Court Opinion

ID: 9740860
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 20:43:02.620712+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:24:20.798555
License: Public Domain

PEDERSON, Surrogate Justice,
concurring specially.
Courts avoid interpretations of statutes which raise questions of constitutional validity. Grace Lutheran Church v. North Dakota Employment Sec. Bureau, 294 N.W.2d 767 (N.D.1980). Appellate courts, likewise, ordinarily except for jurisdictional matters, do not answer questions that are not properly raised in the trial court. Farmers State Bank of Leeds v. Thompson, 372 N.W.2d 862 (N.D.1985). Nor which are not raised, briefed, and argued on appeal. Center State Bank, Inc. v. State Bank. Bd., 276 N.W.2d 132 (N.D.1979).
A statute or ordinance could be constitutionally invalid on its face, or in its application in a specific case, even though its retroactivity is explicitly declared in the statute or ordinance itself. The majority opinion properly avoids consideration of the questions that were not raised.