Good moral character, required by § 16-16-2, includes but is not limited to qualities of honesty, candor, trustworthiness, diligence, reliability, observance of fiduciary and financial responsibility, and respect for the rights of others and for the judicial process. Any fact reflecting a deficiency of good moral character may constitute a basis for denial of admission. In addition, the failure of an applicant to answer truthfully any question in the application or any question propounded by the Board of Bar Examiners, or the failure to supply any documentary material requested by the Board of Bar Examiners, will justify a finding that the applicant has not met the burden of proving good moral character.
S.D. Codified Laws § 16-16-2.1
Standard of good moral character
Applied in 9 court decisions — leading case Application of Widdison (1995)
Most recently applied in In Re Application of Henry (December 2013)
Source: SL 1990, ch 426 (Supreme Court Rule 89-8).
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
Official source: South Dakota Legislature. Reproduced from public-domain South Dakota statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.