this bill must go to the House to be passed upon by that body, which will necessarily create some delay, an imperative public necessity exists for the suspension of the constitutional rule requiring this bill to be read on three several days, and it is hereby enacted that said constitutional rule be and the same is hereby suspended; the fact that there is no appropriation to pay the claims herein stated, creates an emergency that requires this act to take effect at once, and it is therefore enacted that this act take effect and be in force from and after its passage.

Approved March 30, A. D. 1881.

Takes effect ninety days after adjournment.

See supplemental act approved April 1, 1881.

CHAPTER LXV.-An act to authorize the governor to appoint a district attorney for the fifteenth judicial district.

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Texas, That the governor be authorized to appoint a district attorney for the fifteenth judicial district of this State, who shall hold his office until the next general election.

SEC. 2. That, whereas a vacancy now exists in the office of district attorney for said district, and the district courts of said district are now in session, thus creating an emergency and an imperative public necessity that the constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several days, be suspended, and that this act take effect and be in force from and after its passage, it is so enacted.

Approved March 29, A. D. 1881.
Takes effect from passage.

CHAPTER LXVI.-An act making the office of county surveyor an office of record.

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Texas, That the surveyors of the several counties of this State shall record in a well bound book all the surveys in the county or district for which he was elected, with the plats thereof that he may make, whether private or official, and that such record shall be open to the inspection of the public; and for which service the surveyor may charge, in addition to the fees now allowed by law for field work, twenty cents per hundred words for such record.

SEC. 2. Certified copies of such record, under the official signature of the county surveyor, may be used in evidence in any of the courts of this State.

SEC. 3. The commissioners' courts are hereby required to furnish the county surveyors of their respective counties, on the requisition of such surveyors, a book or books of sufficient capacity to contain a record of all the surveys provided for in this act.

Approved March 30, A. D. 1881.

Takes effect ninety days after adjournment.

CHAPTER LXVII.-An act to amend article 4333 of the Revised Civil Statutes of the State of Texas, adopted February 21, 1879, and to provide for the registration of instruments relating to real estate in unorganized counties.

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Texas, That article 4333 of the the Revised Civil Statutes of the State of Texas, approved February 21, 1879, be amended so as to read as follows:

"Article 4333. All deeds, conveyances, mortgages, deeds of trust, or any other written contract relating to real estate, which are authorized to be recorded, shall be recorded in the county where such real estate, or a part thereof, is situated; provided, that all such instruments, when relating to real estate situated in an unorganized county, shall be recorded in the county to which such unorganized county is attached for judicial purposes; and when an unorganized county shall be organized, it shall be the duty of the commissioners' court of such newly organized county to procure from the county to which it was attached for judicial purposes, within two years from the date of organization, a transcript of all such records, which shall be taken and held as notice to all persons of the existence of such instruments; provided further, that nothing in this act shall be construed to affect the registration of any such instruments heretofore made, in either a land district to which any unorganized county may have been attached, or any county to which any unorganized county may have been attached for judicial purposes."

SEC. 2. Whereas, there is great uncertainty as to the proper place for the recording of such instruments relating to lands in unorganized counties, and in order to prevent litigation, an emergency exists and public necessity requires, that the rule requiring a bill to be read on three several days be suspended, and that this act go into effect and be in force from and after its passage, and it is so enacted.

Approved March 30, A. D. 1881.

Takes effect from passage.

CHAPTER LXVIII.—An act authorizing district courts to transfer cases of administration of estates of deceased persons and guardianship of minors, persons of unsound mind and habitual drunkards pending before them, to the county courts.

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Texas, That the judges of the district courts of this State may, by an order made and entered in open court upon the minutes of such court, upon the application in open court of any person interested as administrator, executor, heir, legatee, devisee, distributee, creditor or guardian in the administration of the estate of a deceased person, or in the guardianship of a minor, person of unsound mind, or habitual drunkard, pending in such court, transfer such administration or guardianship to the county court of the county in which such district court is there being held for further administration, upon satisfactory evidence that the county judge of said county is legally qualified to act as such in such administration. SEC. 2. Be it further enacted, that all orders of transfer of estates of deceased persons, minors, persons of unsound mind, or habitual drunkards, from the district courts to the county courts for further administration

that may have heretofore been made by such district courts under conditions similar to those required by the first section of this act, shall be as valid to all intents and purposes as if made under the authority of this act. SEC. 3. Immediately after the termination of the courts at which the order of transfer authorized by the first section of this act, is made, it shall be the duty of the clerk thereof to transmit all the papers relating to such administration or guardianship, together with a transcript, certified by him under the seal of said district court, or the record of all orders, judgments and decrees of such district court in relation to such estate, to the county clerk of his county, for which services he shall be allowed such fees as are now allowed him by law for similar services, to be paid as expenses of administration.

SEC. 4. The near approach of the close of the present session of the Legislature, and the public importance and necessity for the passage of this bill into a law at this session, creates an imperative public necessity for the suspension of the constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several days, and said rule is hereby suspended; and, whereas, there are pending in many district courts in various counties of this State cases of administration upon estates of decedents and wards in which the county judges of such counties are legally qualified to sit; and, whereas, the interests of all persons concerned or interested in such cases of administration require that they should be transferred to said county courts for administration as soon as it is possible to be done; and, whereas, there is no law authorizing such transfers to be made, therefore, the above facts create an emergency that this bill should go into effect as a law from and after its passage, and it is so enacted.

Approved March 30, A. D. 1881.

Takes effect from passage.

CHAPTER LXIX.—An act for holding a special term of the district, court of the county of Freestone, for the trial of criminal causes, and for such other business of a criminal nature as may be lawfully considered in the district court.

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Texas, That there shall be held a special term of the district court in and for the county of Freestone on the third Monday in April, 1881, for the trial of criminal causes, and for such other business of a criminal nature as may be lawfully considered in the district court, which term may continue in session for two weeks.

SEC. 2. The public necessity existing for the passage of a law authorizing the holding of a special term of the court, as provided in the first section of this act, at this session of the Legislature, and the very short time intervening between this date and the day fixed for adjournment, together with the fact that such necessity requires that said term of court should commence on the third Monday in April, proximo, create an imperative public necessity for the suspension of the constitutional rule requiring that this bill should be read on three several days, and an emergency under which this act should take effect and be in force from and after its passage, and said constitutional rule is suspended, and it is enacted that this act take effect and be in force from and after its passage. Approved March 30, A. D. 1881.

Takes effect from passage.

CHAPTER LXX.-An act to make an appropriation for the per diem pay of the officers, members and employes of the Seventeenth Legislature of the State of Texas.

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Texas, That the sum of five thousand dollars, or so much thereof as may be necessary, be and the same is hereby appropriated out of any moneys in the treasury not otherwise appropriated, for the per diem pay of the officers, members and employes of the Seventeenth Legislature of the State of Texas.

SEC. 2. The comptroller shall draw his warrant on this appropriation for the senators, employes and officers of the senate, on the certificate of the president and secretary of the senate, and to the officers, members and employes of the house on the certificate of the speaker and chief clerk of the house.

SEC. 3. That this act take effect and be in force from and after its passage.

SEC. 4. The fact that there is a deficiency in the appropriation for the per diem pay of members, officers and employes of the Seventeenth Legislature, and that this session of said Legislature is drawing near to a close, and that this bill must be read on three several days in each house, unless the rule is suspended, creates an imperative public necessity for the suspension of the constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several days in each house; therefore said rule is suspended. Approved March 30, A. D. 1881.

Takes effect from passage.

CHAPTER LXXI.-An act to restore to, and confer upon, the county courts of Palo Pinto, Eastland, Stephens, Callahan, Taylor, Brazoria, Matagorda, Coleman, Bowie, Brown, Morris and Camp counties, the civil and criminal jurisdiction heretofore belonging to them under the constitution and general statutes of the State, and to conform the jurisdiction of the district courts of said counties to such change.

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Texas, That the county courts of Palo Pinto, Eastland, Stephens, Callahan, Taylor, Brazoria, Matagorda, Coleman, Bowie, Brown, Morris and Camp counties, shall hereafter have exclusive original jurisdiction in civil cases, when the matter in controversy shall exceed in value two hundred dollars and shall not exceed five hundred dollars, exclusive of interest, and shall have concurrent jurisdiction with the district courts of said counties, when the matter in controversy shall exceed five hundred, and not exceed one thousand dollars.

SEC. 2. Said county courts shall have appellate jurisdiction in civil cases over which the justices' courts have original jurisdiction, when the judgment of the court appealed from, or, the amount in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars; exclusive of costs; and said county courts shall also have power to hear and determine cases brought up from the justices' courts by certiorari, under the provisions of the title of the Revised Civil 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, attachment, garnishment, certiorari and supersedeas,

and all other writs necessary to the enforcement of the jurisdiction of said courts and shall also have power to issue writs of habeas corpus in all cases in which the constitution has not 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 cases, of which criminal cases said courts have jurisdiction.

SEC. 5. Said county courts shall have exclusive original jurisdiction of all misdemeanors, except misdemeanors involving official misconduct, and except 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 said counties of Palo Pinto, Eastland, Stephens, Callahan, Taylor, Brazoria, Matagorda, Coleman, Bowie, Brown, Morris and Camp, 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 district clerks of said counties, within twenty days after the passage of this act, to make a full and complete transcript of all orders on their respective dockets in cases now pending before said district courts, of which cases, by the terms of this act, exclusive jurisdiction is given to the county courts, and to deliver said transcripts, together with the original papers, and a certified bill of costs in each case, to the county clerks of their respective counties, and said county clerks shall enter said cases on their respective dockets 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 all process heretofore issued from the district courts of said counties, in cases to be transferred under this act to the county courts, shall be returnable to the first term of the proper county court, and all civil cases so transferred shall be entered as appearance causes upon the dockets of the respective county courts.

SEC. 8. The crowded condition of the dockets of the district courts of said counties, creates an emergency and imperative public necessity that the rule be suspended, and that this act take effect and be in force from and after its passage, and it is so enacted.

Approved March 30, A. D. 1881.

Takes effect from passage.

CHAPTER LXXII.-An act to amend certain articles of chapter 2, of title 78, of the Revised Civil Code, said chapter 2 being entitled "Agricultural and Mechanical College."

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Texas, That articles 3684, 3685, 3687, 3689, 3692, of chapter 2, title 78, of the Revised Civil Code, shall be so amended as hereafter to read as follows, and that another article, to be called article 3692a, be added thereto: "Article 3684. The board of directors of said college shall consist of five members.

"Article 3685. The directors provided for in the preceding article shall be appointed by the governor, to be selected from different sections