North Dakota AG Opinions, 1943

OPINION 43-78 December 8, 1943 (OPINION) OSTEOPATH RE: Not qualified to act on Insanity Commission I have your letter of December 1, in which you inquire whether a doctor of osteopathy may act as a member of the insanity board of any county in the state. Section 2547 of the 1913 Compiled Laws provides for the appointment of a board of "Commissioners of Insanity". The County Judge shall be a member of such board and shall be its chairman. The other two members shall be appointed by the board of county commissioners, one to be a reputable practicing attorney, and the other "Shall be a

OPINION 43-59 November 30, 1943 (OPINION) INCOMPETENTS RE: Residence: DOROSCHUK, Kate and Mary. Your letter or November 26th addressed to the Attorney General and enclosing copy of a letter from the superintendent of the Grafton State School relative to the above-mentioned patients, has been received and referred to the undersigned for attention and reply. It appears that these patients were committed from Billings County in August, 1937, and in June, 1941. The board of County Commissioners of Billing County has now passed a resolution not to make further payment for the care and mai

OPINION 43-57 November 13, 1943 (OPINION) INCOMPETENTS RE: Residence Since you were here I have given this matter considerable thought, especially with reference to the proposition as to whether the removal to another state of the parents of a minor inmate of the School for Feeble Minded would change the legal residence of such minor. As you know, it held in the case of In re Boise, 11 N.W. 2d, page 80, that "in determining the right of a feeble-minded child to support under the public relief acts, the responsibility of the county is the same as that for an indigent or sound mind." In t

OPINION 43-81 September 29, 1943 (OPINION) POULTRY BOARD RE: Poultry Board We have your letter of September 28th and the enclosed copy of a letter to you dated September 21st from the International Baby Chick Association. You inquire whether it is possible to collect a fee on chicks ordered by farmers through local stores which are shipped from points outside North Dakota. Section 5 of chapter 7 of Session Laws of 1939 provides for the licensing of the occupation of selling baby chicks and turkey poults, fixing the license at one dollar per year plus fifty cents per thousand or fraction

OPINION 43-106 October 25, 1943 (OPINION) SCHOOLS RE: Reading Bible permitted without comment Your letter of October 19th addressed to the Attorney General has been referred to the undersigned for attention and reply. You desire our opinion upon the following questions: 1. Do the laws of the state of North Dakota permit the teaching of the Bible in the public schools? Answer: Section 1388 of the Compiled Laws of North Dakota for 1913 provides that: "The Bible shall not be deemed a sectarian book. It shall not be excluded from any public school. It may be at the option of the

OPINION 43-105 October 8, 1943 (OPINION) SCHOOLS RE: Consolidated - Transportation I have checked into the matter of transportation for pupils in consolidated schools. The transportation law for consolidated schools was amended by chapter 208 of the Session Laws of 1939. Among other things this chapter provides: "In the case of any consolidated school heretofore or hereafter established under the provisions of this Act, the school board may in its discretion and at its option pay to each family residing more than two miles from such school, by the nearest route, whose child or child

OPINION 43-93 October 7, 1943 (OPINION) SCHOOL DISTRICTS RE: Arbitration Your letter of October fourth addressed to the Attorney General has been received and referred to the undersigned for attention and reply. You ask for an opinion of this office on a situation which has developed in one of your school districts and the facts are briefly stated as follows: School number two in district 9 has three pupils residing in the district within three-fourths of a mile from school. One pupil from another district attended this school last term. At a regular meeting the school board decided t

OPINION 43-117 September 24, 1943(OPINION) WELFARE WORK RE: Probate to Estates of Relief Clients - States Attorneys - Duties Your letter of August 31st addressed to L. I. Nicholson, state supervisor, has been referred to this office for attention and reply. You state that your county Welfare Board questions the validity of the State's Attorney being given fees for handling county work, such as probate of estates of Old Age assistance recipients. The Old Age Assistance Act of 1943 provides that: on the death of any recipient the total amount of assistance paid to him shall be allowed

OPINION 43-48 September 17, 1943(OPINION) DRUGS RE: Dangerous We have your letter of September seventeenth, in which you enclose as advertisement from a daily paper in this state, advertising a "Sulfa Drug Compound" purporting to have in it the drug sulfanilamide offered for sale by mail from the Sulfa Products Company, 11225 Grand, Kansas City, Missouri. You also enclose communications from the chief of the Minneapolis station, of the United States Food and Drug Administration in Minneapolis, and a quotation from the regulations under the Section 502 (j) of the Federal Food, Drug and C

OPINION 43-86 September 3, 1943 (OPINION) RESIDENCE RE: Incompetents from other States A few days ago when you were in the Attorney General's office, you asked us to check into the question of residence of a minor who, as I recall, is in an institution in another state. As I recall our conversation, the parents of this inmate moved to Benson County, North Dakota, several years ago, and are now legal residents thereof. The minor child is still in the institution in another state. The authorities of that state are now about to transport this party to North Dakota. The theory is, that

OPINION 43-19 August 17, 1943 (OPINION) APPROPRIATIONS RE: Commissioner of Agriculture and Labor Your letter of August 16th has been received and contents of same have been noted. You inquire whether or not the items in the appropriation made by Chapter 2 of the Session Laws of 1943 are subject to the provisions of chapter 22 of the Session Laws of 1941, which provides that seventy-five percent of the appropriations made for the biennium shall become available on the first day of July of each year, and the remaining twenty-five percent shall be available only at t

OPINION 43-74 August 16, 1943 (OPINION) MINIMUM WAGE RE: Overtime I have your letter of August 13th drawing my attention to section 2 of chapter 222 of the 1943 Session Laws. You inquire whether the provision "One and a half times the wage paid per hour for a forty-eight hour week" means one and a half times the actual prevailing wage paid the employee or one and a half times the minimum wage provided for by the regulations of a minimum wage order promulgated by the Commissioner of Agriculture and Labor. In my opinion, the provision "One and a half times the wage paid per hour for a

OPINION 53-45 July 26, 1943(OPINION) CREDIT UNIONS RE: Authority to borrow money Your inquiry of July 16th, asking for an opinion relative to the authority of credit unions to borrow money from lending agencies for the purpose of reloaning the same to their members, was referred to the undersigned for attention. Credit unions are organized pursuant to chapter 108 Session Laws of 1935, as amended. This Act is complete in itself and needed no other legislation to make the same operative. Section 4 sets out the powers of a credit union and subsection f specifically authorizes a credit union

OPINION 43-104 July 14, 1943 (OPINION) SCHOOLS AND SCHOOL DISTRICTS RE: Organization You inquire as to the several statutory methods of procedure fororganizing new common school districts. Section 1147 of the Supplement to the Compiled Laws provides that the Board of County Commissioners and County Superintendent may organize a new school district from another district or from portions of districts already organized, if in their judgment the authorization of the new district is desirable and necessary upon being petitioned so to do by at least two-thirds of the school voters voting in

OPINION 43-64 July 13, 1943 (OPINION) LIQUOR LICENSE RE: Municipal Officers I have your letter of July eighth, making certain inquiries with reference to the violation of certain statutes of the State of North Dakota. I will attempt to answer these inquires in the order in which you make them. You first inquire whether it is legal for a councilman to sell liquor. We have recently held that a councilman cannot be granted a license to sell liquor by the city of which he is a councilman. This is on the ground that as a councilman he is issuing the license, and as a licensee, he is doing

OPINION 43-108 June 29, 1943 (OPINION) STATE FOOD COMMISSIONER RE: Commercial Feeds in answer to your letter of June 23rd, I will say that in our opinion concentrated commercial feeding stuff that is sold for use as an ingredient in mixing commercial feeds which are then to be resold is not subject to the tonnage tax provided by chapter 141 Session Laws of 1927 as amended. We base our opinion upon the language in the latter part of section 11 of chapter 141 Session Laws of 1927. To hold otherwise would be to tax these ingredients twice, first as an ingredient and second as a part of t

OPINION 43-39 June 26, 1943(OPINION) COUNTIES RE: Depositories of Funds Your inquiry of May eighteenth was recently placed on my desk to be answered. I have examined the opinions on Section 714a8 of the 1925 Supplement as amended by Chapter 222 Session Laws of 1931, and I failed to find any wherein it is stated that a depository may be designated at any other time than January of each even-numbered year. Evidently, the Legislature had some purpose in mind in providing that depositories should be designated in January of each even-numbered year, and it must also be noted that an exceptio

OPINION 43-61 June 23, 1943 (OPINION) LABOR RE: Hours of - Females I have your letter of recent date, pointing out that under the provisions of chapter 153 of the 1939 Session Laws, amending laws regulating and fixing the hours of labor for females in certain industries, that the following provisions are found: "Provided, however, that this Act shall not apply to females . . . in telegraph officers where the Commissioner of Agriculture and Labor after a hearing has determined that the condition of work is so light that it does not justify the application of this Act. In such cases t

OPINION 43-84 June 10, 1943 (OPINION) REGISTER OF DEEDS RE: Deposit of County Funds We have your letter of May 7th, in connection with the Register of Deeds of your county, who deposits his fees in one of the local banks and turns it over to the County Treasurer by check within three days after the close of each calendar month. The state examiner has objected to this practice and you inquire our opinion. We have very carefully considered this matter and we are of the opinion that the state examiner is right and that the Register of Deeds should discontinue this practice. The law appa

OPINION 43-56 June 7, 1943 (OPINION) HIGHWAYS RE: Patrol - Drivers License Your inquiry of June 2nd wherein you ask whether a person whose driver's license has been revoked following his conviction for operating a motor vehicle, while under the influence of intoxicating liquor, may secure a new license at the end of the revocation period without complying with the financial responsibility act has been referred to the undersigned for attention. This office has held on numerous occasions that a person, whose license has been revoked because of conviction, must comply with chapter 167 Ses

OPINION 43-27 June 7, 1943 (OPINION) APPROPRIATIONS RE: Self-executing I have your letter of June 5th, requesting an opinion as to whether the increase in salary for State Land Commissioner, which was passed as an emergency measure, became effective upon the signing of same by the Governor. You request that you be advised as to the law, based upon the facts as they appear from the enclosed application by Mr. Swanston. The act in question is chapter 190 of the 1943 Session Laws, which provides: "The annual salary for services rendered in his official capacity by the Commissioner of U

OPINION 43-107 June 3, 1943 (OPINION) SHERIFF RE: Deeds Issued When This is in reply to your letter of recent date in which you request the opinion of this office on the following state of facts: The Board of University and Schools Lands foreclosed a mortgage and at the sale received the usual sheriff's certificate of sale. This certificate was recorded. Thereafter, it was assigned by the state and the assignment was recorded. The original certificate of sale was misplaced or lost. The holder of the recorded assignment has a certified copy of the original certificate of sale, and

OPINION 43-55 June 2, 1943 (OPINION) HIGHWAY COMMISSION RE: Leasing Equipment Illegal I have your letter of May 24th enclosing a copy of your letter of the same date to J. S. Lamb, Highway Commissioner, regarding the leasing or loaning of highway equipment, such as mowers and tractors, to private individuals for haying purposes. Under the provisions of section 4 of chapter 159 of the 1927 Session Laws, the Department of State Highways is vested with full power and authority "to purchase, lease, or acquire all necessary road material, machinery,

OPINION 43-47 May 27, 1943 (OPINION) DRAINS RE: Repair of Your inquiry of May twenty-second, relative to the drainage law enacted by the last session of the Legislature was referred to the undersigned for attention. This law which you have reference to was House Bill No. 165 and will be Chapter 118, Session Laws of 1943. This Act was not an emergency measure and, therefore, will not become effective until July first. Under the provisions of Section 2486 of the 1925 Supplement, which is the section amended by the new law, responsibility for keeping drains open and in repair is upon

OPINION 43-47 May 24, 1943 (OPINION) DRUGS RE: Drugs This is in reply to your inquiry of May 5th in which you inquire our opinion as to whether vitamin products in concentrated form should be regarded as foods or drugs, and if as drugs whether their sales must be made through registered pharmacists as provided by law for other drugs. We have considered this question very carefully, and have made a study of the situation and the literature available on the question. It is our opinion, on the basis of present information, that in concentrated form, that is, in pills, capsules, tablets,

OPINION 43-26 May 14, 1943 (OPINION) APPROPRIATIONS RE: Must be used for purpose designated I have your letter of May 8th requesting my opinion on the matter of whether expenditure of appropriations for bills incurred during the present biennium, but paid after the biennium has ended, must be made in accordance with the items making up such appropriations, or whether all balances left in any items of an appropriation can be lumped into one fund and designated as "Prior," and be used to pay any bills incurred in the present biennium, regardless of the purpose for which such appropriation

OPINION 43-115 May 13, 1943(OPINION) WATER CONSERVATION COMMISSION RE: Artesian Wells Your inquiry of May 10th relative to the status of state control of underground water was referred to the undersigned for attention. Section 1 of Chapter 256 Session Laws of 1939, which is the State Water Conservation Act of 1939, states the purpose of the act and specifically refers to subsurface waters. It then goes on to state that the State Water Conservation Commission is the agency of the state empowered to regulate, supervise, control, etc. any system of works involving the aforesaid subject ma

OPINION 43-82 May 4, 1943 (OPINION) PUBLIC BUILDINGS RE: Emergency Repairs Your inquiry of April 29th relative to repairs needed at the sewage disposal plant was referred to the undersigned for attention. If the cost of the repairs exceeds $3,000.00, I know of no method of which it could be handled except under the provisions of chapter 195 Session Laws of 1929, section 2 of this Act states: "Such *** city commission *** shall advertise for bids for the doing of such work for which such plans, drawings, and specifications are required." I do not believe in a statute of this kind that

OPINION 43-60 May 4, 1943 (OPINION) INSANE RE: Estates of: Estate of Hubert J. Hansen, Deceased. Your letter of April 29th addressed to the Attorney General has been received relative to the above entitled estate. You state that as attorney for the administrator, you are about to close the above-named estate. The surviving widow of the deceased is in the state hospital at Jamestown and has been there for five or six years. The County of McLean has filed a claim against the estate of Hubert J. Hansen, deceased for care and treatment of Mrs. Hansen, widow, at the state hospital. Yo

OPINION 43-39 May 3, 1943 (OPINION) CONSTABLES RE: Right to Bear Arms We have your letter of April twenty-ninth stating that you are a duly elected, qualified, and acting constable of Adams County and inquire whether or not you have a right to carry arms. As such a constable, under Sections 10364 and 10539 of the Compiled Laws of 1913, you are a peace officer. Section 9803a6 of the Supplement of 1925 prohibits the carrying of concealed pistols or revolvers, but Section 9803a7 of the Supplement of 1925 contains an exception for peace officers. Consequently, we are of the opinion that

OPINION 43-40 April 13, 1943(OPINION) COUNTIES RE: Form of Tax Deed I have been out of town for several days and upon returning I find your letter of April eighth, in which you enclose a copy of a letter of the E.J. Lander and Company to the auditor of Rolette County, dated March 30, 1943, and a blank auditor's quit claim deed published by the Knight Printing Company number 1575R. The question is whether or not this is the proper deed to be given to a purchaser on contract for deed under Section 19 of Chapter 286 Session Laws of 19041 upon the final payment of the contract by the purchase

OPINION 43-24 April 10, 1943 (OPINION) APPROPRIATIONS RE: In General This is in reply to your inquiry this morning relative to the following situation. House Bill 99 passed by the last Legislative session appropriated $45,000.00 to the North Dakota State Guard for the purpose of providing equipment and proper maintenance, as prescribed in chapter 230 of the Session Laws of 1941, and to meet other requirements prescribed by the Federal statutes for the biennium ending June 30, 1945. $20,000.00 of this appropriation is a regular fund and $25,000.00 is an emergency fund. No expenditure c

OPINION 43-35 April 2, 1943(OPINION) CITIES RE: City Manager - Powers of Your inquiry of March 30th, wherein two questions were submitted has been referred to the undersigned for attention. Question No. 1. Has the city manager power to make the appointment of city auditor, city health officer, city attorney, or city assessor without the approval or confirmation of the city council? "Section 5 of chapter 172 Session Laws of 1933 in part states: "The city manager * * * shall have the power to appoint all appointive officers and power to remove such officers at will. Provided, however

OPINION 43-101 February 23, 1943 (OPINION) SCHOOL HOUSES RE: Sale of Your inquiry of February 11th relative to the procedure to be followed in the disposal of rural school houses owned by the Carrington Special School District, and also the procedure required by a district which intends to purchase the building has been referred to the undersigned for attention. The school houses in question being owned by Special School District, I wish to call their attention to section 1251 Compiled Laws of 1913. Subsection 4 reads as follows: "to purchase, sell, exchange, and hire school houses an

OPINION 43-89 February 16, 1943 (OPINION) SALES TAX RE: Rule 27 I have your letter of February 16th requesting my interpretation of your sales tax rule 27, a copy of which was enclosed with your letter. It seems to me that the rule is so plainly drawn as to need no interpretation. The dentist, as such, primarily renders personal services, which, of course, are not taxable. In rendering these personal services, he used instruments which are not taxable. He also uses consumable supplies, such as mercury, silicates, alloys, amalgam, platinum, gold, etc. These are tangible personal pro

OPINION 43-17 February 13, 1943 (OPINION) APPROPRIATION RE: Charitable Institutions This is in reply to your letter of February 12th relating to the appropriation for St. John's Orphanage. You state that the bill presented by St. John's Orphanage for care given children during the month of December, 1942, was disallowed by the State Auditing Board for the reason that it exceeded seventy-five percent of the appropriation to the agency. You inquire whether or not the seventy-five percent limitation on appropriations for the first eighteen months of the biennium under the provisions of

OPINION 43-108 February 13, 1943 (OPINION) STATUTES RE: Interpretation I have your letter of February 11th relative to the appropriation made for the State Training School insurance premiums by the 1941 Legislature. I did say that the intent of the Legislature should be determined in interpreting any statute. However, where the clear wording of the statute does not permit of more than one interpretation, that interpretation must be accepted even though the Legislature intended something else. Legislative intent only becomes important when the statute is capable of being interpreted

OPINION 43-96 January 27, 1943 (OPINION) SCHOOL DISTRICTS RE: Funds not to be used for transportation to Private Schools Your letter of recent date addressed to the Attorney General with reference to certain school problems has been received and the contents of the same noted. You state that certain schools in your school district are closed and that some of the patrons are sending their children to a parochial school. The question you present is whether or not you have authority to pay transportation to these people when sending their children to a parochial school. The Constitutio

OPINION 43-49 January 18, 1943 (OPINION) ELECTIONS RE: Cities Your letter of January thirteenth wherein you inquire whether or not it would be possible to hold your special election to fill a vacancy and also an election to increase the tax levy has been considered. I see no reason why the two elections may not be held on the same date. However, it will be necessary for you to issue two notices of election, as each election is entirely separate and distinct from the other, and, of course, each will have to be on a separate ballot. There is a very serious question as to whether an elec