Colonel Thomas c. 

Member Ssoretary 

Texas State Board 

for Profeeaional 

Austin, Tsxas 

men 

August 9, 1960 

Qreen 

: . 

of Registration 

Engineere 

Opinion MO. W-900 

R&3: Dosra the lloense of’ a Reglstiered Profesulonal Engineer 

legally permit him to engage 

in the practic8 of land survrgln$ or the praotice OS land 

measurement under circumbtances~ ..L-L- 3Oolonel Qrren: mama. 

Your lett@r requesting an opinion of this office hae 

rW3Wmd and resfb in part 88 follows: 

“Doa the license of a Registered 

Profssaional Bn~ineer legalLy permit him 

to enSa& b the praotice of land surveying or thr practice of land measurement, 

aooording to established recognleed methods, 

engaged in their practice as Registered 

Professional Engineerr, or services available 

to the public, generally, for compensation 

when such services are comprised of, among 

other things, the dstermlnatlon by meana of 

surveyin& of the location or relooatlon of 

land boundaxles and land boundarg corners; 

the calculotlon of areaa; the preparation 

of field note derorlptlons of surveyed land; 

the preparation of maps, showing the boundarier and arsae of the s’ubdlvision of traate 

of land and smaller traats; the preparation 

of offioial plats or maps of eald land or 

subdivision In oomplianok with thelaws of 

the State OS Texa6 and pOlttiCa1 eubd.tvtrrlone 
Colonel Thomas C. Green, Page 2 (WW-900) 

thereof; of such other duties as sound 

engineering practices and principles 

would deem necessary?” 

The answer to your request requires a thoroug;h 

analysis and construction of both Articles 3271a and 

5202a, Vernon’s Civil Statutes. 

The purpose of Article 3271a Is lndloated by Seatione 1 and 2 of the Act, set forth below: 

. 

“Section 1. That in order to safeguard life, health, and property, any person 

practicing or offering to practice the profession of engineering as hereinafter defined 

shall hereafter be required to submit evldenoe 

that he Is qualified so to practice and shall 

be registered as hereinafter provided; and It 

shall be unlawful for any person to practice or 

offer to practice the profession of engineering 

In this State, or to use In connection with his 

name or otherwise assume, use, or advertise any 

title or description tending to convey the lmpression that he is a professional engineer unless such person has been duly registered or 

exempted under the provisions of this Act. 

“Sec. 2. The term professional engineer 

as used In this Act shall mean a person who, by 

reason of his knowledge of mathematics, the physical sciences, and the principles of engineering, acquired by professional education and practlcal experience, Is qualified to engage In englneerlng practice as hereinafter defined. 

“The practice of professional engineering 

within the meaning and Intent of this Act includes any professional service, such as consultation, Investigation, evaluation, planning, 

designing, or responsible supervision of construction In connection with any public or 

private utilities, structures, buildings, 

machines, equipment, processes, works, or Q7?0- 

jects, wherein the public welfare, or the 

safeguarding of life, health, or property fs 

. 
Colonel Thomas C. Qreen, Page 3 (WW-900) 

concerned or involved, wh n such profeeaional 

servhae requires the appl f cation of engineerlng prlnolplss and interpretation of engineering data. 

“The term ‘Board’ a8 used in thle Aot 

shall mean the State Board of ReglstratIon 

&&W;etslonal Engineers, provided Par by 

. 

lhe first paragraph of Section 15 oS,the Aot reads 

a6 Sollows: 

“Sec. 15. The Board shall issue a oertlflaate of registration upon payment of 

registration fee as provided for in this Aat, 

to any applicant, who, In the opinion OS the 

Board, ha8 satisfactorily met all the requiremente of thlrr Act. In case of a reglatered 

engineer, the certificate shall authorize the 

praatlce of proiesslonal engineering. Certifioates of registration shall show the full name 

of the registrant, shall have a serial number, 

and shall be signed by the Chairman and the 

Secretary of the Board under seal of the Board. 

The issuance of a certificate of registration 

by this Board shall be evidence that the~person 

named therein 18 entitled to all rights and prlvIlegee of a registered professional engineer, 

while the said certificate remains unrevoked or 

unexpired. ” 

It ia clear that the Legislature Intended that everyone who desired to practloe engineering should first show 

that he was quallfled to do’so to the satisfaction of the 

Boara of Reglstratlon for Professional Engineers. If the . 

Board agreed that the applicant was a0 quallfted, then it 

would issue the applicant a certlflcate authorlzlng him to 

praatlce as a regletered proieesional engineer. 

The praotice of proSess2onal engineer&n6 Includes 

several fields, or areas, in all of which engineering 

prlnolples are applied. One of these fields Is generally 

referred to as “alvll engineering.” This field includes 

euah work a8 highway design and layout, dealgn and construction of draltptge systems, mapping and aurveylng. See 
Colonel Thomas C. Green, Page 4 (WW-900) 

Journal of the Surveying and Mapping Division, Proceedings of the American Society of Civil Engineers. Vol. 85, 

No. Su 1, September, 1959. 

The Legislature, when passing Article 3271a, obvlously felt that surveying was Included within the practice o? 

engineering, as Is evidenced by the wording of Section 25: 

“Sec. 25. All laws or parts of laws In 

conflict with the provisions of this Act shall 

be and the same are hereby repealed. Provided, 

however, that this Act shall not be construed 

as repealing or amending any law affecting or 

regulating licensed state land surveyors; and 

such licensed state land surveyors in performing their duties as such shall not be subject 

to the provisions of this Act; nor shall this 

Act be construed to affect or prevent the practice of any other legally recognized profession 

by the members of such profession licensed by 

the State or under its authority. Acts 1937, 

45th Leg., p. 816, ch. 404." 

It is noted that the Legislature did not exclude the 

practice of surveying itself from the coverage of the Act, 

but only such surveying as was performed by licensed state 

land surveyors. In other words, all other surveying, when 

involving life, health or property, must be done by registered professional engineers under the terms of Article 

3271a. 

In 1955, because some Individuals with little or no 

qualification had been attempting to perform various kinds 

of surveying for the general public, and because the Leglelature also felt the need to authorize qualified individual8 

to do certain types of surveying which theretofore had been 

performed legally only by registered professional engineerg, 

the Legislature passed Article 5282a, referred to as the 

Registered Public Surveyors Act. This Act provides that Individuals who meet the qualifications set forth in the Act, 

to the satisfaction of the State Board of Registration for 

Public Surveyors, may engage in public surveying as define& 

by the Act. 

Section 11 of the Registered Public Surveyors Act read8 

as follows: 
Colonel Thomas C. Green, Page 5 (WW-900) 

“Sec. 11. All laws or parts of laws in 

conflict with the provisions of this Act shall 

be and the same are hereby repealed. Provided, 

however, that this Aat shall not be construed 

as repealing or amending any laws affecting or 

regulating licensed state land surveyors or 

registered professional engineers, and suoh 

licensed state land surveyors or registered professional englneers in performing their duties 

or profession as such shall not be subject to 

the provisions of this Act; provided further 

that registration under this Aat shall not of 

itself qualify the registrant to conduct surveys 

of Public Lands under the provisions of Article 

5299, Revised Civil Statutes, nor to make any 

surveys, the field notes of which are to be 

filed In the General Land Offloe of ,Texas; nor 

shall this Act be construed to affect or prevent 

the practice of any other.legally recognized 

profession by the members of such profession 

licensed or reflstered by the State or under 

lta authority. 

The language in this Seatlon 1s clear and unambiguous, 

and states tha+‘thls Act does not apply to either licensed 

state land surveyors’ or regEatere.d professional engineers 

when ‘performlng their duties or professlgn. This Section 

goes even further and states that this Act shall not affect 

the practioe of any legally recognized profession by the 

members of that profWslon who have been licreneed under 

the authority of the State. 

It is noted that the title of the Registered Public 

Surveyors Aat, in referring to Section 11 (above-quoted), 

8tatea only: 

0 

. . .; repealing lawe in oonflict; . . .I’, 

and says nothing conoerning the exceptions provided for in 

Section 11. However, the great weight of authorlty is that 

exceptions to the provlslons of a statute need not be set 

out In the title of the statute. 

“Mere limitations and reetrictlons by proviso, on the general saope of the law a8 lndicated bg the body of the aat, ofidlnarily relate and 

‘. are germane, Co Its general ob)eot and are.of 

general, and unlverrel uu*, ?iheqh no reierencee 
Colonel Thombs C. Green, Page 6 (W-900) 

. 

bre made to them in the title of the sat, 

To require every llmltatlon or qualifioation contained In the aot to be expressed 

in,the title, would require the title to 

be almost a8 lonn as the act itself.” 

Austin v. Q.C. &-S.F.RR. Co., 45~Tex. 234 

~SUP. Ct. lU7b). 

“It Is generally held that exceptions 

need not be set out In the caption of an 

a&.’ Pottorff v. El Paso-Hudspeth Counties 

Road l&t. of Texas, et al, b2 F d 2d r 

r. Ct. of Appeals, 5th Mr., :9;31. 

Articles 3271a and 5282a must be construed together, 

bearing In mind the fundamental rule of statutory construetion as set forth in City of Mason v. West Texgb UtllitZ.ea 

&. 3 150 Tex. 18, 237 S.W. 2d 273 (1951) : *. 

“The fundamental rule controlling the 

construction of a statute Is to ascertain 

the intention of the Legislature expressed 

therein. That intention should be ascertained from the entire act, and not from isolated 

’ 

portiona thereof. This Court has repeatedlf 

held that the intention of the Legislature in 

enacting a law is the law Itself; and hence 

the aim and object of construction is to ascertain and enforce the Legislative intent, 

and not to defeat, nullify or thwart It.” 

It is the clear intention of the Leglsleture that 

registered professional engineers, when acting within their 

profession, are not to be affected by the provlaions of thb 

Registered Public Surveyors Act. Therefore, the lioensa 

of a registered professlqnal engineer does legally permit 

him to engage in the praotlce of land surveying and lbnd 

measurement under the circumstances stated in your request 

as quoted above. 

%%k ‘?&&%& conclusion shall prevail over ‘any vievr 

to the contrary expressed in Attorney Oenerbllu Opinion lb. 

w-569. 

The license of a Reglatered Profeetionl;t &##SMWP 

does legally permit him to engage ‘Ln tkm moor 

oT land surveying i?+nd the prbotlcr Crc clad Iw)amn?ement under the ctrukstanaer rtrtitd, 
. . 

Colonel Thomas C. Green, Page 7 (WW-900) 

The foregoing conclusion shall prevail over 

any viewe to the contrary expressed in Attorney General's Opinion No. W-569. 

Yours very truly, 

WILL WILSON 

Attorney General of Texas 

PSP:mm 

APPROVED: 

OPINION COMMITTEJ2 

J. C. Davis, Chalrinan 

Henry G. Braewell 

Marietta Payne 

H. Grady Chandler 

Byron F. Fullerton 

REVIEWEDFORTHE ATTORNEYGENEFtAL 

BY: Leonard Passmore 

. . 

. . 

. 

.