Texas Attorney General Opinion: C-75 Page: 2 of 3
This text is part of the collection entitled: Texas Attorney General Opinions and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
-W i
Hon. Joe Resweber, page 2 (c-75)
prepared for him by the County Clerk.
Article 6600, Vernon's Civil Statutes, requires the
County Clerk to give attested copies of instruments filed
in his office, and requires that the Clerk receive the fee
set by law therefor. Articles 3930 and 3930a, Vernon's
Civil Statutes, establish the fee schedule for copies pre-
pared by the County Clerk. Assuming, without so holding,
that the County Clerk's microfilmed copies are equivalent to
the original records, it is the opinion of this office that
the Commissioners Court is without authority to contract
for the sale of copies of the microfilmed records. Such a
sale would contravene the fee schedules established in Arti-
cles 3930 and 3930a, unless the sale price was in accord
with the fee schedule; this is clearly not the case here, for
the contract would then be of no apparent value.
Assuming that the copies of microfilm records which
are the subject of this proposed contract are not equivalent
to the original records, the contract..wvould a.stL be beyond
the power vested in the Commissioners. Court. The County
Clerk would be preparing copies of films sqiely. for a profit-
making sale under a contract. Such is not the ,Purpos.e of
the office of county clerk, and no statutory justification
for the action can be found. See Tobin v. Knaggs, 107 S.W.
2d 677 (Tex.Civ.App. 1937, error.ref.).
The same reasoning and authority applies with equal
force to the preparation and. sale,of a duplicate set of .IBM.
data cards reflecting the daily filingesin the County"Clerk's
office. ,
It is therefore.the opinion of this office that the
Commissioners Court has no authority to enter into a con-
tract for the sale or rental of IBM 'data processing cards
and copies of microfilms of instruments filed in the County
Clerk's office, when such sale is of the type contemplated
by the submitted contract.
SUMMARY
The Commissioners Court is authorized to
dispose of personal property for which
the County has no further use.. However,
the County is not authorized to prepare
special sets of records for sale to pri-
vate contractors in the absence of statu-
tory authority therefor.-368-.
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This text can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Text.
Texas. Attorney-General's Office. Texas Attorney General Opinion: C-75, text, May 14, 1963; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth268494/m1/2/?rotate=270: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.