Any person interested under a deed, will, written contract, or other writing constituting a contract, or whose rights, status, or other legal relations are affected by a statute, municipal ordinance, contract, or franchise, may have determined any question of construction or validity arising under the instrument, statute, ordinance, contract, or franchise and obtain a declaration of rights, status, or other legal relations thereunder.
S.D. Codified Laws § 21-24-3
Construction and determination of validity of written instruments, legislative acts, and franchises
Known as the Uniform Declaratory Judgments Act
The act spans §§ 21–21 (16 sections).
Applied in 21 court decisions — leading case Kneip v. Herseth (1974)
Most recently applied in Jensen, Hoffman v. Dep't of Corrections (July 2025)
Source: SL 1925, ch 214, § 2; SDC 1939 & Supp 1960, § 37.0102.
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.