Court Opinion

ID: 9772968
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 17:34:11.472413+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:31:48.730533
License: Public Domain

CANTU, Justice,
concurring.
I write only to express my feelings about a compelled result which is clearly wrong inasmuch as binding authority unnecessarily departs from sound legal reasoning.
In addressing appellant’s fourth ground of error, the majority has decided that the bond is proper in law based on Balboa v. State, 612 S.W.2d 553 (Tex.Crim.App.1981) (en banc). However, I question the correctness of Balboa and would follow Judge Onion’s dissent. Id. at 558-61 (Onion, J., dissenting). In deciding Balboa, the Court of Criminal Appeals extended the doctrine of waiver into an area previously covered by the doctrine of strict construction of statutes and ignored over one hundred years of cases on point in ruling contrary to them.
Not only was the law solidly entrenched in Texas jurisprudence prior to Balboa but the sound reasoning of Texas decisions on the matter has been adopted by various jurisdictions and repositories of the law. See Dudley v. United States, 242 F.2d 656 (5th Cir.1957); La Grotta v. United States, 77 F.2d 673 (8th Cir.), cert. den. sub nom., Quigley v. United States, 296 U.S. 629, 56 S.Ct. 152, 80 L.Ed. 447 (1935); Joelson v. United States, 287 F. 106 (3rd Cir.1923); State v. Sorensen, 48 Utah 663, 160 P. 1181 (1916); 8 AM.JUR.2d, Bail and Recognizance, § 111 (1980).
The Texas bond requirements statute has remained virtually unchanged since first enacted in 1856. Originally, the requirements for bonds were included in the act that defined the office and duties of sheriffs. In that act, the sheriff was given the authority to take bond from a defendant “conditioned that he will appear at the district court of the proper county at the next term thereof .... ” Law of May 12, 1846, § 9, 1846 Tex.Gen.Laws 267-68, 2 H. GAM-MEL, LAWS OF TEXAS 1573-74 (1898).
Twelve years later the various provisions dealing with criminal procedure were codified and the bond statute established. The pertinent codified provision stated:
5. That the bond state the time and place when and where the accused binds himself to appear, and the Court before which he is to appear. In stating the time it is sufficient to specify the term of *201the court; and in stating the place it is sufficient to specify the name of the Court and of the County.
Law of February 15, 1858, ch. 151, § 1, 1858 Tex.Gen.Laws 233, 4 H. GAMMEL, LAWS OF TEXAS 1105 (1898).
In 1879, the statute was amended by adding, “or magistrate” after “Court” in both sentences. TEX.CODE CRIM.PROC. art. 273 (1879). In 1933 “of” was eliminated from “of the County” in the last sentence. Act Amending Article 273, C.C.P., Relating to Bail Bonds, ch. 82, § 1, 1933 Tex.Gen.Laws 176. The most recent amendment came in 1965, when the second sentence was replaced by, “[t]he bond shall also bind the defendant to appear before any court or magistrate before whom the cause may thereafter be pending at any time when, and place where, his presence may be required under this Code or by any court or magistrate;” Requisites of a Bail Bond, ch. 722, § 1, 1965 Tex.Gen.Laws, 375.
The earliest reported bond forfeiture case that deals with the issue at hand occurred in 1849, in which the supreme court stated, “[A] statutory bond, to be valid and effectual as such, must in every essential particular strictly conform to the statute.” Lawton v. State, 5 Tex. 270, 272 (1849). The court proceeded to hold that a bond payable to the Governor did not satisfy a statute that required the bond to be payable to the State. Id.
The first case reported under the compiled Code of Criminal Procedure dealt with a bond that stated the defendant shall “be and appear before the district court for San Augustine county, to be holden in the town of San Augustine.” The court held a failure to specify time, either as to next term or a specific date, made the bond unenforceable. State v. Casey, 27 Tex. 111, 112 (1863). In 1873 it was held a failure to specify a county or place of appearance also made the bond unenforceable. State v. Phelps, 38 Tex. 555, 555 (1873); Ward v. State, 38 Tex. 302, 303 (1873).
Following the enactment of a new constitution in 1876, the court of appeals was formed with both civil and criminal jurisdiction. From that point forward, bail bond forfeiture cases were reported as criminal cases. See Perry v. State, 14 Tex.Ct.App. 166 (1883); Hart v. State, 13 Tex.Ct.App. 555 (1883); State v. Ward, 9 Tex.Ct.App. 462 (1880); Cassaday v. State, 4 Tex.Ct.App. 96 (1878).
The newly enacted court proceeded to follow the decisions of the Texas Supreme Court. See e.g., Aber v. Warden, 49 Tex. 377 (1878); Gay v. State, 20 Tex. 504 (1857). In Littlefield v. State, 1 Tex.Ct.App. 722 (1877); the defendant was re: quired to appear on a specific date “before M.W., a justice of the peace, precinct No. 2, in and for the county of G.” The court held this was insufficient to bind the principal to appear at any particular place, or before any court. Later decisions also followed this trend. See Wallen v. State, 18 Tex.Ct.App. 414, 415 (1885) (county named not where indictment presented); Vivian v. State, 16 Tex.Ct.App. 262, 264 (1884) (cannot presume D.C. stands for Dimmit County); Turner v. State, 14 Tex.Ct.App. 168, 170 (1883) (bail bond statute strictly construed); Downs v. State, 7 Tex.Ct.App. 483, 484 (1879) (no criminal court in McLen-nan County).
In 1891 the constitution was amended and the Court of Criminal Appeals and the courts of civil appeals were created. As with the court of appeals, the new Court of Criminal Appeals followed previous decisions. See Cena v. State, 422 S.W.2d 730, 731 (Tex.Crim.App.1967) (“instanter” gave sufficient notice of time); Landrum v. State, 171 Tex.Cr.R. 106, 345 S.W.2d 752, 753 (Tex.Crim.App.1961) (permissible to use “criminal” in referring to court); Cantrell v. State, 136 Tex.Cr.R. 596, 127 S.W.2d 471, 472 (Tex.Crim.App.1939) (strictly conform with the statute); Sloan v. State, 39 Tex.Crim. 63, 44 S.W. 1095, 1096 (1898) (impossible date); Mackey v. State, 38 Tex.Crim. 24, 40 S.W. 982, 982-83 (1897) (date to appear was before bond).
Even at times when this court previously has had to construe the bond statute, precedent was followed. See Sheppard v. Gill, 58 S.W.2d 168, 171 (Tex.Civ.App.—*202San Antonio 1933), aff'd, 126 Tex. 603, 90 S.W.2d 563 (1936) (damage suit for false arrest; bond statute must be strictly followed and bond signed only by principal unauthorized); Limburger v. State, 260 S.W. 227, 228 (Tex.Civ.App.—San Antonio 1924, no writ) (equitable action to set aside judgment; year omitted, but same year as when bond executed intended).
In 1967, the first signs of erosion of the requirement of strict conformance occurred. In Bowen v. State, 413 S.W.2d 915, 917 (Tex.Crim.App.1967), it was decided that a bail bond in which addresses of both sureties and principal were omitted was not a sufficient error to exonerate the surety or the principal. See also Smith v. State, 566 S.W.2d 638, 639 (Tex.Crim.App.1978); Hodges v. State, 489 S.W.2d 916, 917 (Tex.Crim.App.1973); Hall v. State, 485 S.W.2d 563, 564 (Tex.Crim.App.1972).1
Based on these decisions, which are contrary to the explicit requirements of TEX. CODE CRIM.PROC.ANN. art. 17.08, § 4 (Vernon 1977), the Court of Criminal Appeals in 1981 decided that section 5 of the statute is also subject to omission. Balboa v. State, supra at 555. The court reasoned that inclusion of the time and place where the principal binds himself to appear is for the benefit of the principal, and if he desires this information, he must ask for it. Id. The effect of both Bowen and Balboa is that the principal binds himself to appear at some unknown distant date in the future at a place unknown and that he will never receive notice so he can appear. For what it is worth, the bond may as well be blank or contain a promise to appear if he happens to hear of the date and place of trial.
The court in Balboa states that the principal must insist upon this right. The court, however, does not recognize the realities of obtaining release on bond. The magistrate or judge does not take the bond, but rather it is taken by the deputy at the sheriff’s office. The deputy may have no idea what court the defendant is to appear in or the time the defendant is to appear, especially if the bond is executed in the early morning hours. The principal certainly has no better knowledge than has the deputy.
The holding of the court places yet another additional burden upon the principal and his surety which is not contemplated by statute or rules and that is, how to register an objection in order to prevent waiver.
The approval by the Sheriffs department is an approval of their own instrument and of the signatures affixed by the parties. No provision is made for recording an objection to the instrument as prepared by the Sheriffs deputy other than a refusal to sign with the concomitant result of having the bond disapproved for failure to sign.
If a waiver is to occur, it should be on the part of the State for approving a defective bond and not upon the principal and surety for abiding by the actions of the approving agent. See Ex parte Tartar, 278 Mo. 356, 213 S.W. 94 (Mo.1919) for an excellent discussion on the duty of the approving agent, the principal and surety, and the applicability of the waiver doctrine.
The result of the Balboa case mirrors the concern of the Texas Court of Appeals back in 1883, where it was stated,
Any latitude allowed to officers whose duty it is to take bonds, in departing from the terms required by the statute in the structure and framing the bond, will be an encouragement to a further disregard and inattention to its requisitions.
Turner v. State, 14 Tex.Ct.App. 168, 170 (1883).
This court should not be required to correct the mistakes of those that receive bonds by ruling it was the principal’s fault for not insisting on completion of the bond.
*203Recognizing the binding effect of the Balboa decision on this court, I am compelled to concur in the result with extreme reluctance.

. These cases deal with a failure to provide an address. Clearly the giving of an address, which is peculiarly within the knowledge of the principal and surety can neither enlarge nor detract from an undertaking otherwise complete and binding in every other respect. This is particularly so in that failure to receive notice gives rise to a defense for not appearing, but is not of itself a bar to recovery on the bond in the absence of good cause. Notice by way of address is certainly only for the benefit of the principal and surety.