North Dakota Attorney General Opinions

OPINION 45-197 November 1, 1945 (OPINION) MOTOR VEHICLES RE: Scooters License Plates This will acknowledge your letter of October 24, in which you advise that you are going to manufacture two and three-wheeled scooters and motor chairs and that these machines will be operated by engines powered with from one to three horsepower gas motors, weighing from 125 to 200 pounds, and that they will be sold through dealers and distributors. You want to know whether or not the State of North Dakota requires a license for such machines, a license for the operator, or title thereto. I en

OPINION 45-151 November 1, 1945 (OPINION) INSURANCE RE: Public Buildings Outside Incorporated Cities and Villages This office is in receipt of your letter of October 30, 1945, in which you inquire whether there is any state law in North Dakota forbidding a school board from insuring a school building against fire in a mutual fire insurance company. You say in your letter that the school building in question is located outside of the corporate limits of the city. Section 26-2404 of the North Dakota Revised Code of 1943 provides: "The public buildings and fixtures and permanent

OPINION 45-83 October 31, 1945 (OPINION) ELECTIONS RE: Special - U.S. Senator QUESTION NO. 1: "In the election to fill the Moses senatorial seat, will all the candidate appear in one column or will there be Republican, Democrat and Independent columns?" While there is no specific law requiring the ballot in the special election to elect a successor to fill the vacancy in the office of United States Senator due to the death of the late Senator Moses, yet in reading all the statutes together, I am of the opinion that such ticket should be headed by party designations; that is,

OPINION 45-257 October 31, 1945 (OPINION) STREETS RE: Use of by School Children Re: Children Sliding on Streets Your letter of October 30, re above, at hand. Your letter presents something of a difficult problem. I infer that the children habitually use the street involved in the winter time as a place for coasting. Such use of a street used for ordinary traffic makes accidents almost unavoidable. The city might by ordinance wholly forbid the use of the street for coasting. Even then, it would require very close policing to stop the children entirely from sliding on

OPINION 45-227 October 30, 1945 (OPINION) POOR PERSONS RE: Residence for Relief Purposes Your letter of October 26 addressed to the Attorney General has been received and contents noted. You state that one Rose Pelarien was recently committed by your county court to the sanitarium at Dunseith. She is an indigent person. The judge of the county court has made an investigation as to the residence of this person, and while he found that she was not a resident of Traill County, he was unable to determine whether she had any residence in the State of North Dakota. Your county n

OPINION 45-152 October 30, 1945 (OPINION) INSURANCE RE: Catastrophe This office is in receipt of your letter of October 30, 1945, in which you request our opinion as to the amount of money which may be expended by the State Fire and Tornado Fund of your department for catastrophe insurance. You say that you desire "to know specifically whether the insurance department is limited to the expenditure of $30,000 in providing this insurance, the said sum having been appropriated by chapter 119 of the 1945 Session Laws, or whether additional money may be spent under the provisions

OPINION 45-261 October 27, 1945 (OPINION) SCHOOL DISTRICTS RE: Building Funds - How Created Re: Establishment of Building Fund Your letter of recent date with reference to establishment of a building fund for Dickinson public school district has been received and contents noted. You enclosed a resolution adopted by the board of education of the Dickinson school district which sets forth that according to the audit of the school district as of July 1, 1945 there is a balance in the sinking fund of $33,908.71; that this balance consists of earnings on investments credited to t

OPINION 45-47 October 26, 1945 (OPINION) CITIES RE: Ordinances - Repeal of Your letter of October 24 addressed to this office has been received and contents noted. You refer to subdivision 26 of section 3818 C.L. 1913, which authorized cities to license, tax and regulate all bowling alleys, billiard tables, etc., and you state that pursuant to the authority of said statute the city of Grand Forks in 1908 passed an ordinance (which has never been formally repealed by the city) licensing bowling alleys at $20.00 per alley per year. The legislative session of 1919 enacted chapter

OPINION 45-232 October 24, 1945 (OPINION) PUBLIC PLACE RE: Highways Re: Section 5-0109 North Dakota Revised Code of 1943 We have your letter of October 23, desiring our opinion as to whether or not a "public place" within the provisions of section 5-0109 of the North Dakota Revised Code of 1943 includes a public highway; that is, whether or not, a person being intoxicated on a public highway in this state is subject to punishment under that section. Alabama has held that a public road is a "public place" within the statute concerning drunkenness. Frederick v. State, 24 Ala.

OPINION 45-213 October 18, 1945 (OPINION) NEWSPAPERS RE: Legal Publications Re: County Official Newspaper. On September 12, 1945, we replied to your letter of September fourth with reference to the question whether the Slope Messenger could be considered a county official newspaper under the following facts: Until three months ago the Slope Messenger was located and published at Marmarth in Slope County. In May this year it was moved to New England, Hettinger County. The entire paper is printed and mailed from New England, but it has the same subscription list, or practi

OPINION 45-250 October 17, 1945 (OPINION) SALES TAX RE: Use Tax - Covered Into What Fund This office is in receipt of your letter of October 17, 1945. I am not certain that I understand the legal question which you desire this office to answer, but, if I interpret your letter correctly, you contend that under and by virtue of chapter 167 of the North Dakota Session Laws of 1937, which is incorporated in the 1943 Revised Code under sections 57-4012 to 57-4015, both inclusive, that "a tax of two percent of the sales price of any motor vehicle purchased or acquired for use on th

OPINION 45-13 October 15, 1945 (OPINION) ANIMALS RE: Predatory - Traps This will acknowledge the receipt of your letter of October 10, 1945, in which you request the opinion of this office as to what constitutes "an approved county highway" under the provisions of section 2 of chapter 2 of the 1944 Special Session Laws.(Senate Bill No.2). In view of the fact that traps or devices mentioned in said section may not legally be set less than one hundred feet from the highway specifically described therein, it is my opinion that such limitation applies only to the traps or devices

OPINION 45-255 October 11, 1945 (OPINION) SPECIAL ASSESSMENTS RE: Property Owned by County Re: Special Assessments. Your letter of October 10, 1945, relating to special assessments, has come to my desk for attention. Your letter does not give sufficient data to enable us to understand the exact situation. If the county has taken tax title to certain city lots and the city now desires to make special improvements and to levy special assessments therefor, an agreement with the county can be made under the provisions of sections 40-2206 and 40-2207 of the North Dakota Revised C

OPINION 45-195 October 9, 1945 (OPINION) MOTOR VEHICLE REGISTRAR RE: Agents of--Bonded This will acknowledge the receipt of your letter of October 5, 1945, in which you say that your department has local registrar agents in a number of towns and cities throughout the state, which you require to be bonded with the state bonding fund; that some of these agents are county officials, and the question has arisen as to whether the official bond running to the county would be considered sufficient to cover the liability to the motor vehicle department merely upon notice to the bonding

OPINION 45-101 October 4, 1945 (OPINION) FLEET CONTRACTS RE: Authority of State to Execute Upon your request, I have examined Form 937-10M 6-27-40 of the Ford Motor Company entitled "Fleet Owner's Agreement," by which agreement it appears that if and when a "fleet owner" purchases twenty or more Ford products during any one purchase year and furnishes the company with proof thereof, the company will pay the fleet owner the amount set forth in a schedule of amounts for each Ford product (and its optional equipment) which fleet owner shall purchase during such purchase year. Th

OPINION 45-172 October 1, 1945 (OPINION) LANDS OWNED BY THE STATE RE: Sale of - Taxes - Cancellation of Upon your request I have considered the tax exemption problem which has arisen between the Bank of North Dakota, as agent for the state treasurer, as trustee for the state of North Dakota, and Cavalier County officials, with reference to the real estate property taxes against a 400 acre farm purchased by Gestson and Laxdal of Gardar, North Dakota. I understand that the trustee undertook to convey the farm to Gestson and Laxdal free and clear of all incumbrances by a special

OPINION 45-304 September 25, 1945(OPINION) VETERANS ADVISORY COMMITTEE RE: Compensation This will acknowledge your letter of September 19, with reference to the question of whether or not members of the Veterans' Advisory Committee, set up under the terms of subsection 3 of chapter 237 of the 1945 Session Laws, who serve without compensation, may be reimbursed for their actual expenses while in the performance of their duties attending meetings of the committee. Chapter 237 of the 1945 Session Laws, setting up the Department of Veterans' Affairs, provides for no appropriation, except ins

OPINION 45-115 September 25, 1945 (OPINION) HAIL INSURANCE RE: Examination of Insurance Companies-Zones This will acknowledge the receipt of your letter of September 13, 1945, in which you request the opinion of this office as to our interpretation of various sections of chapter 25-02 of the North Dakota Revised Code of 1943, and chapter 213 of the 1945 Session Laws, which amends section 26-0108 of the Revised code, relating to the examination of insurance companies. You say, in substance, that heretofore the commissioners of the various states formed an association known as th

OPINION 45-198 September 17, 1945 (OPINION) MOTOR VEHICLES RECONSTRUCTED RE: License This will acknowledge your letter of September 13, enclosing a letter written by E. K. Sheaffer, Motor Vehicle Registrar, upon which you request an opinion from this office. As I understand, the policy of the Motor Vehicle Registrar, no penalties are charged for the re-registration of reconstructed motor vehicles. A reconstructed vehicle is defined by the statute as, "any vehicle which shall have been assembled or constructed largely by means of new or used essential parts, derived from other

OPINION 45-251 September 14, 1945 (OPINION) SCHOOLS RE: High School Students - Transportation This is to acknowledge receipt of your letter of September 4, relative to transportation of high school students. This office has previously considered this matter, and on August 25 1945 we wrote a letter to Mr. Dalager, deputy superintendent of public instruction, in which we called attention to section 15-3413 of the North Dakota Revised Code of 1943, which provides: In any district which furnishes vehicular transportation by public conveyance, resident children who are attending any

OPINION 45-305 September 13, 1945 (OPINION) VETERANS AID COMMISSION RE: Compensation Copy of your letter dated September 5, addressed to Otto Krueger, state treasurer, has been received. From your letter, I note that the veterans' aid commission has appointed H.L. Turner, loan officer for the commission, and that you desire that checks signed by him be accepted by the state treasurer as though they had been signed by yourself as executive secretary of the veterans' aid commission. I note further that it is your desire that the state treasurer accept either your signature or Mr. Turne

OPINION 45-189 September 11, 1945 (OPINION) MEDICINE RE: Practice of in Hospitals - Graduate Without License I acknowledge your letter of September 7, in which you ask for an opinion on the following questions: 1. Is it legal for a graduate in medicine and surgery from an approved college to practice as a hospital resident in any hospital in North Dakota, before being licensed in this state? 2. Has the Board of Medical Examiners authority to grant a temporary license, without examination, to such graduates to practice in said hospitals?" When you refer to a hospital resid

OPINION 45-135 September 7, 1945 (OPINION) HIGHWAY CONTRACTS RE: Bids for Equipment This will acknowledge the receipt of your letter of August 28, 1945, in which you say that Attorney Vernon Johnson of Wahpeton, North Dakota, representing August Vagts, a contractor, whose residence is Breckenridge, Minnesota, contends that his client is entitled to the award of a contract for furnishing gravel on a state highway in Pembina County designated as SAP441A and 338 Cpt. You say that Mr. Johnson bases his contention on the fact that Mr. Vagts was the low bidder when bids were opened

OPINION 45-200 September 6, 1945 (OPINION) MOTOR VEHICLE RE: Defense Transportation-License-Penalty This will acknowledge your letter of August 29, in which you advise that the office of defense transportation is now ready to pay license fees on common carrier trucks, operated by the federal government during the war emergency. Early in July, the Congress of the United States passed a statute authorizing and empowering the federal manager of common carrier operated under the supervision of the office of defense transportation to pay license fees, taxes and other impositions i

OPINION 45-252 September 5, 1945 (OPINION) STATE BUILDINGS RE: Must be Insured in State Fund, Wherever Located Re: Property of City of Grand Forks Your letter of August 30, inquiring whether or not a pump house built and owned by the city of Grand Forks, located on the Red Lake River in the State of Minnesota" can be insured in the State Fire and Tornado Fund. Section 26-2404 of the North Dakota Revised Code of 1943 provides that all public buildings owned by political subdivisions of the state "shall be insured under the provisions of this chapter." The section further pr

OPINION 45-217 August 27, 1945 (OPINION) OFFICE RE: Public - Incumbent Dead - Office Continues Your letter of August 25 addressed to the attorney general has been received and contents carefully noted. You state that the state auditing board requests an opinion upon the following question: "Should the auditing board recognize the signature of any individual in the insurance department, and its affiliated agencies, such as the hail dept., bonding fund, fire and tornado fund on vouchers presented for payment from and after the death of O.E. Erickson, insurance commissioner, and i

OPINION 45-262 August 25, 1945 (OPINION) SCHOOLS RE: Teachers - Wearing Religious Garbs This will acknowledge your letter of August 23, 1945, in which you refer to a news release reporting the ruling of Arthur E. Thompson, superintendent of public instruction, to the effect that the wearing of a religious garb is not a bar to teaching in the public schools of North Dakota. You want to know whether, in our estimation, this ruling is correct and whether we concur with Mr. Thompson in that ruling. Mr. Thompson's ruling is based upon a supreme court opinion rendered on April 2,

OPINION 45-316 August 23, 1945 (OPINION) WAR RE: Duration - Official Termination Your letter of August 16 addressed to this office has been received and contents of same carefully noted. You refer to section 24-1301 to 24-1307 of the North Dakota Revised Code of 1943, which provide for the creation of a state highway traffic advisory committee, and also define its powers and duties. Section 24-1308 provides that the provisions of the foregoing sections--1 to 7 inclusive--shall be in full force and effect for the duration of the war unless sooner terminated by the proclamation o

OPINION 45-238 August 23, 1945 (OPINION) REGISTER OF DEEDS RE: Fees for Highway Deeds Re: Payment of Register of Deeds' Fees by State Highway Department Your letter of August 20, re the above, has come to my desk for attention. It is my opinion that the next to the last paragraph of chapter 128 of the Laws of 1933, relating to the payment of register of deeds' fees by the highway department in certain instances, has been materially amended by section 24-0124 of the North Dakota Revised Code of 1943, and that now the only fees not to be charged by the register of deeds are t

OPINION 45-57 August 20, 1945 (OPINION) CLERK OF DISTRICT COURT RE: Fees in Discharge in Bankruptcy Your letter dated August 13, 1945, addressed to John Graham, State Examiner, has been referred by him to this office for reply. In your letter to Mr. Graham you say: "There's a couple of judgments docketed in Pembina County on transcript from other counties. The judgment debtor now lives in Pembina County and through his attorney has filed with me a certified copy of a discharge obtained through the bankruptcy laws of the United States under section 28-2030 of North Dakota's Re

OPINION 45-201 August 20, 1945 (OPINION) MOTOR VEHICLES RE: Dealer - Established Place of Business This is in reply to your recent letter requesting an opinion from this office as to whether, under our statutes, a person who buys and sells cars may be required to become a licensed dealer and accordingly to procure a dealer's license. Section 39-0459, of the North Dakota Revised Code of 1943, as amended by chapter 249, of the Session Laws of 1945, prescribes the requirements with which a person must comply in order to be a licensed dealer in passenger automobiles and automobile

OPINION 45-151 August 17, 1945 (OPINION) INSURANCE RE: Group This will acknowledge your letter of August 14, enclosing a letter written by F.L. Conklin, president of the Provisions Life Insurance Company, to the Honorable Oscar E. Erickson, dated August ninth, and a photostatic copy of a letter written by Mr. Conklin to C.L. Young, attorney, Bismarck, North Dakota, under date of July twenty-sixth, and Mr. Young's reply to Mr. Conklin under date of August sixth. I have carefully read the entire correspondence and studied the statutes referred to in Mr. Conklin's letter to Mr. Y

OPINION 45-127 August 16, 1945 (OPINION) HIGHWAYS RE: Crossings - Duty of Township to Construct Your letter of August 14, addressed to the Attorney General has been received and contents noted. You state that the operators of two farms in your community have requested the township board to furnish culverts for crossing from the farms in question to the highway. In one place the present culvert for crossing purposes is unsafe and it needs replacing. In the other case, a crossing culvert is needed from the farm to the highway. You state further, that the township board of s

OPINION 45-26 August 13, 1945 (OPINION) BIRTH CERTIFICATES RE: Public Record - How Changed Your letter of August 9 addressed to the Attorney General has been received and contents noted. You state that you have a certain matter for consideration in your office as follows: You have a certain situation in your office in connection with a birth certificate in which the facts are as follows: A child was born in April, 1929. The original birth certificate is registered in your files and is listed as a legitimate birth. You now have a request from the attorney of the mother and

OPINION 45-150 August 13, 1945 (OPINION) INSANE PERSONS RE: Residents of this State - Found in Other States Your letter of August 10 addressed to this office has been received and contents noted. You state that the insanity board of your county, of which you are a member, has before it an information filed under section 25-0312 of the North Dakota Revised Code of 1943, and that the board is of the opinion that the alleged insane person should be brought before it under the provisions of section 25-0312. The alleged insane person, though a resident of your county and this state

OPINION 45-55 August 11, 1945 (OPINION) COUNTY COMMISSIONERS RE: Per Diem and Expenses This will acknowledge the receipt of your letter of August 7, 1945, and the enclosed copy of an opinion given to you by Attorney H. A. Mackoff of Dickinson, North Dakota, who is acting state's attorney for Billings County. a strictly literal interpretation of chapter 157 of the 1945 session laws probably warrants Mr. Mackoff's conclusion that a county commissioner residing in the county seat is entitled to either mileage or subsistence if the board is in session more than one day because h

OPINION 45-161 August 9, 1945 (OPINION) INTOXICATING LIQUOR RE: Sales to Minors - Hours of Sale This will acknowledge your letter of August 2, 1945, in which you ask for the law concerning beer parlors and liquor establishments, particularly as to hours and whom they serve. You also want to be advised whether minors may be permitted in a liquor establishment if accompanied by parents. Chapter 52 of the 1945 Session Laws prohibits the sale of beer or alcohol and alcoholic beverages to any person under the age of twenty-one years, incompetent person, Indian as defined by federa

OPINION 45-192 August 6, 1945 (OPINION) MORTGAGES RE: Discharge of by District Judge This office is in receipt of your letter of July 28 in which you refer to section 35-0313, of the North Dakota Revised Code of 1943, providing for discharge of real estate mortgages which have not been renewed or extended of record within fifteen years after due date, or when no due date is shown, then within twenty years after the recording of such mortgages. You ask that this office give consideration to the provisions of said statute, and that we give our opinion outlining a uniform method o

OPINION 45-64 August 3, 1945 (OPINION) CERTIFICATES OF INDEBTEDNESS RE: Issuance Your letter of August 1 addressed to the Attorney General has been received and contents of same have been noted. You state that the statute governing the issuance of certificates of indebtedness has been changed somewhat - that is, that the law as now found in the North Dakota Revised Code of 1943 differs from Chapter 247 of the Session Laws of 1933. We cannot agree with you that there is any material change. The only change in section 21-0202 from section 2079b1 as it appears in chapter 247 of t

OPINION 45-202 August 1, 1945 (OPINION) MOTOR TRUCKS RE: Minimum Weight - Over-Weight - License This will acknowledge your letter of July 30, in which you ask the opinion of this office concerning two questions, listed separately, as follows: 1. Do trucks who wish to operate at a weight above the fee schedule provided in the law that was effective January 1, 1945, have to pay the difference between that weight upon which they obtained their registration certificate on January 1, 1945, and the weight on which they now operate, if they operate on a weight in excess of the weig

OPINION 45-88 July 31, 1945 (OPINION) ELECTION SUPPLIES RE: To be Let on Bids Your letter of July 27 addressed to the attorney general has been received and contents noted. You call our attention to section 11-1130 of the North Dakota Revised Code of 1943, which provides that contracts for the furnishing of election ballots and supplies shall be let by the board of county commissioners at its first regular meeting in April of each year, to run for a period of one year. You further call attention to section 1 of chapter 18 of the laws of the 1944 Extraordinary Session, which pr

OPINION 45-162 July 31, 1945 (OPINION) INTOXICATING LIQUOR RE: Places of Sale - Minors Prohibited This will acknowledge your letter of July 28, in which you advise that you are operating a beer parlor and a pool hall in the village of Zap. I assume from your letter that you are selling beer over a bar. You want to know whether it is permissible for you to let boys under 18 years of age come into your place of business and play pool, and also whether it is permissible for a father and son to come into your place of business, the son being under age, and buy beer to be consum

OPINION 45-214 July 26, 1945 (OPINION) OFFICERS RE: Public - Salary During Period of Disqualification This is in reply to your recent letter requesting an opinion as to whether you may legally issue a warrant to Mr. Oscar E. Erickson, Commissioner of Insurance, for back salary from March 1 to June 16, 1945, the time of his suspension from office during the impeachment proceedings. The only statute that might have a hearing on the question is section 44-0908 of the North Dakota Revised Code of 1943, which provides as follows: "No officer shall exercise the duties of his office

OPINION 45-147 July 25, 1945 (OPINION) INSURANCE RE: Public Buildings - Contents This office is in receipt of a letter under date of July 14, 1945, written by your predecessor in office, Mr. E. J. Reich, in which he says: Although the Special Session of 1944, somewhat broadened the term 'permanent contents' which in the Session Laws of 1943, definitely excluded the insuring of many types of properties of the various institutions of the state, the attorney general's office held on August 22, 1944, that even at that time the state fire and tornado fund still could not insure the

OPINION 45-144 July 16, 1945 (OPINION) INSURANCE RE: State Property - Additions to Buildings This office is in receipt of three letters, all dated July 10, 1945, one signed by you as warden of the state penitentiary and two signed by you as manager of the twine and cordage plant, all relating to various policies of insurance issued by the state fire and tornado fund of the office of state insurance commissioner. It is our understanding that you desire our opinion on questions arising out of the following facts: 1. You state that last year insurance was applied for on old bui

OPINION 45-65 July 13, 1945 (OPINION) CITIES RE: Investment of Proceeds of Bonds Your letter of July 11, addressed to the attorney general, has been received and contents of same have been noted. You state that a group of residents of Bismarck, representing the William Moore, the Will and the Richholt Parent Teachers Association, met with the Bismarck Special School District board of directors and presented to them a request for the construction of a new school building on the present site of the William Moore School, and also for an addition to the Richholt School. The board

OPINION 45-312 July 13, 1945 (OPINION) WELFARE BOARDS RE: Counties - Salaries Fixed by County Commissioners This will acknowledge your letter of July 19. In your letter you ask: "is the legal right to set salaries for employees in the county welfare office vested in the board of county commissioners or in the county welfare board?" Chapter 50-01 of the 1943 Revised Code deals with county poor relief administration. Under section 50-0102, the board of county commissioners of each county have exclusive jurisdiction and control of the administration of poor reli