bond pay- able to the State of Texas in the sum of Ten Thousand Dollars ($10,000)to be approvedby the Comptroller. Each Commissionershallbe a bona fide residentof and a practicallive stock raiser in the communityfrom which he may be appointed,and shall have been activelyen- gaged in said businessfor at least five (5) years next precedingthe date of hiB appointment. One of eaid Com- missionersshallbe appointedfrom the West, one from the South; snd one from the Easternportionof Texas. The word 'Commission' as used in this Chapter shall mean the Live Stock SanitaryCommissionof the State of Texas. That beginningwith the appointmentof said Commissioners, the term of office of the membersof the Commissionshall be for a period of six (6) years, exceptthat those first appointedshall be appointedfor two (2), four (h), and six (6) years, and that they shall serve until their .. -
HonorableL. J. Wardlaw,page 3 (O-1210)
successorshave been appointedand have duly qualified. All vacancieswhich shall occur in the Commissionfor any reason shallbe filled in the same manner as hereinbefore providedand shallbe for the unexpiredterm."
Under the provisionsof this Article It cannotbe disputed that the Governorhas no power to remove a commiseioneronce he has been appointedand approvedby the Senate. It will be noted, however,that this Article does not providethat the Governorshall appointa Chair- mau of the Commissionand two Commissioners.The only expressionrela- tive to the Chairmanshipof the LivestockSanitaryCommissionis the statementthat "the Governorshall designateone such member as Chair- IJBU. " After all appointmentsto the Commissionhave been made and ap- provedby the Senate the Governormay then designateone member of the Commissionas Chairmanand such designationdoes not requirethe advice and consent0r the Senate. Virtuallythe same provisionis found in Article6664, relatingto the appointmentof the State HighwayCommis- sion. The customand establishedpracticewith referenceto the desig- nation of the Chairmanof the HighwayCommissionhas been to recognize the sole and unrestrictedpower of the Governor.
In your brief you cite the case of Tennysonvs. State, 6 S. W. (2d) 1021, as authorityfor the statementthat a vacancyin an office exists for the purposeof making a new appointmentupon the expiration of the incumbent'sterm. The law as reflectedby this opinionis undis- puted but the absoluteprerequisiteto euch a holdingis the existence of a definiteterm of office. In the absenceof constitutional or Statu- tory restraint,the power to appointan officercarrieswith it as an incidentalpower the right to remove the appointeeat will. Where the durationor term of office la not fixed by law and no provisionla made for the removalof the incumbentthe power of appointmentnecessarily carrieswith it the power of removal. See 34 Tex. Jur. 394, para. 42; Keenanvs. Perry, 24 Tex. 253; Weeper vs. Stewart,66 S. W. (2d) 812. The followingstatementis from 46 Corpus Jurie p. 964, paragraph98: "Wherethe term of office is not fixed by law, the officeris regardedas holdingat the will of the appoint- ing power,even though the appointingpower attemptsto fix a definiteterm; and an officerremovableat the pleas- ure of the appointingpower has, in the strictmeaning of the word, no 'term'of office. A constitutional provision that terms of officenot fixed by the constitutionshall not exceeda~specifiedtime does not enlargethe