S.D. Codified Laws § 16-6-9

Original civil jurisdiction of circuit court

Applied in 11 court decisions — leading case Wells v. Wells (1990)

Most recently applied in Estate of Cunningham (November 2025)

Source: CCivP 1877, § 28; CL 1887, § 4825; RCCivP 1903, § 30; RC 1919, § 2114; SDC 1939 & Supp 1960, § 32.0904; SL 1973, ch 130, § 2; SL 1993, ch 213, § 94.

How often courts cite this section

citing decisions per year

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.

The circuit court has original jurisdiction as follows:

(1) In all actions or proceedings in chancery;

(2) In all actions at law and in equity;

(3) In all cases where the title or boundary to real property comes in question;

(4) In all actions for divorce or annulment of marriage;

(5) In all matters of probate, guardianship, conservatorship, and settlement of estates of deceased persons;

(6) Proceedings relating to minors under chapters 26-7A, 26-8A, 26-8B, and 26-8C;

(7) In all other cases now or hereafter provided by law granting jurisdiction to the circuit court, and as heretofore granted to district county, municipal, justice of the peace, and police magistrate courts.

Official source: South Dakota Legislature. Reproduced from public-domain South Dakota statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.