JUDICIAL VOICES PROJECT
Capturing Histories of the South Dakota Supreme Court on its 125th Anniversary
HISTORIES, ACCOUNTS AND COMMENTARIES ON THE SUPREME COURT AND LEGAL PRACTICE IN THE STATE OF SOUTH DAKOTA
Supreme Court of the Dakota Territory
First Capitol of Dakota Territory, Yankton
Although it now plays a well-respected and critical role in the State's legal process, South Dakota’s highest court had a less than auspicious beginning as the Supreme Court of the Dakota Territory. When the Territorial Supreme Court was established in the capital city of Yankton in 1861, the reliability of the Court and its justices was sometimes questionable. In retrospect, concerns about the dedication, caliber, and even motivation of the earliest members of the Court are evident..
The Dakota Territory’s Supreme Court judges were chosen by presidential appointment, with Presidents Abraham Lincoln and Ulysses S. Grant appointing all thirty of the Territorial judges that served from 1861 to 1889. The Territorial Supreme Court opened operations with three judges, until 1879 when another Associate Judge was added. Judges continued to be added through the years, as the number increased to six in 1884 and then to eight in 1888. As stated, some of these first judges were not known for their legal prowess. According to Herbert Schell, former Dean of the Graduate School at the University of South Dakota and the preeminent South Dakota historian, “The judges who graced the bench during the early territorial days did not always represent the best in legal talent.” Instead, many judges were appointed simply for their political maneuvering skills. One Chief Judge was said to have never made a ruling without first being advised by the lawyers pleading the case. Prior to serving on the Court, this judge had been a justice of the peace in an eastern state and had relocated to the Dakota Territory in order to escape his humiliating career mistakes in the East.
In addition, these earliest judges could be unreliable. According to Schell, the first judges were known for frequent absenteeism. Not a single judge was on hand for the first court session that was scheduled for May 1862, and a full Bench did not sit until July of 1865. Governor Newton Edmunds gave a general illustration of the status of justice in the Dakota Territory. In 1865, an officer at Fort Randall had contacted Edmunds hoping to deliver a prisoner held for a capital crime to civil officials. Edmunds replied:
“I have to inform you that at this time, there is neither . . . a U.S. Marshal or his Deputy, U.S. District Attorney, or a U.S. District Judge within our Territorial limits, and at this writing, however humiliating the admission, I know of no civil authority to whom the prisoner, under the circumstances, could properly be turned over.”
In light of these circumstances, Edmunds requested that the officer continue to hold the prisoner until someone of civil authority (the state’s means of enforcing law and order) returned to the jurisdiction.
In these early days of the Court, another issue was the absence of suitable buildings in which to hold session. Associate Judge Jefferson P. Kidder, appointed in 1865, was rumored to sometimes use his Vermillion home for hearings.
Although the fledgling Territorial Supreme Court had its difficulties, many needed reforms came in 1873, when Chief Judge Peter Shannon was elected. Schell describes this period as the end of the frontier stage of the courts. A newspaper at the time reported, “All the loaferish practices for which extreme Western courts are proverbial are discountenanced.” Shannon adopted new rules of court procedure, printed new forms to govern the clerk in his duties, and ended the lax procedure that had previously been followed after a divorce decree was granted. More information about the Supreme Court of the Dakota Territory can be found in the court’s collective decisions, called the “Dakota Reports,” which cover six volumes and are available at the State archives in Pierre.
First Supreme Court in Session in Old Hughes County Courthouse, Left to right: Clerk Ivan W Goodne; Judge Alphonso G. Keliam; Presiding Judge Dighton Corson; and Judge John E. Bennett