Document Type
Article
Abstract
The South Dakota Codified Laws contain the South Dakota Legislature’s “statutes of a general and permanent nature.” This code is accordingly the Legislature’s greatest product, its legacy, and the ultimate work-for-hire for the people of South Dakota—all while being an exercise of the most fundamental, organic power wielded by state government. As the Legislature attains its One Hundredth Session, any celebration of the Legislature’s history necessarily requires treatment of its greatest product. This article will showcase the prairie populism on which the state and its laws were rooted, and how the first codes and their subsequent iterations all maintained the theme of “common sense for common understanding.”
While each legislature gave substance to the code—expounding upon and tweaking the laws of prior legislatures—certain personalities drove the adoption, modernization, and over-arching refinement of the code. Understanding the code’s evolution through the work of these persons provides helpful context to legal practitioners and policymakers alike as to why the state’s laws read as they do. To provide this context, this article intertwines a recitation of historical anecdotes with legal authorities. This article offers a thesis that a straight line can be drawn from the interests of the Founding Fathers of the United States in how the law was to read, through to the founding of Dakota Territory and the State of South Dakota, and up to the modern day. This article’s goal is to treat, with gratitude, the work of many generations of state leaders so the reader can appreciate the efforts, political battles, and professionalism that went into creating the code we rely upon today.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.70657/SDLR.V70.I3.388
Recommended Citation
Justin Goetz,
A Homespun Quality: South Dakota's Code of Law at the 100th Legislative Session,
70
S.D. L. Rev.
388
(2025).
Available at:
https://red.library.usd.edu/sdlrev/vol70/iss3/5