Texas Attorney General Opinion: GA-0651 Page: 4 of 9
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The Honorable Billy W. Byrd - Page 4
purposes. For example, article V, section 24 of the Texas Constitution provides for the removal of
county officers, including justices of the peace. See TEX. CONST. art. V, 24; see also Crump v.
State, 5 S.W. 182, 183 (Tex. Ct. App. 1887, no writ) (stating that ajustice of the peace is a county
officer for purposes of article V, section 24 as well as several statutes); cf Lane v. McLemore, 169
S.W. 1073, 1075 (Tex. Civ. App.-Galveston 1914, no writ) (stating that a justice of the peace,
whose functions are confined to the justice's county, is "commonly known and called" a county
officer (quoting State ex rel. Holmes v. Dillon, 2 S.W. 417, 419 (Mo. 1886)). By contrast, article
XVI, section 61(b) of the constitution, which provides for commissioners courts to determine
whether precinct officers should be paid on a fee or salary basis, indicates that justices of the peace
are precinct officers. See TEX. CONST. art. XVI, 61(b); see also Chenault v. Bexar County, 782
S.W.2d 206, 209 (Tex. 1989) (referring to a justice of the peace as a precinct officer); cf Harris
County v. Stewart, 41 S.W. 650, 654 (Tex. 1897) (stating that when the territorial limits of ajustice
of the peace's authority are considered, ajustice of the peace is a precinct officer). In 1890 the Texas
Supreme Court indicated that whether the term "county officer" encompasses a particular position,
such as a justice of the peace, depends upon a consideration of the context and intent of the statute
at issue:
The words 'county officers' are terms very loosely used in our laws,
and to them no very well-defined meaning is assigned. They may
mean an officer who is elected solely by the voters of the county, or
one who has the power to exercise the functions of his office
throughout the entire county. It may also be applied to those whose
duties are confined to a particular subdivision of the county as
contradistinguished from those whose functions extend to every part
of the state. It follows that, in order to determine the sense in which
the words are used in any particular statute, we must look to the
context as well as to the reason and spirit of the law.
Reynolds v. Tarrant County, 14 S.W. 580, 581 (Tex. 1890).
Consistently with the Texas Supreme Court's directive to ascertain the context of and reason
for the statute, we consider article 26.06's legislative history, which suggests that the Legislature
intended the term "elected county official" to be construed expansively. The Legislature enacted the
substance of article 26.06 relative to elected county officials in 1951 because "the business and
affairs of numerous counties throughout the State are seriously impaired and affected by the practice
of appointing elective county officials to represent defendants in criminal cases."3 Act of May 23,
1951, 52d Leg., R.S., ch. 408, 2, 1951 Tex. Gen. Laws 752, 752; see id. 1, 1951 Tex. Gen. Laws
at 752. The Legislature's stated concern for the timely performance of county business suggests that
the Legislature intended the statute to be broadly construed to include, at the county level, any
3In 1965 the Legislature amended article 26.06's statutory predecessor to "extend" the statute to district and
state officials. TEX. CODE CRIM. PROC. ANN. art. 26.06 cmt. (Vernon 1989); see Act of May 27, 1965, 59th Leg., R.S.,
ch. 722, 1, 1965 Tex. Gen. Laws 317, 426.(GA-0651)
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Texas. Attorney-General's Office. Texas Attorney General Opinion: GA-0651, text, July 29, 2008; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth275547/m1/4/: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.