The rule of the common law that penal statutes are to be strictly construed has no application to this title. All its criminal and penal provisions and all penal statutes shall be construed according to the fair import of their terms, with a view to effect their objects and promote justice.
S.D. Codified Laws § 22-1-1
Common-law rule of strict construction abrogated
Applied in 21 court decisions — leading case State v. Bad Heart Bull (1977)
Most recently applied in State v. Biteler (December 2025)
Source: SDC 1939, § 13.0101; SL 1977, ch 189, § 1; SL 2005, ch 120, § 356.
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.