Texas Attorney General Opinion: GA-0450 Page: 2 of 3
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The Honorable Joel Littlefield - Page 2
subdivision plats, see id. 192.0015;
military discharge records, see id. 192.002(a) (Vernon Supp.
2005);
certain probate records, see id. 192.005 (Vernon 1999);
records of the county court in civil and criminal cases and
probate matters, see id. 192.006(a); and
* releases of filed instruments, see id. 192.007.
A county clerk has a ministerial duty to record all written instruments that are statutorily
authorized, required, or permitted to be filed in the clerk's office. See Turrentine v. Lasane, 389
S.W.2d 336, 337 (Tex. Civ. App.-Waco 1965, no writ). But a county clerk is prohibited from
filing and recording a document that no statute authorizes, requires, or permits the clerk to accept.
See Tex. Att'y Gen. Op. No. JC-0156 (1999) at 2; see also City ofAbilene v. Fryar, 143 S.W.2d 654,
657 (Tex. Civ. App.-Eastland 1940, no writ) (stating that a county clerk had no authority to file or
record certain unstamped deeds of trust and therefore could not file or record such documents); Tex.
Att'y Gen. Op. No. DM-389 (1996) at 3 (advising county clerks not to file documents generated in
or for a "purported state or local court not ... named in [the] constitution or statute"); Tex. Att'y
Gen. LO-98-016, at 6 (concluding that a county clerk is not authorized to accept documents labeled
"refusal to pay property taxes," "common law lien," and "declaration of person being a sovereign").
No Texas statute authorizes, requires, or permits the filing and recording of a common-law
copyright notice. In addition, no federal law creates a role for the county clerk in the federal
copyright registration process. See UNITED STATES COPYRIGHT OFFICE, COPYRIGHT BASICS, at
www.copyright.gov/circs/circ l.html (last visited July 17, 2006).
We consequently conclude that a county clerk is not authorized, required, or permitted to file
and record a common-law copyright. Without such authority, a county clerk is prohibited from filing
and recording such a document.(GA-0450)
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Texas. Attorney-General's Office. Texas Attorney General Opinion: GA-0450, text, August 15, 2006; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth275346/m1/2/: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.