4/x,688 SEC. 7. The proper persons shall be made parties defendant in such suit and shall be served with process and other proceedings had therein as provided by law for suits of like character in the district courts of this State; and in case of foreclosure an order of sale shall issue and the lands sold thereunder as in other cases of foreclosure; but if the defendant or his attorney shall at any time before the sale file with the sheriff or other officer in whose hands any such order of sale shall be placed a written request that the property described therein shall be divided and sold in less tracts than the whole, together with a description of said subdivisions, then such officer shall sell the land in said subdivisions as the defendant may request, and in such case shall only sell as many subdivisions, as near as may be, to satisfy the judgment, interest and costs, and after the payment of the taxes, costs and interest adjudged against it the remainder of the purchase price, if any, shall be paid by the sheriff to the clerk of the court out of which said execution or other final process issued, to be retained by him subject to the order of the court for the period of two years, after which time the court may order the same to be paid to the State Treasurer, who shall hold same in trust to be paid to the owner against whom said taxes were assessed: Provided, any one claiming the same shall make proof of his claim to the satisfaction of the State Treasurer within ten years after the sale of said lands or lots, after which the same shall be governed by the law regulating escheats: Provided, that no suit shall be brought to enforce such lien upon any lands that a sufficient description to identify the same can not first be had.

SEC. 8. In all cases in which lands have been sold or may be sold for default in the payment of taxes it shall be lawful for the sheriff selling the same, or any of his successors in office, to make a deed or deeds to the purchaser or to any other person to whom the purchaser may direct the deed to be made, and any such deed shall be held in any court of law or equity in this State to vest a good and perfect title in the purchaser thereof, subject to be impeached only for actual fraud.

SEC. 9. The county attorney shall represent the State and county in all suits against delinquent tax payers that are provided for in this act. In litigated cases additional counsel may be retained by the commissioners court if they deem it necessary to do so, whose compensation shall be such reasonable fee as may be agreed upon at the time of employment, but in no case shall the compensation for said county attorney be greater than five dollars for the first tract in one suit, and one dollar for each additional tract if more than one tract is embraced in same suit, recover taxes, interest and costs: Provided, that in no case shall the State or county be liable for such fees, but in each case they shall be taxed as costs against the land to be sold under judgment for taxes and paid out of the proceeds of the sale of same after the taxes and interest due thereon to the State are paid. The sheriff shall be entitled to a fee of two dollars for selling, and making deed thereto, each tract or lot of land that he sells under judgment for taxes, which fee shall be taxed as costs in the suit, and the district clerk shall be entitled to a fee of three dollars in each case, to be taxed as costs of suit.

SEC. 10. The tax collector of each county shall make up a list of the lands and lots on the 31st day of March of each year on which the State and county taxes for the preceding year remain unpaid, and shall file a certified

copy of said list with the county clerk of his county, and shall send one to the Comptroller of Public Accounts. The county clerk and Comptroller shall enter said list in the " delinquent tax record," as provided in section 3, immediately upon receipt of same from the tax collector. The commissioners court shall examine such delinquent list, correct errors in same, if there be any, and cause the corrections to be made upon the "delinquent tax record" of the clerk's office, and notify the Comptroller of such corrections made. When the delinquent list is corrected as provided for in this section, then such list shall be advertised as provided for in section 5 of this act, and after such advertisement suit shall be instituted against delinquents in the district court as above provided, and such list as furnished by the tax collector and corrected by the commissioners court shall constitute prima facie evidence of the proper assess ment of the real estate, and that the amounts charged against said real estate is a true and correct charge: Provided, that the commissioners court shall have the power in cases where lands delinquent for taxes for any year or years which have been subsequently subdivided and sold by the holder of such tracts of land at the time of delinquency, to pro rate the amount of delinquent or back tax among the holders of subdivisions, and on the payment of such pro rata by the holder of any subdivision he shall be released from any liability for the remainder of the delinquent tax due on the whole tract.

SEC. 11. Any incorporated city or town or school district shall have 91x, k the right to enforce the collection of delinquent taxes due it under the provisions of this act.

SEC. 12. Real estate which may have been rendered for taxes and paid under erroneous descriptions given in assessment rolls, or lands that may have been doubly assessed and taxes paid on one assessment, or lands which may have been assessed in a county other than the one in which they are located, or lands which may have been sold to the State and upon which taxes have been paid and through error not credited in the assessment rolls, shall not be deemed subject to the provisions of this act. When called upon the Commissioner of the General Land Office shall furnish the Comptroller officially with such information as may be necessary to enable him to determine the validity or locality of such surveys and grants as have not been shown by the printed abstracts of the Land Office.

SEC. 13. Any delinquent taxpayer whose lands have been returned delinquent or reported sold to the State for taxes due thereon, or any one having an interest therein, may redeem the same at any time before his lands are sold under the provisions of this act by paying the taxes due thereon since January first, 1885, with interest at the rate of 6 per cent per annum and accrued costs of suit.

SEC. 14. Where lands are sold under the provisions of this act the owner or any one having an interest therein shall have the right to redeem said land, or his interest therein, within two years from the date of said sale upon the payment of double the amount paid for the land. SEC. 15. That all laws and parts of laws heretofore passed that may be in conflict with the provisions of this act are hereby repealed.

SEC. 16. The fact there exists no adequate law to enforce the collection of taxes in this State creates an emergency and an imperative pub

lic necessity that the constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several days be in this case suspended, and that this act take effect and be in force from and after its passage, and it is so enacted.

Approved April 13, 1895.

INSPECTION OF HIDES AND ANIMALS-COUNTIES EXEMPT.

CHAP. 43.-[S. B. No. 166.] An act to amend section 1 of an act of the Twenty-third Legislature of the State of Texas, entitled "An act to amend section 1 of an act entitled an act to amend section 46, chapter 25, of the acts of 1885, entitled an act to amend chapter 79, of the acts of 1883, entitled an act to amend chapter 48 of the acts of 1887, an act to amend section 46 of an act to encourage stockraising and to protect stockraisers, approved April 22, 1879, and amended April 4. 1881, and April 12, 1880, and March 27, 1887. and March 29, 1889, and amended March 23, 1891, April 15, 1891, and March 29, 1893, approved May 11. 1893, so as to exempt Wilson, El Paso, Atascosa. Guadalupe, Gillespie. Baylor and Knox counties from the operation of the stock inspection law; and to provide for the election of an inspector of hides and animals in the counties of Cameron, Hidalgo, Starr, Zapata, Webb and Encinal.

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Texas: That section 46 of the above entitled act shall hereafter read as follows:

Section 46. The counties of Anderson, Austin, Angelina, Atascosa, Bell, Bowie, Brazos, Bastrop, Bosque, Burleson, Brazoria, Burnet, Caldwell, Camp, Calhoun, Cass, Chambers, Cherokee, Collin, Colorado, Cooke, Delta, Denton, Ellis, Erath, Fannin, Franklin, Falls, Freestone, Gonzales, Eastland, Stephens, Fayette, Fort Bend, Galveston, Goliad, Grayson, Gregg, Grimes, Hardin, Harrison, Hays, Henderson, Hill, Hood, Hunt, Hopkins, Houston, Jackson, DeWitt, Jasper, Jefferson, Johnson, Kaufman, Lamar, Lee, Leon, Lampasas, McLennan, Madison, Marion, Montgomery, Montague, Morris, Nacogdoches, Newton, Orange, Panola, Parker, Polk, Palo Pinto, Rains, Red River, Robertson, Rockwall, Rusk, Sabine, San Augustine, San Jacinto, Shackelford, Shelby, Smith, Titus, Trinity, Tyler, Upshur, Van Zandt, Walker, Washington, Wharton, Wise, Wood, Jack, Harris, Clay, Young, Wheeler, Lavaca, Nueces, Bee, Refugio, Limestone, San Patricio, Somervell, Matagorda, Waller, Karnes, Victoria, Milam, Live Oak, Williamson, Liberty, Wichita, Guadalupe, Gillespie, Baylor, Knox, Wilbarger, Archer, Hardeman, Childress, Hall, Collingsworth, Donley, Gray, Armstrong, Briscoe, Floyd, Randall, Kendall, Comal, Travis, Navarro, Brown, Coryell, Hamilton, Mills, Duval, Comanche, Bailey, Deaf Smith, Dallam, Oldham, Hartley, Hockley, Cochran, Wilson, Foard, are hereby exempt from the operation of this act, and the provisions of the same shall in no wise relate or apply to the aforesaid counties: Provided, that in those counties bordering on the line of the State, except those bordering on Red River and the Rio Grande, where there is a depot or place for the shipment of cattle, no inspector of hides and animals shall be elected, but one for each of such counties shall be appointed by the Governor, who shall hold office for two years and until his successor shall be appointed; and said inspector so appointed to take the constitutional oath of office and give the bond now required of inspectors of hides and animals, and such in

spectors shall receive the same fees now allowed to inspectors of hides and animals, and perform the same duties: Provided, the inspector shall be elected in the counties of Cameron, Hidalgo, Starr, Zapata, Webb and Encinal: Provided, that such cattle shall not be subject to inspection on board of any railroad unless the same have been placed on board of such train for the purpose of evading the provisions of this act: And provided, further, that the counties of Limestone, Fayette, Layaca, Gonzales, Colorado, Bell, Calhoun, Hays, Caldwell, Blanco, Llano, Kendall, Comal, Houston, Austin, Johnson, Hill, Ellis, Jackson, Victoria, DeWitt, Freestone, Hamilton, Williamson, Milam, Live Oak, Harris, Bosque, Erath, Hood, Somervell, Liberty, Coryell, Lampasas, Mills, Wichita, Wilbarger, Hardeman, Gray, Armstrong, Briscoe, Floyd, Randall, Kendall, Fannin, Camp, Childress, Hall, Collingsworth, Donley, Delta, Franklin, Hopkins, Hunt, Wilson, Navarro, Guadalupe, Gillespie, Baylor and Knox shall be exempt from all laws regulating inspection of hides; that all laws and parts of laws in conflict with the provisions of this act are hereby repealed.

SEC. 2. The great necessity for this law creates a great public necessity and emergency requiring that the constitutional rule requiring that bills be read on three several days in each house be suspended, and the same is therefore suspended, and that this act take effect and be in force from and after its passage, and it is so enacted.

[NOTE. This bill was presented to the Governor of Texas for his approval on the 2nd day of April, 1895, but was not signed by him nor returned to the house in which it originated with his objections thereto within the time prescribed by the Constitution, and thereupon became a law without his signature.-Toм C. THORNTON, Acting Secretary of State.]

LIBERTY AND MEDINA COUNTIES-JURISDICTION RESTORED.

CHAP. 44.-[H. B. No. 73.] An act to restore to and confer upon the county court of Liberty and Medina counties the civil and criminal jurisdiction heretofore belonging to said courts under the Constitution and general statutes of the State; to conform the jurisdiction of the district courts of said counties to such change, and to repeal all laws in conflict with the provisions of this act, in so far as relates to Liberty and Medina counties.

SECTION.1. Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Texas: That the county courts of Liberty and Medina counties shall hereafter have exclusive original jurisdiction in civil cases where the matter in controversy shall exceed in value two hundred dollars, and shall not exceed five hundred dollars, exclusive of interest, and that it shall have concurrent jurisdiction with the district court of said counties when the matter in controversy shall exceed five hundred dollars, and not exceed one thousand dollars.

SEC. 2. Said county courts shall have appellate jurisdiction in civil cases over which justice courts have original jurisdiction when the judgment of the court appealed from or the amount in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, and said county courts shall have power to hear and

determine cases brought up from justice courts by certiorari under the provisions of the title Revised Statutes relating thereto.

SEC. 3. The county judges of said counties shall have authority either in term time or in vacation to grant writs of mandamus, injunction, sequestration, garnishment, attachment, certiorari, supersedeas, and all other writs necessary to the enforcement of the jurisdiction of said courts, and shall have power to issue writs of habeas corpus in all cases in which the Constitution has not exclusively conferred the power on the district courts or judges thereof.

SEC. 4. Said county courts shall have jurisdiction in the forfeiture and judgment of all bonds and recognizances taken in criminal case of which said courts have jurisdiction.

SEC. 5. Said county courts shall have exclusive original jurisdiction of all misdemeanors, except misdemeanors involving official misconduct, and except in cases in which the highest penalty of fine that may be imposed under the law may not exceed two hundred dollars, and said courts shall also have appellate jurisdiction in criminal cases of which justices of the peace and other inferior tribunals of said counties have original jurisdiction.

SEC. 6. The district courts of Liberty and Medina counties shall no longer have jurisdiction of cases of which the county courts of said counties by the provisions of this act have exclusive original or appellate jurisdiction; and it shall be the duty of the clerks of the district courts of Liberty and Medina counties, within thirty days from the passage of this act, to make a full and complete transcript of all orders on the docket and minutes in cases now pending before said district courts, of which cases by the terms of this act exclusive. jurisdiction is given to said county courts, and they shall deliver said transcripts, together with the original papers and certified bill of costs, to the clerks of said county courts, and said county clerks shall enter said case or cases on the docket for trial by said county courts.

SEC. 7. The county courts of said counties shall hereafter hold their regular terms for civil and criminal business as provided in the Constitution and general laws of the State, and process heretofore issued from the district courts of said counties in cases to be transferred under this act to the county courts of Liberty and Medina counties shall be returnable to the first term respectively held by said county courts after this act shall go into effect, and all cases transferred shall be entered as appearance cases upon the docket of said county courts.

SEC. 8. The county courts of Liberty and Medina counties shall have as now the general jurisdiction appertaining to probate courts for the probate of wills, appointment of guardians of minors, idiots, lunatics, persons non compos mentis and common drunkards, and for the issuance of letters testamentary and of administration, settlement of accounts of administrators and guardians, and the settlement and distribution of decedents' estates, and the apprenticeship of minors, and all other necessary powers conferred by law on courts of probate.

SEC. 9. That all laws and parts of laws in conflict with the provisions of this act in so far as relate to Liberty and Medina counties be and the same are hereby repealed.

SEC. 10. Whereas, the county courts of Liberty and Medina counties are without the jurisdiction necessary for the just and proper administra