The Supreme Court may answer questions of law certified to it by the Supreme Court of the United States, a court of appeals of the United States, or a United States district court, if there are questions of law of this state involved in any proceeding before the certifying court which may be determinative of the cause pending in the certifying court and it appears to the certifying court and to the Supreme Court that there is no controlling precedent in the decisions of the Supreme Court of this state.

Terms Used In South Dakota Codified Laws 15-24A-1

  • Answer: The formal written statement by a defendant responding to a civil complaint and setting forth the grounds for defense.
  • Precedent: A court decision in an earlier case with facts and law similar to a dispute currently before a court. Precedent will ordinarily govern the decision of a later similar case, unless a party can show that it was wrongly decided or that it differed in some significant way.

Source: SL 1984, ch 154, § 1; Supreme Court Rule 85-7, § 1.