North Dakota Century Code: How to Find and Cite State Statutes

The North Dakota Century Code (NDCC) is the official codification of the state's permanent statutory law, organized into titles that span civil, criminal, administrative, and regulatory subject matter. Locating, reading, and citing NDCC provisions correctly is a fundamental requirement for legal filings, regulatory compliance, and policy research conducted under North Dakota jurisdiction. This page describes the structure of the NDCC, the official channels through which it is accessed, citation conventions, and the boundaries of what the code covers versus adjacent legal authorities.

Definition and scope

The North Dakota Century Code is maintained and published by the North Dakota Legislative Assembly, the bicameral legislative body that enacts, amends, and repeals statutory provisions. The NDCC is not a constitution, an administrative rule collection, or a court decision compilation — it is exclusively the enacted statutory law of the state as organized by subject matter into a permanent code structure.

The NDCC is divided into 61 titles, each covering a discrete subject area. Title 12.1, for example, governs the North Dakota Criminal Code; Title 14 covers domestic relations and family law; Title 38 addresses oil, gas, and mining. The North Dakota statute and code reference framework maps each title to the agencies, courts, and regulatory bodies that administer the corresponding law.

The Legislative Council — the nonpartisan staff agency of the Legislative Assembly — coordinates codification and publishes the official version of the NDCC. Between legislative sessions, the Council updates the code to reflect chaptered session laws. The code is available at no cost through the Legislative Assembly's public website at https://www.legis.nd.gov/general-information/north-dakota-century-code.

Scope of this page: This page covers North Dakota state statutory law as codified in the NDCC. It does not cover the North Dakota Administrative Code (NDAC), the North Dakota Constitution, federal statutes, tribal codes, or municipal ordinances. Those authorities operate in parallel but fall outside the NDCC's structure. For the broader regulatory framework in which the NDCC operates, see the regulatory context for the North Dakota legal system.

How it works

Structure of the code

The NDCC organizes statutes into a four-level hierarchy:

1. Title — the broadest subject grouping (e.g., Title 9: Contracts)
2. Chapter — a subdivision within a title (e.g., Chapter 9-06: Fraudulent Transfers)
3. Section — the individual statutory provision (e.g., § 9-06-01)
4. Subsection / paragraph — numbered or lettered subdivisions within a section

A full NDCC citation follows the format: N.D.C.C. § [Title]-[Chapter]-[Section]. For example, the statute governing the duty of good faith in contracts is cited as N.D.C.C. § 9-01-02. In legal filings and court documents governed by the North Dakota Rules of Civil Procedure, this citation format is the standard used in briefs, motions, and orders.

Accessing the official text

The Legislative Assembly's online NDCC portal provides full-text search by title, chapter, section number, or keyword. The portal also links each section to the session law history — the specific chaptered acts that enacted or amended the provision — allowing researchers to trace the legislative origin of any statutory text.

The North Dakota Attorney General's office at https://www.ag.nd.gov/ publishes formal opinions that interpret NDCC provisions where statutory language is ambiguous. These opinions are not binding law but constitute persuasive authority before North Dakota courts. The North Dakota Attorney General's role in statutory interpretation is a distinct function from the Legislative Council's codification function.

Session laws vs. codified statutes

Session laws are the raw legislative enactments passed during each biennial session. They are organized chronologically by chapter number in the Session Laws of North Dakota. The NDCC is the permanent topical reorganization of those session laws. A statute passed in the 2023 legislative session, for example, will appear first as a chaptered session law before being incorporated into the relevant NDCC title by the Legislative Council. Researchers needing the most recent statutory amendments — those not yet incorporated into the online NDCC — must consult the session law record directly.

Common scenarios

1. Legal filings and court citations
Attorneys and self-represented litigants filing in North Dakota district courts cite NDCC sections to identify the statutory basis for claims, defenses, and procedural requirements. The North Dakota Supreme Court and district courts require NDCC citations in the N.D.C.C. § format. Mismatch between the cited section and the applicable version of the statute (pre- or post-amendment) is a known error in pro se filings.

2. Regulatory compliance research
Businesses operating under North Dakota licensing regimes — including financial institutions, healthcare providers, and energy companies — reference NDCC titles to identify statutory obligations. Title 26.1 governs insurance regulation; Title 43 governs occupational licensing across more than 40 regulated professions. Compliance research typically cross-references the NDCC with the North Dakota Administrative Code, which contains agency-level rules adopted under NDCC authority. The North Dakota administrative law framework explains the relationship between these two bodies of law.

3. Legislative history research
Policy researchers and advocates tracing the development of a statute access session law archives and the NDCC simultaneously. The Legislative Council maintains a bill tracking system that links enacted session laws to the NDCC sections they modified, enabling a chronological reconstruction of any provision's amendment history.

4. Criminal law and sentencing
Prosecutors and defense attorneys reference Title 12.1 for substantive criminal offenses and Title 12 for corrections and criminal procedure. The North Dakota criminal sentencing guidelines are derived in part from NDCC classifications of offenses by class (Class A, B, and C felonies; Class A, B misdemeanors), which carry distinct maximum penalty ranges set directly in the code.

Decision boundaries

NDCC vs. North Dakota Administrative Code (NDAC)

The NDCC contains statutes — enacted by the Legislature. The North Dakota Administrative Code contains administrative rules — adopted by state agencies under statutory authority delegated by the Legislature. Both are publicly accessible through the Legislative Assembly's website, but they are separate bodies of law. When a practitioner identifies a statutory obligation in the NDCC, the corresponding agency rules in the NDAC often supply operational detail. Neither the NDCC nor the NDAC is subordinate to the other; rather, the NDCC establishes the authority under which NDAC rules are valid.

NDCC vs. North Dakota Constitution

The North Dakota Constitution (available at legis.nd.gov) is supreme over any NDCC provision. A statute that conflicts with a constitutional provision is unenforceable to the extent of the conflict. The North Dakota Supreme Court is the final arbiter of constitutional challenges to NDCC statutes. Constitutional provisions are not cited using the NDCC citation format; they use article and section references (e.g., N.D. Const. art. I, § 9).

NDCC vs. Federal Law

Federal statutes, regulations, and constitutional provisions operate under the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution and preempt conflicting NDCC provisions in areas of federal authority. In areas such as tribal jurisdiction, immigration, and certain environmental standards, federal law controls regardless of NDCC text. The overview of federal courts in North Dakota and the North Dakota tribal courts and federal jurisdiction pages address those intersecting authorities.

Unofficial vs. official sources

Third-party legal databases (Westlaw, LexisNexis, Casetext) republish NDCC text but are not the official source. For purposes of legal citation, the official text published by the North Dakota Legislative Assembly controls. Discrepancies between a commercial database version and the Legislative Assembly's published text are resolved in favor of the official source. The North Dakota legal research resources page identifies the full range of primary source access points available to practitioners and the public.

For an orientation to how the NDCC fits within the broader architecture of North Dakota's legal system — including court structure, administrative authority, and constitutional framework — the site index provides a structured entry point to each subject area covered within this reference authority.

References

• North Dakota Legislative Assembly — North Dakota Century Code
• North Dakota Legislative Assembly — North Dakota Administrative Code
• North Dakota Legislative Council
• North Dakota Attorney General
• North Dakota Supreme Court — NDCourts.gov
• North Dakota Constitution — Legislative Assembly Publication
• Session Laws of North Dakota — Legislative Assembly Archives