Texas Advisory Opinions October 01, 1964: AGO C-324 (October 1, 1964)

No. C-324 (1964).

In your request you ask whether the word "or" contained in Section 32 of Article 666, V.P.C., is disjunctive or conjunctive.

The pertinent part of the Statute reads as follows:

"No signature shall be counted unless the residence address of the signer is shown, or unless it is signed exactly as the name of the voter appears on the official copy of the current poll list or the official copy of the current list of exempt voters." (Emphasis Supplied)

It is a familiar rule of statutory construction that words used by the Legislature in a statute are to be given their usual meaning, unless that meaning is shaded or changed by the manner in which they are used in the particular statute. 39 Tex.Jur. 194.

Black's Law Dictionary , Fourth Edition, defines "or":

"A disjunctive particle used to express an alternative or to give a choice of one among two or more things . . ." (Emphasis Supplied)

In its ordinary use, the term "or" is disjunctive and alternative in its effect. Unless there is some impelling reason apparent in the context, it should be given its ordinary rather than a conjunctive meaning. Oxsheer v. Watt , 91 Tex. 402, 44 S.W. 67 (1898). There appears no impelling reason in the context for giving the word "or" any other than its usual meaning. Moreover, the presence of the word "unless" following "or" in the statute lends weight to the disjunctive position as opposed to the conjunctive.

Webster's Dictionary defines "unless" as meaning "in any case other than", "except that", "except when." This would further indicate that the second requisite phrase in the statute was intended by the Legislature as an alternative.

SUMMARY

The word "or" in Section 32 of Article 666, V.P.C., is used in the disjunctive, not the conjunctive.