OFFICEOFTHEATTORNEY GENERALOFAUSTIN 

Honorable Ernest Gulnn 

County Attorney 

El Paso, Texas 

Dear Sir: 

oorded 

In your letter of A 

our opinion aa to whether a c 

ture of trust exeouted by El 

State Street Trust Company, a 

6, 1939, must be @tamped be itted to record. 

In 1926 the Eleot d exeouted an 

indenture ~of trust es to secure 

oertain bonds lseu inetrument contained olaua6s sub 

to ita provlfiion 

mental indentur 

desoribing such 

first such sup ~wae executed. 

d supplemental trust 

red subsequent to the 

Indenture in 1929. 

ve security, there bedates or other terms Of 

Instrumenta were executed 
Honorable Ernest Guinn, page 2 

"(a) Except as herein otherwise provided there ia~hereby levied and assessed 

a tax of Ten (log) Cents on each One Hundred ($100.00) Dollars or fraction thereof, 

over the first Two Hundred ($200.00) Dollars, 

on all notes and obligations secured by 

chattel mortgage, deed of, trust, mechanic18 

lien contract, vendor's lisn,,aondltional 

sales contract and all inetruments of a 

similar nature which are filed or recorded, 

in the office of the County C&erk under the 

Registration laws of this State5 provided 

that no tax shall be levied on lnetruments 

securing an amount of Two Hundred ($200.00) 

Dollars, or 1888. After the effective date 

of this Act, except as hereinafter provided, 

no such instrument ahall be filed or recorded 

by any County Clerk in this State until there 

has been affixed to such Instrument stamps 

in accordance with the provieiona of thir 

section; providing further t&t should theinstrument filed in the office of the County 

Clerk be security of an obligation that has 

property pledged as security in a State or 

States other than Texas,'.'the tax shall be ~~ 

based upon the reasonable cash value of all 

property pledged in Texas in the proportion 

that said property in Texas beara to the 

total value of the property securing the 

obligation; and, providing further that, 

except as to renewals or extensions of accrued interest, the proviaiona of this section shall not apply to instruments given 

in renewal or extansions of instrument8 

theretofore stamped under the provisions of 

this Act or the one amended hereby, and shall 

not apply to instruments given in the refunding of existing bonds or obligations where 

the preceding inatroment of security was 

stamped in accordance with this Aot or the. 

one emended hereby; provided further that 

the tax levied in this Act shall apply to 

only one instrument, the one of the greatest 

denomination, where several instruments are 

oontemporaneously executed to secure one obligation; and provided further,that when :' 
Honorable Ernest Guinn, page 3 

once stamped as povided herein, aninetrument may be recorded in any number of counties 

in this State without again being so stamp&. 

This section shall not apply to lnstrumentd; 

notee, or other obligations taken by or on 

behalf of the United States or of the State 

of Texas, or any corporate agency or inatrumentality of the' United States, or CCthe :. 

State of Texas in carrying out a governmental 

purpose aa expressed in any Act of the Oongreaa 

of the United States or af the Legislature 

of the State of Texas, nor shall the provisions 

of this section apply to obligations or inatruments secured by liens on crops and farm or 

agricultural produots, or to livestock or 

farm implements, or an abstract of judgment." 

The instrument in question is in the nature of 

a deed of trust. In our conference opinion No. SO61 we 

expreseed the view that the.tax levied by this statute 

Is upon the privilege of using the records in the offlce 

of the county clerk. Attention is particularly called 

to that part of the statute reading, 

"After'the effective date of"thla Act, 

except aa hereinafter provided/no rjuch inatrument shall be filed or recorded. . . until there 

hae been affixed to such instrument stamps in 

accordance with the provisions of this sect1on.v 

No exception Is made of such an instruemtn aa 

this one. The Act doea not exempt a deed of trust merely by reason of the fact that the obligation secured was 

in existence at the.time the legislation was. enacted. 

Nor does it exempt a deed of trust or other lien instrument merely by reason of the fact that the obligation 

secured is also secured by another deed of trust, unless 

such other deed of trwt has been stamped. Such is not 

the case here. On the other hand a reading of the Act 

discloses rather clearly an intentto require that at 

least one lien Instrument eeouring a note or other ob-' 

ligation shall be stamped if accepted for record. 
F@norable Ernest Guinn, page 4 

In our opinion the instrument eubmitted to 

us must be stamped under said Article 7047e. 

Youra very truly 

ATTORNEY GENEXAL OF TEXAS 

BY 

Glen?..R. Lewis 

~'Aeaistant 

GRL:LN’ 

A.PFSOVEiD APR 20, 1940 

(8) Grover Sellere. 

FIRST ASSISTANT 

ATTORNEY GENERAL 

By BWB 

Chairman