northwest point of Mustang Island at the old revetment (placed there by the United States Government) to the first buoy south of the light house, and continuing in the same direction to the east shore of Harbor Island, said body of water lies between Mustang and Harbor Islands and is commonly known as the Cove. 14. All that body of water on the west shore of St. Joe Island, beginning at a point on St. Joe Island called Caesar's Point, thence in a southerly direction along the middle ground to a stake six hundred feet due west of Allen's Wharf, thence to the west shore of said Island, thence northerly with the meanders of said shore to the place of beginning. Any person offending against this Article shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction shall be fined not less than ten dollars nore more than two hundred and fifty dollars. Each day shall constitute a separate offense and in all prosecutions under this article the identification of the boat from which the violation occurred shall be prima facie evidence against the owner or parties last in charge of such seines or nets or on such boat. SECTION 2. Be it further enacted that Article 529x shall be added to chapter CXXX of the General Laws of 1901 as passed by the 27th Legislature, which Article shall read as follows: Article 529x. Any person who shall bring to market any fish, turtle, terrapin, shrimp or oysters taken from the coast waters of this State shall pay the tax and obtain the permit as prescribed in Article 2514 before disposing of any part of said product and if he or any other person shall sell or shall dispose of any part of said product for shipment or storage before obtaining said permit the person so selling or disposing of said product or any part thereof shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction shall be fined not less than ten dollars nor more than two hundred and fifty dollars. In prosecutions in this and other similar cases the fact of the fish, turtle, terrapin, shrimp, or oysters being of the varieties that are found on the Texas coast shall be prima facie evidence that said fish, turtle, terrapin, shrimp, or oysters were taken from the coast waters of this State. SECTION 3. That all laws and parts of laws in conflict herewith shall be and the same are hereby repealed. SECTION 4. Whereas, the fact that the laws of this State are now inadequate for the protection of the subjects of the foregoing Act, creates an emergency and imperative nublic necessity that this Act be passed under a suspension of the Constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several days and the said rule is therefore suspended and this. Act shall take effect 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 26, nays 0; and passed the House of Representatives by the following vote, yeas 84, nays 12.] Approved April 14, 1905. Takes effect 90 days after adjournment. An Act to amend Article 2439, Chapter 1, Title 45, of the Revised Civil Statutes of the State of Texas of 1895, in reference to fees of office to be charged and collected by certain State officers. SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Texas: That Article 2439, Chapter 1, Title 45, of the Revised Civil Statutes of the State of Texas of 1895, in reference to fees of certain State .officers, be amended so as to hereafter read as follows: Article 2439. The Secretary of State, besides other fees that may be prescribed by law, is authorized and required to charge for the use of the State the following fees: For each and every charter, amendment or supplement thereto, of a private corporation created for the purpose of operating or constructing a railroad, magnetic telegraph line or street railway, or express company, authorized or required by law to be recorded in said department, a fee of one hundred dollars, to be paid when said charter is filed; provided, that if the authorized capital stock of said corporation shall exceed one hundred thousand dollars, it shall be required to pay an additional fee of twenty-five dollars for each one hundred thousand dollars authorized capital stock, or fractional part thereof, after the first; for each and every charter, amendment or supplement thereto, of a private corporation intended for the support of public worship, any benevolent, charitable, educational, missionary, literary or scientific undertaking, the maintenance of a library, the promotion of painting, music or other fine arts, the encouragement of agriculture or horticulture, the maintenance of public parks and facilities for skating and other innocent sports, and the maintenance of a public cemetery not for profit, a fee of ten dollars to be paid when the charter is filed; for each and every charter, amendment or supplement thereto, of a private corporation, created for any other purpose, intended for mutual profit or benefit, a fee of twentyfive dollars shall be paid when the said charter is filed for record; provided, that if the authorized capital stock of said corporation shall exceed ten thousand dollars, it shall be required to pay an additional fee of five dollars for each additional ten thousand dollars of its authorized capital stock, or fractional part thereof, after the first; for each commission to every officer, elected or appointed in this State, a fee of one dollar; and each and every officer elected or appointed in this State is required to apply for and receive his commission; provided, that the Secretary of State shall not be required to forward copies of laws to, nor attest the authority of, any officer in this State who fails and refuses to take out his commission as required herein; for each official certificate a fee of one dollar; for each warrant of requisition, a fee of two dollars; for every remission of fine or forfeiture, one dollar; for copies of any paper, document or record in his office, for each one hundred words, fifteen cents; for each and every charter, amendment or supplement thereto, taken out under Chapter 14, Title 21, Revised Statutes of 1895 (channel and dock corporations), a fee of one hundred dollars shall be paid to the Secretary of State, for the use and benefit of the State, which shall be paid when the charter, amendment or supplement thereto is filed for record. Each foreign corporation obtaining a permit to do business in this State shall pay fees as follows: If its authorized capital stock be ten thousand dollars or less, the fee for permit shall be twenty-five dollars; and if the authorized capital stock exceeds ten thousand dollars, the fee for permit shall be twenty-five dollars for the first ten thousand dollars of its authorized capital stock, and five dollars for each additional ten thousand dollars or fractional part thereof. All fees mentioned in this article shall be paid in advance into the office of the Secretary of State, and shall be by him paid into the State Treasury monthly. SEC. 2. The growing deficit in the State Treasury, and the fact that under existing law, the filing fees charged for permits for foreign corporations are considerably less than those charged for charters of domestic corporations, making an unjust discrimination against domestic and in favor of foreign corporations, create an imperative public necessity for the suspension of the constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several days, and an emergency demanding that this Act 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 House of Representatives by a two-thirds vote, yeas 94, nays 0; and passed the Senate by a two-thirds vote, yeas 27, nays 1.] Approved April 14, 1905. Became a law April 14, 1905. COURTS-FIXING JURISDICTION OF, IN DIMMITT COUNTY. An Act to restore and confer upon the county court of Dimmitt county the civil and criminal jurisdiction heretofore belonging to said county court under the Constitution and the general statutes of the State of Texas; to define the jurisdiction of said court; to conform the jurisdiction of the district court of said county to such change; to fix the time of holding court; to repeal all laws and parts of laws in conflict with this Act; and declaring an emergency. SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Texas: That the county court of Dimmitt county shall hereafter have exclusive original jurisdiction in all civil cases wherein 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 court of said county when the amount in controversy shall exceed five hundred dollars and shall not exceed one thousand dollars, exclusive of interest. SEC. 2. Said county court shall have appellate jurisdiction in civil cases over which justice courts have original jurisdiction in civil cases, when the judgment of the court appealed from or the amount in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, exclusive of interest, and said county court shall have the power to hear and determine cases brought up from justice courts by certiorari under the provisions of the Title of the Revised Statutes relating thereto. SEC. 3. The county judge of said county shall have authority, either in term time or vacation, to grant writs of injunction, sequestration, mandamus, garnishment, attachment, certiorari, supersedeas, and all other writs necessary for the enforcement of the jurisdiction of said court, and shall also have power to issue writs of habeas corpus in all cases in which the Constitution has not exclusively conferred the power on the district court or judge thereof. SEC. 4. The said court shall have and exercise the jurisdiction of a 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 with executors, administrators and guardians; transact all business pertaining to the estates of deceased persons, minors, idiots, lunatics, persons non compos mentis and common drunkards, including the partition, settlement and distribution of the estates of deceased persons; and to apprentice minors as provided by general law, and to issue all writs. necessary to the enforcement of its jurisdiction, orders and decrees. SEC. 5. Said county court shall have jurisdiction in the forfeiture and judgment of all bonds and recognizances taken in criminal cases of which said court has original or appellate jurisdiction. SEC. 6. Said county court shall have exclusive original jurisdiction of all misdemeanors, except misdemeanors involving official misconduct, and except misdemeanors in which the highest penalty that may be imposed by law is a fine that does not exceed two hundred dollars; and said court shall have concurrent jurisdiction with that of justices of the peace in criminal cases, and appellate jurisdiction with trial de novo in criminal cases in which justices of the peace and other inferior tribunals of said county have original jurisdiction. SEC. 7. The district court of said county shall no longer have jurisdiction of misdemeanors, except those involving official misconduct, and shall no longer have jurisdiction of cases of which the county court of said county, by provisions of this Act, has original or appellate jurisdiction. SEC. 8. It shall be the duty of the district clerk of said county, within thirty days after this Act shall take effect, to make full and complete transcripts of orders in cases in the criminal and civil dockets then pending before the district court of said county, of which cases, by the provisions of this Act, original and appellate jurisdiction is given to said county court, and to deliver said transcripts, together with the original papers and a certified bill of costs in each case, to the county clerk of said county, and the said county clerk shall file the same and enter said cases as appearances on the respective dockets for trial by said court. SEC. 9. The said county court shall also have the power to hear and determine all motions against sheriffs and other officers of the court for failure to pay over moneys collected under process of said court, or the defalcations of duty in connection with said process, and shall have power to punish by fine not exceeding one hundred dollars, and by imprisonment in the county jail not exceeding three days, any person guilty of contempt of said court, and all other powers and jurisdiction conferred on county courts by the Constitution and general laws of this State. SEC. 10. The terms of said court shall commence on the second Monday in January, and on the second Monday in April, and on the second Monday in July, and on the second Monday in October, of each year, and may continue in session for three weeks each term; provided, that the county commissioners' court of said county may hereafter change the terms of said court whenever it may be deemed necessary. SEC. 11. All laws and parts of laws in conflict with this Act be, and the same are hereby repealed. SEC. 12. The importance of restoring the jurisdiction of the county court of the said county to the end that pending and further litigation may be disposed of without delay, creates an emergency and an imperative public necessity that the law 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, and it is so enacted. [NOTE. The enrolled bill shows that the foregoing act passed the House of Representatives, no vote given; and passed the Senate by a twothirds vote, yeas 27, nays 0.] [NOTE. The foregoing act was presented to the Governor of Texas for his approval on the 14th day of April, A. D. 1905, 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.-O. K. SHANNON, Secretary of State.] Takes effect 90 days after adjournment. LANDS-REMITTING PENALTIES ON CERTAIN PATENTS. S. B. No. 184.] CHAPTER 93. An Act to remit penalties on certain patents and to authorize the Commissioner of the General Land Office to deliver to the owner of the land the patent therefor upon payment of patent fee. Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Texas: SECTION 1. All penalties which may have accrued on patents remaining in the General Land Office on August 31st. 1904 are hereby remitted, and the Commissioner of the General Land Office.may deliver said patents. to the owner of the land when satisfied of such ownership, provided that if the records of the Land Office do not show the payment of the patent fee, the person demanding the patent shall pay the present Statutory fee for the patent before he shall be entitled to receive it. SEC. 2. The importance of the legislation herein proposed to the many land owners and the fact that the calendar is now crowded with many measures rendering it improbable that this bill can be read on three separate days creates an emergency and an imperative public necessity that the constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three separate days in each house be suspended and that this be put upon its third |