North Dakota AG Opinions, 1942

OPINION 42-49 December 5, 1942 (OPINION) ELECTIONS RE: Cities - Candidates Who May Be Your letter of December fifth addressed to the attorney general has been received and referred to the undersigned for attention. You state that the mayor and one of the city aldermen of Sykeston have moved away and the city is having a special election next Tuesday to fill the vacancies. One of the present aldermen is a candidate for mayor, but he has not resigned from the council. You ask whether or not he may legally be a candidate for mayor without resigning as alderman. There is no law which

OPINION 42-44 November 23, 1942 (OPINION) COUNTY TREASURER RE: Term of Office I have your letter of November twenty-first, advising that the county treasurer of Pembina County has resigned, or will resign to take the office of clerk of the district court after the first of January. The newly elected county treasurer does not take office until May 1, 1943, and you inquire whether the county commissioners can appoint the newly elected county treasurer to fill the unexpired term of the present treasurer, without having the term during which he serves to complete the unexpired term of the p

OPINION 42-37 October 30, 1942 (OPINION) CITIES RE: Residence of Aldermen Your letter of the twenty-seventh inst. addressed to the attorney general has been received and contents noted. You state that one of your aldermen has recently moved into a house in another ward in order to make it more convenient for his daughter to attend the teachers college. He still retains ownership of his house in the ward from which he moved, and he regards the same as his permanent residence. You ask whether under those circumstances, he would be disqualified from representing his original war

OPINION 42-43 October 21, 1942 (OPINION) COUNTY OFFICIALS RE: Who Are We have your letter of October sixteenth in which you ask whether or not, in our opinion, the provisions of Chapter 303 Session Laws of 1941 applied to county commissioners and county assessors. We are in agreement with you that the law applies to county commissioners. I think that the intent of the Legislature was to include county commissioners in the term, "elective officials of the several counties of the state". There is some question as to whether or not a county commissioner is a county officer as distinguis

OPINION 42-50 October 19, 1942 (OPINION) ELECTIONS RE: Officers You inquire whether a county chairman has the right to appoint himself a member of an election board. Section 951 of the 1913 Laws provides that: The chairman of the board of supervisors in organized townships shall by virtue of his office be inspector of elections." Said statute further provides that: The inspector shall, prior to the opening of the polls in his precinct, appoint as judges of election two qualified electors of such precinct who shall have been resident freeholders therein for at least ninety days nex

OPINION 42-97 October 10, 1942 (OPINION) SCHOOL DISTRICTS RE: Pupils - Residence The questions you present can be answered only in a general way. The school boards in this state have considerable discretion in adjusting questions arising in connection with the opening and closing of schools. Where schools are closed for economic reasons or lack of attendance, it is the duty of the board to furnish proper and convenient school facilities for the pupils from some other school. Such proper and convenient school facilities must be provided for the pupils in the territory of the school cl

OPINION 42-32 October 9, 1942 (OPINION) BEES RE: Destruction of foul hives Your inquiry of October 5th, relative to the right of the bee inspector to destroy beehives infested with American foul brood, owing to the fact that the law does not provide compensation to the owner, has been referred to the undersigned. The right of destruction is contained in section 2790a9 of the 1925 Supplement, as amended by chapter 91 Session Laws of 1929. This specifically provides that there shall be no compensation and I do not think that the fact that no compensation is paid would in any manner aff

OPINION 42-99 October 8, 1942 (OPINION) SCHOOL DISTRICTS RE: Transportation You state that you may have a problem in your school district, particularly with reference to transportation of certain pupils to your school. It is rather difficult to answer a general question such as the one presented in your letter. The school board has considerable discretion in the matter of providing proper and convenient school facilities for the pupils in their district. Chapter 206 of the Session Laws of 1939 provides, among other things, that: "The board may close a school when the average attend

OPINION 42-106 October 1, 1942(OPINION) SCHOOLS RE: Discontinuance This is in reply to your inquiry as to whether or not under chapter 206 of the Session Laws of 1939 it is discretionary with the school board to discontinue school if the attendance for ten consecutive days is less than six. Said chapter provides among other things, that any school may be discontinued when the average attendance of pupils therein for ten consecutive days is less than six, **** if proper and convenient school facilities be provided for the pupils therein in some other school; and such proper and convenient

OPINION 42-67 September 19, 1942 (OPINION) LIQUORS RE: Powers of Municipalities to Prohibit giving to minors by parents. I have your letter of September 17th, requesting my opinion on several matters. You first inquire whether the village trustees have the authority to prohibit the giving away or treating of beer to minor children by their parents or guardian. Under the so-called Beer Act, the governing board of a village has the authority to regulate the sale of beer at retail within the village. No provision is found prohibiting the giving away of beer by parent or guardian to min

OPINION 42-115 September 19, 1942 (OPINION) TAXES RE: Priority as between same and state judgment Re: Application for Satisfaction of Judgment vs. Henry Crawford. You have submitted the attached papers to me for my opinion as to whether or not the lien of the judgment held by the state has priority over the lien of the county of Burleigh for taxes on the lands described in these papers. In the case of state vs. Divide County, 68 North Dakota 708, it was that section 2186 of the Compiled Laws makes taxes upon real estate a paramount perpetual lien against all persons and bodies corpora

OPINION 42-96 September 17, 1942 (OPINION) SCHOOL DISTRICTS RE: Levies - Budget Your letter of September 16th addressed to the Attorney General has been referred to the undersigned for attention. You state that in August, 1941, Arrowwood School District voted to increase the levy to twenty-four mills on the basis of the valuation for the last year, which would be approximately the same for this year. A levy of twenty-four mills will produce $6,015.00, whereas the budget of the district as presented only calls for $3,290.31. I have examined the copy of the

OPINION 42-71 September 4, 1942 (OPINION) MAIL RE: Confidential, Workmens' Compensation Bureau Your letter of September third addressed to the Attorney General relative to the above- entitled matter has been received and contents noted. You state that there is a great deal of correspondence in the Workmens' Compensation Bureau relative to medical reports and the physical condition of claimants, as well as the financial standing of employers, claimants, and third parties, which correspondence is confidential in nature and you inquire whether or not such correspondence would come within

OPINION 42-37 August 31, 1942 (OPINION) CITIES RE: Levies for Band Your letter of August twenty-fifth, wherein you ask whether the band law means that the commission should levy an additional tax for the maintenance of the city band instead of taking it out of the regular budget, has been referred to me. Our present law governing tax levy limitations of cities is Chapter 210 Session Laws of 1941. This reads as follows: The aggregate amount levied for general city purposes shall not exceed such an amount as will be produced by a levy of fourteen mills on the next taxable assessed val

OPINION 42-100 August 31, 1942(OPINION) SCHOOL FUNDS RE: Expenditures of - Purposes I have your letter of August 26th in which you inquire whether the expenditure of school funds for the payment of liability insurance premiums on your school buses in the district is a legal expenditure. The general rule is that in the absence of specific statute a public corporation is not liable for the negligence of its agent when they are engaged in a governmental function. From this general rule it is apparent that the school district would not be liable for the torts of its employees in the exerci

OPINION 42-21 August 29, 1942 (OPINION) APPROPRIATION RE: Equalization Fund This is in reply to your letter of August 28th addressed to the Attorney General, relative to chapter 75 of the Session Laws of 1941. This is the appropriation bill which appropriates any money in the State Treasury belonging to the Retail Sales Tax Fund under and pursuant to the State Equalization Fund Law. The specific item to which you have reference is the item of $900,000 appropriated for the payment of Teacher Unit Basis. Chapter 255 of the Session Laws of 1941, known as the Sta

OPINION 42-114 August 28, 1942(OPINION) TAXES RE: Penalty and Interest I have your letter of August 24th inquiring as to whether the amount of penalty and interest to be collected on delinquent personal property taxes which became delinquent prior to the effective date of chapter 269 of the 1941 Session Laws should be governed by the provisions of chapter 279 of the Laws of 1931, which provides for a penalty of five percent when the taxes became delinquent, and three-quarters of one percent per month thereafter, or whether the penalty provision in chapter 269 of the

OPINION 42-76 August 13, 1942 (OPINION) OFFICES RE: Incompatibility I have your letter of August 7th inquiring whether a person who is a justice of the peace and who has recently accepted an appointment as deputy sheriff could hold both of these offices at the same time and whether he could act in cases in which he did not serve the papers. In my opinion, if a person who is justice of the peace in the county accepts an appointment as deputy sheriff it would be necessary for him to resign as justice of the peace. It is apparent that the two offices are incompatible and that this man c

OPINION 42-113 August 8, 1942 (OPINION) TAXES RE: Extinguishment of by transfer of title to State Re: Auditor's Notati on of Tax Record of Taxes Extinguished by Transfer to State. I have your letter of August 8th, in which you state that you have procured a number of rubber stamps, to be used by auditors in making notation on the tax records where taxes have been extinguished by a passing of title to the state on account of mortgage given to secure loan of school funds. This rubber stamp is as follows: "Taxes Extinguished by transfer to state of North Dakota, to settle a State Land

OPINION 42-95 July 30, 1942 (OPINION) SCHOOL DISTRICTS RE: Funding and Refunding Bonds Your letter of July 28th addressed to the Attorney General with reference to the question as to whether school districts may draw upon the general fund in payment for redemption of outstanding bonds, has been referred to me for attention. You refer to an opinion written by the undersigned under date of May 20th, 1942, in which it was held that under section 11 of chapter 235 of the Session Laws of 1929, school districts were prohibited from drawing upon the general fund for the

OPINION 42-92 July 29, 1942(OPINION) SCHOOL BUILDINGS RE: Use of for other purposes I have your letter of July 25th, requesting an opinion as to whether a school board would have authority to lease vacant school buildings for grain storage purposes. Chapter 241 of the 1931 Session Laws provides for the use of school buildings for certain purposes other than school purposes. That a chapter reads as follows: "When School Buildings May Be Used For Other Purposes.) School Boards and Boards of Education having charge of any school buildings may permit the use thereof, when not occupied for s

OPINION 42-46 July 29, 1942 (OPINION) DRAINS RE: Counties I have your letter of July twenty-fourth, inquiring whether, in our opinion, the county is legally liable for damages caused by failure of the county commissioners to keep open and to maintain certain damaged drainage ditches in Richland County. Section 2486 of the 1925 Supplement to the Compiled Laws provides in part as follows: All drains that may have been constructed under any law of this state, or that may be constructed under the provisions of this chapter and situated in this state, shall, except as otherwise provided, b

OPINION 42-54 July 20, 1942(OPINION) FLAG RE: Advertisements I have your letter of July fifteenth inquiring whether the provisions of North Dakota statute prohibiting the use of the flag in connection with any advertisement would prohibit the use of the flag in connection with advertising promoting war projects or other patriotic advertising, such as an appeal to buy war bonds issued over the name of a business firm. Section 10232 of the 1913 Compiled Laws prohibits the use, exhibition or display of the flag, standard, color or ensign of the United States in conne

OPINION 42-14 July 14, 1942 (OPINION) APPROPRIATIONS RE: Board of Higher Education Your letter of July sixth addressed to the Attorney General has been received and contents of same have been noted. You state that on June 30, 1941, the Board of Higher Education authorized the expenditure of $3,500.00 by the University for certain improvements and repairs to be made at that institution, such expenditures to be made from the Board's Emergency Fund. On June 2, 1942, the University submitted vouchers for the payment of the repair work which was done and these vouc