Court Opinion

ID: 9655874
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 19:24:14.145065+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:13:22.779418
License: Public Domain

TEIGEN, Chief Justice.
(Concurring Specially).
I concur in the result reached by the majority in this case. I also concur in all of the syllabi except syllabus 3, which I feel settles an issue not before us in this case. Section 101 of the North Dakota Constitution provides that “every point fairly arising upon the record of the case shall be considered and decided, and the reasons therefor shall be concisely stated * * This section was construed in Heald v. Strong, 24 N.D. 120, 138 N.W. 1114, where it was held:
* * * not to require a literal compliance therewith. A point fairly arising upon the record, within the meaning of said section, must be one, the decision of which is necessary to the final determination of the cause, and which is properly presented with a fullness and distinctness, rendering it possible for the court to comprehend it in all its bearings. Such is the well-recognized and settled construction of like constitutional provisions.
This construction was followed In re Novak’s Estate, 73 N.D. 41, 11 N.W.2d 64, in which it is stated:
To go farther and rule upon matters raised and argued but not necessary to the determination of the case would, in many instances, amount to a general treatise on law, and be almost tantamount to the giving of an advisory opinion. The former would involve useless cost and we have held repeatedly this court can not render advisory opinions.
It is true the appellants have specified it was error to give an instruction based on Section 39-09-02(3), N.D.C.C However, the specification was not argued in the appellant’s brief nor at the oral argument. In fact, the appellant in his argument to this court attempts to substantiate his claim that it was error to admit in evidence certain photographic exhibits on the ground it was prejudicial error to permit the jury to consider them as evidence in view of the provisions of the statute and the instruction which incorporated the provisions of said Section 39-09-02(3), N.D.C.C.
In other words, instead of relying on its specification that it was error to have given the instruction, the appellant accepting the instruction and the statute as being applicable to the case argues that it was error to have admitted the challenged photographic exhibits, and has abandoned the specification that it was error to give the instruction. We have held in a great many cases that assignments of error not argued in the brief or orally are deemed abandoned and not required to be considered on appeal. *407Stetson v. Investors Oil, Inc., N.D., 140 N.W.2d 349; Julson v. Loyal Order of Moose, Number 822, N.D., 140 N.W.2d 39; Smith v. Amerada Petroleum Corporation, N.D., 136 N.W.2d 483; Geek v. Wentz, N.D., 133 N.W.2d 849, and many more cases which may be found under '®:=107A — Appeal and Error, in West’s Digests.
I think that the interpretation placed upon the statute in question in the opinion and syllabus 3 is not a point fairly arising upon the record in this case and is advisory only. Further, that the instruction became the law of the case and is not reviewable as a question before this Court.
STRUTZ, J., concurs.