Montana Attorney General Opinion 15-475

Opinion No. 475. Motor Vehicles-Second Hand Dealer's License-Dealer's Licenses. HELD. A dealer in :Motor Vehicles, if he handles second hand vehicles, must pay a $5.00 license fee in addi- tion to the dealers license provided in the general motor vehicle laws. February 27, 1934. You inquire as to whether or not a dealer in autmobiles who pays a li- cense fee of thirty dollars ($30.00) must also pay an additional five dollar ($5.00) license fee in case he deals in second hand cars. This license fee in relation to dealers in second hand cars is contained in Section 14 of Chapter 113, Laws of 1925, which provides as follows: "Section 14. Licensing of Second Hand Dealers; Keeping records of Vehicles Received for Sale and Pen- alty. That after the first day of Jan- uary, nineteen hundred and twenty- six, it shall be unlawful for any per- son to carryon or conduct in this state the business of buying, selling or dealing in used vehicles or parts thereof, unless and until he shall have received a license from the Registrar of Motor Vehicles authorizing the car- rying on or conducting of such busi- ness ... * * Upon making such appli- cation the person applying therefor shall pay to the Registrar of Motor Vehicles in addition to the fees re- quired of dealers under the provisions of Section 1760 of the Reyised Codes of Montana of 1921 a fee of five dol- lars. .. * * Any person guilty of vio- lating any of the proYisions of this section shall be deemed guilty of a felony * * *." The Supreme Court. in the case of Bond Lumber Co. y. Timmons, et al., 82 Mont. 497, 501, said: "This statute" (Chap. 113, Laws of 1925) "is intend- ed solely as a police regulation and was never intended to establish an ex- clusiYe method of transfer of title to an automobile." The purpose and character of Chap- ter 113 is clearly indicated in its title: "An act to protect the title of mo- tor vehicles within this state; * ,. .. to Regulate purchase and sale or oth- er transfer of owner.ship; to facilitate the recovery of motor vehicles stolen or otherwise unlawfully taken; to pro- vide for the regulation and licensing of certain dealers in used and sec- ond hand vehicles as herein defined; * * *." A further indication that Chapter 113, Laws of 1925, is intended to be a separate act is that Section 1 thereof contains definitions of "the words and phrases used in this Act", which sec- tion was amended by Chapter 183, Laws of 1929. Definitions of terms used in the general Motor Vehicle Laws are contained in Section 1763, R. C. M., 1921, which has not been amended and to which no reference was made either in Chapter 113 (1925) or Chapter 183 (1929). Section 14 of Chapter 113, Laws of 1925, does not appear to have been re- pealed either expressly or by implica- tion. We, therefore, conclude that the fh'e dollar license fee must be paid in addi- tion to the thirty dollar license fee re- quired by the general Motor Vehicle Laws.