The county treasurer or an authorized agent shall, at the time of issuing a registration receipt under 61-3-322, assign the motor vehicle, trailer, semitrailer, or pole trailer a distinctive license plate number and, unless the license plates must be specially ordered from the department, deliver to the applicant, depending on the type of motor vehicle that was registered, a set of two license plates or one license plate, each of which must bear the assigned distinctive number.
§ 61-3-331, MCA