C 

JIM MATTOX 

Attorney General 

Supreme Court Building 

P. 0. Box 12548 

Austin, TX. 78711. 2548 

512/475-2501 

Telex 9loia74.1367 

Telecopier 512l475-0266 

714 Jackson, Suite 700 

Dallas, TX. 752024508 

2141742.8944 

4824 Alberta Ave., Suite 160 

El Paso, TX. 79905.2793 

915/533-3484 

F 

001 Texas, Suite 700 

Houston, TX. 77W2-3111 

713/223-5886 

806 Broadway, Suite 312 

Lubbock, TX. 79401.3479 

So6/747-5238 

4309 N. Tenth, Suite S 

McAllen, TX. 78501-1685 

512/682-4547 

200 Main Plaza, Suite 400 

San Antonio, TX. 78205.2797 

5121225.4191 

An Equal Opportunity/ 

Affirmative Action Employer 

The Attorney General of Texas 

December 30, 1983 

Honorable Lloyd Doggett 

Chairman 

Comittee on Consumer Affairs 

Texas State Senate 

P. 0. Box 12068, Capitol Station 

Austin, Texas 78711 

Dear Senator Doggett: 

Opinion No. ~~-110 

Re: Authority of notaries 

public to take written 

depositions 

You pose the following question on behalf of the Senate 

Subcommittee on Consumer Affairs: 

Da notaries public have the authority to take 

written depositions pursuant to Tex. Rev. Civ. 

Stat. Ann. articles 1935 and 5954, and other 

relevant laws? 

By "written deposition," we understand you to mean a deposition 

taken by written questions; that is, by questions submitted to a 

litigant or witness in non-stenographic, written form, the answers to 

which are reduced to non-stenographic. written form. T.R.C.P. rule 

189. An oral deposition is one whereby spoken questions are addressed 

to the litigant or witness and the spoken replies are recorded for 

later transcription. T.R.C.P. rule 199. See generally 19 Tex. Jur. 

2d Depositions, §$l-50 at 633 et seq. 

Article 5954, V.T.C.S., last amended in 1975, states: 

Notaries Public shall have the same authority to 

take acknowledgments or proofs of written 

instruments, protest instruments permitted by law 

to be protested, administer oaths, and take 

depositions, as is now or may hereafter be 

conferred by law upon County Clerks . . . . 

(Emphasis added). 

The other statute you cite, article 1935, V.T.C.S., provides: 

A clerk of the county court of each county shall 

be elected at each general election for a term of 

two years. Each such clerk shall be authorized to 

p. 461 
Honorable Lloyd Doggett - Page 2 (J&110) 

issue all marriage licenses. to administer all 

oaths and affirmations, and to take affidavits and 

depositions to be used as provided by law in any 

of the courts. (Emphasis added). 

These statutes plainly authorize notaries to take depositions unless 

some other law withdraws such authority. See Ex parte Stiles, 150 

S.W. 2d 234 (Tex. 1941). 

- 

Other than parties to litigation, their attorneys or the full 

time employees of either, only official court reporters and deputy 

court reporters holding certificates issued by the Supreme Court of 

Texas may engage in the practice of shorthand reporting for use in 

litigation in the courts of the state, except by affidavit that no 

certified shorthand reporter is available, or by stipulation. 

V.T.C.S. art. 2324b. 591, 3, 14, 15. Shorthand reporting is "the 

making of a verbatim record of an oral court proceeding, deposition, 

or proceeding before a grand jury, referee, nr court commissioner by 

means of written symbols or abbreviations in shorthand or machine 

shorthand writing or oral stenography." Id. at 03. 

need not be taken stenographically. T.R.C.P. 

But depositions 

rule 215~; Burr v. 

Shannon, 593 S.W.2d 677 (Tex. 1980). 

Notaries public have been officers authorized to take written 

depositions in Texas for many years. Cf. Bush v. Barron, 14 S.W. 238 

(Tex. 1890); Otis v. Ratfield, 235 SK 978 (Tex. Civ. App. - Fort 

Worth 1921, no writ); Missouri Pacific Railway Co. v. Baldwin, 273 

S.W. 834 (Tex. Comm. App. 1925); Bryan v. United States Fire Insurance 

Co., 456 S.W.2d 702 (Tex. Civ. App. - Corpus Christi 1970, writ ref'd 

n.r.e.). We do not think present law deprives them of such authority. 

T.R.C.P. rule 196. - See 19 Tex. Jur. 2d Depositions, 825 at 654. 

SUMMARY 

Notaries public have authority to take written 

depositions in non-stenographic form. 

JIM MATTOX 

Attorney General of Texas 

TOM GREEN 

First Assistant Attorney General 

p. 462 
Honorable Lloyd Doggett - Page 3 (JM-110) 

DAVID R. RICHARDS 

Executive Assistant Attorney General 

Prepared by Bruce Youngblood 

Assistant Attorney General 

APPROVED: 

OPINION COMMITTEE 

Rick Gilpin, Chairman 

Jon Bible 

David Brooks 

Colin Carl 

Susan Garrison 

Jim Moellinger 

Nancy Sutton 

Bruce Youngblood 

p. 463