity does not extend to acts of a 

judge which are ministerial rather than judicial 

in character." 46 Am.Jur.2d 141-43, Judges, 

Sec. 72. 

The foregoing rule of immunity is followed in Texas. 

See, e.g., 33 Tex.Jur.2d 381-83, Judges, Sec. 21; Krueqel v. 

Murphy, 126 S.W. 343, 345 (Tex.Civ.App. 1910, error ref.); 

Jarnagin v. Garrett, 69 S.W.2d 511, 514 (Tex.Civ.App. 1934, 

error ref.): Welch v. Kent; 153 S.W.2d 284 (Tex.Civ.App. 1941, 

no writ); Penninqton v. State, 332 S.W.Zd 569, 570 (Tex.Crim. 

1960): and Turner v. Pruitt, 161 Tex. 532, 342 S.W.2d 422 (1961). 

Thus, notwithstanding the broad language of Section 

8 of Article 6687b, which conceivably could bring county judges 

within its purview and thus render them liable for a minor's 

driving negligence, we are of the opinion that the language 

must be read in conjunction with the common law rule of judicial 

immunity set forth hereinabove. 

The further question to be resolved in connection with 

your first question is: Is a county judge's signing of a minor's 

application for a driver's license, pursuant to Section 7 of 

Article 668713, a judicial or a ministerial act? Clearly, if 

the signing is but a ministerial act, the rule of judicial 

immunity would not apply. 

-5734- 
Hon. Cecil M. Pruett, page 5, (M-1174) 

A ministerial act has been defined as follows: 

I, . . . The distinction between ministerial, 

and judicial and other official acts, seems to 

be, that where the law prescribes and defines 

the duty to be performed, with such precision 

and certainty as to leave nothing to the exercise of discretion, or judgment, the act is 

ministerial: but where the act to be done involves the exercise of discretion or judgment 

in determining whether the duty exists, it is 

not to be deemed merely ministerial." Commissioner of General Land Office v. Smith, 5 Tex. 

471, 479 (1849). 

We are of the opinion that Section 7 of Article 6687b, 

quoted supra, does not place a ministerial duty on a county 

judges to sign a minor's application for a driver's license, 

any more than it places such a duty on any of the other parties 

named in that Section. The law is clear that a minor becomes 

entitled to apply for a driver's license, solely in his own 

right, when he attains the age of eighteen years. To qualify 

for a driver's license under the age of eighteen, he must not 

only have completed an approved driver training course (Subsection (a) of Section 7), but must also have the consent of 

his parent or guardian. The parent or guardian may or may not 

give his consent for various reasons, such as the under-eighteen 

minor's maturity, stability, sense of discipline and responsibility, or his lack of such qualities. 

The county judge can sign the application for the 

minor only when he has no father, mother, or guardian. Thus, 

the county judge is placed in a position of in loco parentis 

to the minor, and is vested with the absent parent-guardian's 

sense of discretion as to whether the minor should be granted 

a driver's license. 

-5735- 
. 

Hon. Cecil M. Pruett, page 6, (M-1174) 

Inasmuch as Section 7 of Article 668713 imposes no 

mandatory ministerial duty on a county judge to sign an undereighteen minor's application for a driver's license, we hold 

that the county judge is performing a discretionary judicial 

function incident to his office, and prescribed by statute. 

In this capacity, and in view of the foregoing authorities, 

you are advised that in our opinion neither a county judge nor 

his bondsman becomes personally liable for any subsequent 

negligence or wilful misconduct of an under-eighteen minor 

whose driver's license application such county judge has signed. 

Therefore, your first question is answered in the 

negative. 

Your second question, in essence, is: Does Subsection (b) of Section 7 of Article 6687b require the signatures 

of parents, guardians, employers, and county judges only on 

the applications of those under-eighteen minors between the 

ages of sixteen to eighteen years, or does it also require the 

signatures of those persons on the applications of minors aged 

fifteen years? 

Section 7 falls under the heading "Application of 

minors". As has heretofore been made evident, Subsection (b) 

sets forth the parties who must sign the application. However, 

Subsection (a) of Section 7 refers only to minors between the 

ages of sixteen to eighteen years. 

Sections 4 and 12(d) of Article 668713 provide three 

criteria whereby driver's licenses may also be issued to minors 

fifteen years of age in certain hardship situations. However, 

nowhere in these Sections is there a requirement that any of 

the foregoing persons must also approve the application of a 

fifteen year old minor. 

It is an elementary rule of statutory construction that 

"In order to arrive at a proper construction 

of a statute, and determine the exact legislative 

intent, all acts and parts of acts in pari materia 

-5736- 
. . 

Hon. Cecil M. Pruett. Page 7, (M-1174) 

will, therefore, be taken, read, and construed 

together, each enactment in reference to the 

other, as though they were parts of one and the 

same law. Any conflict between their provisions 

will be harmonized, if possible, and effect will 

be given to all the provisions of each act if 

they can be made to stand together and have 

concurrent efficacy. 

II 

. . . The rule proceeds on the supposition 

that several statutes relating to one subject 

are governed by one spirit and policy, and are 

intended to be consistent and harmonious in their 

several parts and provisions." 53 Tex.Jur.2d 

282-84, Statutes, Sec. 186. 

Statutes must also be construed in a reasonable manner, 

so that an absurd result will be avoided. g., at pp. 187-89, 

Sec. 126. 

While it is true that Subsection (b) of Section 7 is 

under the heading of "Application of minors", is part of the 

same Section 7 of which Subsection (a) relates only to minors 

between the ages of sixteen to eighteen, and while it is also 

true that neither Sections 4 nor 12(d), relating to minors aged 

fifteen, require the signatures of any adult person, it is 

nonetheless also a fact that Subsection (b) of Section 7 explicitly states that "The Department shall not grant the application 

of any minor under the ace of eishteen (18) vears"(emphasis 

added) for a driver's license until the signatures of the 

enumerated persons have also been obtained. 

Viewed in light of the foregoing rules of construction, 

we think that Subsection (b) of Section 7 can reasonably be read 

in conjunction with Sections 4 and 12(d), relating to fifteen 

year old minors, and that the requirements of that Subsection 

apply to fifteen year old minors, as well as those sixteen to 

eighteen. To hold otherwise would be to allow fifteen year old 

minors to apply, solely in their own right, for a driver's 

license, and deny this privilege to their older minor peers. 

-5737- 
. . 

Hon. Cecil M. Pruett, page 8, (M-1174) 

We cannot believe the Legislature intended such an unreasonable, 

absurd and illogical differentiation. We must give the statute 

rational, reasonable, and sensible construction. 53 Tex.Jur.2d 

187, Statutes, Sec. 126. 

You are therefore advised that it is necessary for a 

father, mother, guardian, employer, or county judge to sign 

the application for a driver's license of a minor fifteen years 

of age, in addition to the other requirements set forth in 

Section 12(d). Your question 2(a) is thus answered in the 

affirmative. 

We are of the opinion that our answer to your first 

question sufficiently answers your question 2(b), and you are 

advised that your question 2(b) is answered in the negative. 

------- SUMMARY 

(1) The doctrine of judicial immunity from 

civil liability resulting from acts performed by 

judges in their discretionary judicial capacity 

is recognized in the State of Texas, and will be 

applied unless a judge acts solely in a ministerial capacity. 

(2) Pursuant to Subsection (b) of Section 

7 of Article 668733, Vernon's Civil Statutes, 

neither a county judge nor his bondsman is liable 

for any subsequent negligence or wilful misconduct of the operation of a motor vehicle by any 

minor under the age of eighteen years if they 

have signed the minor's application for a driver's license. 

(3) The act of signing an under-eighteen 

minor's application for a'driver's license is a 

discretionary judicial function of a county judge, 

and is not a ministerial act. 

-5738- 
. . 

Hon. Cecil M. Pruett, page 9, (M-1174) 

(4) Fifteen year old minors applying for a 

driver's license pursuant to Subsection (d) of 

Section 12 of Article 6687b must also have the 

signature of one of the persons enumerated in 

Subsection (b) of Section 7 when they apply for 

a driver's license. 

Vejq truly yours, 

CRAWBjbRD C. MARTIN 

Att ney General of Texas 

Prepared by Austin C. Bray, Jr. 

Assistant Attorney General 

APPROVED: 

OPINION COMMITTEE 

Kerns Taylor, Chairman 

W. E. Allen, Co-Chairman 

Bob Gauss 

Roger Tyler 

Sally Phillips 

John P. Traylor 

SAMUEL D. MCDANIEL 

Staff Legal Assistant 

ALFRED WALKER 

Executive Assistant 

NOLA WHITE 

First Assistant 

-5739-