COURTS-COUNTY AND DISTRICT COURTS OF CROCKETT AND EDWARDS COUNTIES.

An Act to diminish the civil and criminal jurisdiction of the County Court of Crockett county and the County Court of Edwards county; to conform the jurisdiction of the district courts thereto and to repeal all laws in conflict therewith, and declaring an emergency.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Texas:

SECTION 1. That the County Court of Crockett county and the County Court of Edwards county shall have and exercise the general jurisdiction of probate court, shall probate wills, appoint guardians of minors, idiots, lunatics, persons non compos mentis and common drunkards, grant letters testamentary and of administration, settle accounts. as [of] executors, administrators, and guardians, and transact all business appertaining to estates of deceased persons, minors, idiots, lunatics, persons non compos mentis and common drunkards, including partition, settlement and distribution of estates of deceased persons, and to apprentice minors as provided by law, and to issue all writs necessary for the enforcement of its own jurisdiction, to punish contempt under such provisions as are now or may be provided by the general law governing county courts, throughout the State, but the said county court of the said Crockett county and of the said Edwards county shall have no other jurisdiction civil or criminal whatsoever.

SEC. 2. That the District Court of Crockett county and the District Court of Edwards county shall have and exercise jurisdiction in all civil and criminal matters and causes over which by the law of this State, the county court of said county would have jurisdiction, except as provided in Section 1 of this Act, all causes, other than probate matters and such as are provided by Section 1 of this Act, be and the same are hereby transferred to the District Court of Crockett county and the District Court of Edwards county, and all writs and processes relating to any civil or criminal matters included in the subject matter of jurisdiction prescribed in Section 1 of this Act, issued by or out of the said County Court of Crockett County and the County Court of Edwards county, be and the same are hereby made returnable to the next term of the district court of said county after this Act takes effect.

SEC. 3. That the County Clerk of Crockett county and the County Clerk of Edwards county be and he is hereby required, within thirty days after this Act takes effect, to make a full and complete transcript of all entries upon his civil and criminal docket heretofore made in cases which by Section 2 of this Act are required to be transferred to the district court of said counties, together with all the papers to such cause pertaining, a certified bill of costs in each case and all such cases shall immediately be docketed by the district court as appearance for the next succeeding term, and all criminal cases shall be docketed and disposed of in the same manner as if the same had been originally triable in said district court and all process now issued and returnable to said county court shall be returnable to said district courts.

SEC. 4. That this Act shall not be construed to in anywise or in

any manner affect judgments heretofore rendered by said County Court of Crockett county and the said County Court of Edwards county pertaining to matters and causes which by Section 2 of this Act are [returnable] to the district courts of said counties, but the county clerks of said counties shall issue all executions and orders of sale, and proceedings thereunder shall be as valid and binding to all intents and purposes as though the change had not been made as by Section 2 therein contemplated.

SEC. 5. That all laws and parts of laws in conflict herewith be and the same are hereby repealed.

SEC. 6. Owing to the great inconvenience and expense of the people of Crockett county and of the people of Edwards county and the almost unanimous demand of the citizens of said counties that said jurisdiction be diminished, an emergency is created and an imperative public necessity exists that the Constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several days be suspended and it is hereby suspended and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its passage, and it is so enacted.

Approved April 21, 1909.

Takes effect ninety days after adjournment.

DISTRICT JUDGES-EMPOWERING TO ACT IN VACATION. S. B. No. 33.]

CHAPTER 32.

An Act to amend Chapter 3, of Title 28 of the Revised Civil Statutes of the State of Texas by adding thereto Article 1107a empowering judges of the district court to act in vacation, and declaring an emergency.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Texas:

SECTION 1. That Chapter 3, of Title 28 of the Revised Civil Statutes of the State of Texas, be amended by adding thereto Article 1107a to read as follows:

Article 1107a. The judges of the district court may, in vacation, by consent of the parties, exercise all powers, make all orders, and perform all acts, as fully as in term time, except to enter final judgment in any suit; provided, that the judge may, by consent of the parties, try any case without a jury and enter final judgment, except in divorce cases. All such proceedings shall be conducted under the same rules as if done in term time, and the right of appeal and writ of error shall apply as if the acts had been done in term time.

SEC. 2. The fact that the final adjudication of many important matters is often delayed awaiting the regular term of court and that many district judges in this State have sufficient time between the holding of different courts in their district to hear, pass upon, and determine important matters during vacation, thus relieving the crowded condition. of the docket during the regular term and preventing unnecessary delay in the administration of justice, creates an emergency and an imperative public necessity that the Constitutional rule providing that bills

be read on three several days be suspended and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its passage, and it is so enacted.

Approved April 21, 1909.

Takes effect ninety days after adjournment.

COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE-TO INQUIRE INTO SYSTEM OF IRRIGATION.

An Act to make it the duty of the Commissioner of Agriculture to inquire into the present system of irrigation as applied to the rice industry and other products, the character of rates and contracts used on irrigating canals, to make public his report from time to time and to transmit same to the Governor and the Legislature, giving him power and authority to employ an engineer and expert to assist him when necessary in said work, and declaring an emergency.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Texas:

SECTION 1. It shall be the duty of the Commissioner of Agriculture to prepare and make public, reports on the present system of irrigation now in operation in this State, the cost of maintenance and operation of same, the character and kind of irrigation plants which result in the greater saving to the users of water, the class and character of water contracts entered into by the various canal companies; he shall also inquire into the reasonableness and fairness of rates being charged for water by the various canal companies in this State and from time to time shall make public the result of his inquiries; he shall collect and publish statistics and other information regarding the irrigation of rice and other crops as may be of benefit in developing and collaborating a more efficient system of laws safeguarding and defining the rights of users and sellers of water for irrigating purposes; and he shall make up and file an annual report on same with such recommendations [as] he may deem beneficial to the industry, which report shall be filed with the Governor and transmitted to the Legislature.

SEC. 2. The Commissioner of Agriculture is hereby empowered and authorized to employ a competent engineer and expert, possessing a practical knowledge of the application of irrigation to the raising of rice and other crops, for the purpose of assisting him in performing the duties required of him in Section 1 of this Act.

SEC. 3. The fact that there is now no means of collecting data on canal rates and that there is no member of the Department of Agriculture qualified to perform the duties above mentioned, creates an emergency and an imperative public necessity that the Constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several days in both Houses be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended, and that this Act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage, and it is so enacted.

[NOTE. The enrolled bill shows that the foregoing Act passed the Senate by a two-thirds vote, yeas 22, nays 4; and passed the House by a two-thirds vote, yeas 95, nays 4.]

Approved April 21, 1909.

Became a law April 21, 1909.

INJUNCTIONS-RELATING TO GRANTING.

S. B. No. 29.]

CHAPTER 34.

An Act to amend subdivision 3 of Section 1 of Chapter 107 of the Acts of the Regular Session of the Thirtieth Legislature and Section 2 of said Act, pertaining to Article 2989, Title 56 of the Revised Civil Statutes, with respect to the granting of injunctions and providing for appeals from the orders and decrees of district and county courts either granting or refusing temporary injunctions and fixing effects of such appeals, and repealing all laws in conflict herewith, and declaring an emergency.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Texas:

SECTION 1. That Article 2989 of the Revised Civil Statutes of Texas be amended so as to read as follows:

Article 2989. Judges of the district and county courts shall, either in term time or vacation, hear and determine all applications and may grant writs of injunctions returnable to said courts in the following

cases:

(1) Where it shall appear that the party applying for such writ is entitled to the relief demanded and such relief or any part thereof requires the restraint of some act prejudicial to the applicant.

(2) Where, pending litigation, it shall be made to appear that a party doing some act respecting the subject of litigation, or threatens, or is about to do some act, or its procuring or suffering the same to be done in violation of the rights of the applicant which act would tend to render judgment ineffectual.

(3) In all cases where the applicant for such writ may show himself entitled thereto under the principles of equity, and as provided by Statutes in all other Acts of this State, providing for the granting of injunctions, or where a cloud would be put on the title of real estate being sold under an execution against a person, partnership or corporation, having no interest in such real estate subject to the execution at the time of the sale, or irreparable injury to real estate or personal property is threatened, irrespective of any legal remedy at law.

Provided that no district judge shall have the power to grant any writ of injunction returnable to any other court than his own, unless the application or petition therefor shall state that the resident judge, that is, the judge in whose district the suit is, or is to be brought, is absent from his district, or is sick and unable to hear or act upon the application, or is inaccessible, or unless such resident judge shall have refused to hear or act upon such application for the writ of injunction, or unless such judge is disqualified to hear or act upon the application; and the facts of, and relating to, such judge's absence, or sickness and inability, or disqualification, or inaccessibility, or refusal to act must be fully set out in the application for the writ, or in an affidavit accompanying said application; and in case of such absence, or sickness and inability or inaccessibility, or disqualification of the resident judge, or in case of his refusal to hear, or act upon, such application, no district. judge shall have the power to grant the writ when the application therefor shall have once been acted upon by a district judge of the State; provided, that when the judge applied to shall have refused to hear or act upon such application, he shall endorse thereon, or annex thereto

his refusal to hear or act upon such application, together with his reason therefor; provided, that nothing herein shall apply to the granting of writs of injunction by non-resident judges to stay execution or to restrain foreclosures, or to restrain sales under deeds of trust, or to restrain trespasses, or to restrain the removal of property, or to restrain acts injurious to, or impairing riparian or easement rights where proof is made to the satisfaction of such non-resident judge that it is impracticable for the applicant to reach the resident judge and procure his action in time to effectuate the purpose of the application.

A resident judge shall be deemed inaccessible, within the meaning of this Act, when by the ordinary and available means and modes of travel and communication, he can not be reached in sufficient time to effectuate the purpose of the writ of injunction sought.

Whenever an application or petition for the writ of injunction shall be made to a non-resident judge upon the ground that the resident judge is inaccessible as hereinbefore defined, the party making such application or his attorney, shall make and file with the application, as a part thereof or annexed thereto, an affidavit setting out fully the facts showing that the resident judge is inaccessible, and the efforts made by the applicant to reach and communicate with said resident judge, and the result of said efforts in that behalf, and unless it appears from said affidavit that the applicant has made a fair and reasonable effort to procure the action of the resident judge upon said application, non-resident judge shall have the power to hear said application upon the ground of inaccessibility of the resident judge; and should any non-resident judge hear said application upon said ground of inaccessibility of the resident judge, and should grant the writ of injunction prayed for, said injunction so granted shall be dissolved upon it being shown that the petitioner has not first made reasonable effort to procure a hearing upon said application before the resident judge.

[SEC. 2.] That Section 2 of Chapter 107 of the Acts of the Regular Session of the Thirtieth Legislature shall be amended so as hereafter to read as follows:

Section 2. Any party or parties to any civil suit wherein a temporary injunction may be granted, refused or dissolved under any of the provisions of this Title in term time or in vacation, may appeal from the order of judgment granting, refusing, or dissolving such injunction to the court of civil appeals having jurisdiction of the case; but such appeal shall not have the effect to suspend the enforcement of the order appealed from, unless it shall be so ordered by the court or judge who enters the order; provided, the transcript in such case shall be filed. with the clerk of the court of civil appeals not later than fifteen days after the entry of record of such order or judgment granting, refusing or dissolving such injunction.

SEC. 3. It shall not be necessary to brief such case in the court of civil appeals or Supreme Court, and the case may be heard in the said courts on the bill and answer, and such affidavits and evidence as may have been admitted by the judge granting, refusing or dissolving such injunction; provided, the appellant may file a brief in the court of civil appeals or Supreme Court upon the furnishing the appellee with