Libel is a false and unprivileged publication by writing, printing, picture, effigy, or other fixed representation to the eye which exposes any person to hatred, contempt, ridicule, or obloquy, or which causes him to be shunned or avoided, or which has a tendency to injure him in his occupation.
S.D. Codified Laws § 20-11-3
Libel defined
Applied in 21 court decisions — leading case Paint Brush Corp. v. Neu (1999)
Most recently applied in Gantvoort v. Ranschau (April 2022)
Source: CivC 1877, § 29; CL 1887, § 2528; RCivC 1903, § 29; RC 1919, § 95; SDC 1939, § 47.0502.
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.