The execution of a contract in writing, whether the law requires it to be written or not, supersedes all the oral negotiations or stipulations concerning its matter which preceded or accompanied the execution of the instrument.
S.D. Codified Laws § 53-8-5
Execution of contract in writing supersedes oral negotiations or stipulations
Applied in 43 court decisions — leading case Sopko v. C & R Transfer Co., Inc. (1998)
Most recently applied in Sturzenbecher v. Sioux County Ranch, LLC (April 2025)
Source: CivC 1877, § 921; CL 1887, § 3545; RCivC 1903, § 1239; RC 1919, § 860; SDC 1939, § 10.0604.
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.