Court Opinion

ID: 9743113
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 21:25:40.354712+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:24:39.383857
License: Public Domain

FOSHEIM, Chief Justice
(dissenting).
In my opinion the magistrate court exceeded its limited jurisdiction. SDCL 32-22-16 delineates the maximum permissible vehicle weights and provides that a violation of this statute is a class two misdemeanor. A class two misdemeanor carries a maximum penalty of thirty days imprisonment in a county jail, one hundred dollars fine, or both. SDCL 22-6-2(2).
SDCL 32-22-55 provides that upon conviction for violations of, among others, SDCL 32-22-16, a person “shall be fined, in addition to and not in substitution for any and all penalties” provided for in other statutes. (Emphasis added). SDCL 32-22-55 then sets forth mandatory, additional fines based upon the amount by which vehicle weight exceeds the maximum allowed in SDCL 32-22-16. The fine schedule begins “[i]n an amount equal to five cents per pound for each pound of such excess weight over one thousand pounds when such excess is three thousand pounds or less.” It follows that weights below the SDCL 32-22-16 amounts are permissible. Any weight in excess of the SDCL 32-22-16 maximum amounts but less than one thousand excess pounds is subject only to the one hundred dollars fine and the county jail sentence. Any excess weight over one thousand pounds additionally activates the fine schedule in SDCL 32-22-55.
That statutory scheme indicates SDCL 32-22-55 is an extension of the fine imposable under SDCL 32-22-16. SDCL 32-22-55 states that a person “shall be fined,” and it refers to the amounts imposable as a “fine schedule.”
As the majority opinion indicates, SDCL 32-22-55 must apply to either a criminal fine or a civil penalty. It cannot be both. Both the SDCL 32-22-16 and 32-22-55 fines are paid into the county treasury for the benefit of the public schools pursuant to constitutional mandate1 and SDCL 23 A-27-25.2 The statutory procedure for collecting the SDCL 32-22-55 fine does not differ from that employed for SDCL 32-22-16. It is not collected under civil penalty procedures. See, SDCL 15-2-14(2), SDCL 15-5-2(1); SDCL 16-2-30; SDCL 21-9-11. The Legislature labels the SDCL 32-22-55 penalty a fine; imposes and collects it as an *542additional fine, and disperses it as a fine. I therefore conclude that it was in fact intended as an extension of the fine imposed by SDCL 32-22-16.
Law-trained magistrates have limited concurrent original jurisdiction to try and determine all misdemeanor cases. SDCL 16-12A-22. The maximum pecuniary penalty for a Class 1 misdemeanor is a one thousand dollar fine. SDCL 22-6-2(1).
The magistrate court in this case imposed fines of $88.00 under SDCL 32-22-16 and $1,290.00 under SDCL 32-22-55. This combination renders the fine imposed greater than that permissible under the magistrate court’s jurisdiction notwithstanding that SDCL 32-22-16 identifies itself as a Class II misdemeanor.
A want of jurisdiction was not raised on appeal. When the trial court is without jurisdiction the Supreme Court does not acquire jurisdiction by appeal from the trial court’s judgment, Ward v. Viborg School Dist. No. 60-5, 319 N.W.2d 502 (S.D.1982); In Re Mackrill’s Addition, 85 S.D. 196, 179 N.W.2d 268 (1970); Middle Creek Sch. Dist. No. 18 v. Butte County Bd. of Ed., 83 S.D. 107, 155 N.W.2d 450 (1968), except by appeal the Supreme Court does acquire jurisdiction sufficient to determine that the trial court had, or lacked, jurisdiction. Darnall v. State, 79 S.D. 59, 108 N.W.2d 201 (1961).
Jurisdiction must affirmatively appear from the record, and this Court is required sua sponte to take notice of jurisdictional deficiencies, whether presented by the parties or not. Long v. Knight Const. Co., Inc., 262 N.W.2d 207 (S.D.1978); Estate of Putnam, 254 N.W.2d 460 (1977); Sauer v. Bowdle Independent School District No. 36, 87 S.D. 584, 212 N.W.2d 498 (1973); In Re Mackrill’s Addition, supra.
Thus, the limited jurisdiction of the magistrate court was exceeded in this case.
I would reverse.

. See S.D. Const. art. VIII § 3.

. SDCL 23A-27-25 provides:
All fines and pecuniary penalties, other than forfeitures provided for in § 23A-43-23 and costs as provided in §§ 23-3-52 and 23A-27-26, for the violation of any state law, when collected, shall be paid into the treasury of the proper county, the net proceeds of which shall be applied and used each year for the benefit of the public schools of this state.