Law of Georgia
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The
law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...
of the U.S. state of
Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...
consists of several levels, including constitutional, statutory, and regulatory law, as well as case law and local law. The ''
Official Code of Georgia Annotated The Official Code of Georgia Annotated or OCGA is the compendium of all laws in the U.S. state of Georgia. Like other U.S. state codes, its legal interpretation is subject to the United States Constitution, the United States Code, the Code of ...
'' forms the general statutory law.


Sources

The Constitution of Georgia is the foremost source of state law. Legislation is enacted by the
Georgia General Assembly The Georgia General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is bicameral, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. Each of the General Assembly's 236 members serve two-year terms and are directly ...
, published in the ''
Georgia Laws Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...
'', and codified in the ''
Official Code of Georgia Annotated The Official Code of Georgia Annotated or OCGA is the compendium of all laws in the U.S. state of Georgia. Like other U.S. state codes, its legal interpretation is subject to the United States Constitution, the United States Code, the Code of ...
'' (O.C.G.A.). State agencies promulgate regulations (sometimes called administrative law) which are codified in the '' Rules and Regulations of Georgia''. Georgia's legal system is based on
common law In law, common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law created by judges and similar quasi-judicial tribunals by virtue of being stated in written opinions."The common law is not a brooding omnipresen ...
, which is interpreted by case law through the decisions of the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals, which are published in the '' Georgia Reports'' and ''
Georgia Appeals Reports Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...
'', respectively. Counties and municipalities may also promulgate
local ordinance A local ordinance is a law issued by a local government. such as a municipality, county, parish, prefecture, or the like. China In Hong Kong, all laws enacted by the territory's Legislative Council remain to be known as ''Ordinances'' () af ...
s, which are often codified. In addition, there are also several sources of persuasive authority, which are not binding authority but are useful to lawyers and judges insofar as they help to clarify the current state of the law.


Constitution

The Constitution of Georgia is the foundation of the government of Georgia and vests the legislative power of the state in the
Georgia General Assembly The Georgia General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is bicameral, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. Each of the General Assembly's 236 members serve two-year terms and are directly ...
. The Georgia Constitution is subordinate only to the
Constitution of the United States The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, in 1789. Originally comprising seven articles, it delineates the natio ...
, which is the supreme law of the land.


Legislation

Pursuant to the state constitution, the
Georgia General Assembly The Georgia General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is bicameral, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. Each of the General Assembly's 236 members serve two-year terms and are directly ...
has enacted
legislation Legislation is the process or result of enrolled bill, enrolling, enactment of a bill, enacting, or promulgation, promulgating laws by a legislature, parliament, or analogous Government, governing body. Before an item of legislation becomes law i ...
. Its
session laws Session laws are the collection of statutes enacted by a legislature during a single session of that legislature, often published following the end of the session as a bound volume. The United States Statutes at Large are an example of session l ...
are published in the official ''
Georgia Laws Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...
'', which in turn have been codified in the ''
Official Code of Georgia Annotated The Official Code of Georgia Annotated or OCGA is the compendium of all laws in the U.S. state of Georgia. Like other U.S. state codes, its legal interpretation is subject to the United States Constitution, the United States Code, the Code of ...
'' (O.C.G.A.). The ''Code of Georgia Annotated'' is another, unofficial codification published by
West West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sunset, Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic languages, German ...
. The
Georgia Code Revision Commission Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...
oversees the publication of the O.C.G.A., which is published by
LexisNexis LexisNexis is a part of the RELX corporation that sells data analytics products and various databases that are accessed through online portals, including portals for computer-assisted legal research (CALR), newspaper search, and consumer informa ...
. The O.C.G.A. was first adopted in 1981 and became effective in November 1982; previously, ''Harrison's Georgia Code Annotated'' (a.k.a. the Code of 1933) was the only published code. The ''Georgia Laws'' are compiled and annually published by the Georgia Office of Legislative Counsel, who also serves as the staff of the Code Revision Commission, and are distributed by the
Georgia Secretary of State The Secretary of State of the U.S. state of Georgia is an elected official with a wide variety of responsibilities, including supervising elections and maintaining public records. The office has had a four-year term since 1946. Before 1880, th ...
. O.C.G.A. §§ 28-4-3, 45-13-22, 50-18-2 The ''Georgia Laws'' have been published since 1820. The ''Session Laws of American States and Territories Georgia'' contains session laws from 1787–1899.


Regulations

Pursuant to certain statutes, state agencies have promulgated bodies of
regulation Regulation is the management of complex systems according to a set of rules and trends. In systems theory, these types of rules exist in various fields of biology and society, but the term has slightly different meanings according to context. For ...
s (sometimes called
administrative law Administrative law is the division of law that governs the activities of government agency, executive branch agencies of Forms of government, government. Administrative law concerns executive branch rule making (executive branch rules are gener ...
). The regulations are codified in the '' Rules and Regulations of Georgia'' (formally the ''Official Compilation, Rules and Regulations of the State of Georgia''). ''Weil's Georgia Government Register'' (the ''Register'') from LexisNexis and the Georgia Regulation Tracking database from
Westlaw Westlaw is an online legal research service and proprietary database for lawyers and legal professionals available in over 60 countries. Information resources on Westlaw include more than 40,000 databases of case law, state and federal statute ...
provide information on rulemaking activity.


Case law

The legal system of Georgia is based on the
common law In law, common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law created by judges and similar quasi-judicial tribunals by virtue of being stated in written opinions."The common law is not a brooding omnipresen ...
. Like all U.S. states except
Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...
, Georgia has a
reception statute A reception statute is a statutory law adopted as a former British colony becomes independent by which the new nation adopts, or receives, the English common law before its independence to the extent not explicitly rejected by the legislative body ...
providing for the "reception" of
English law English law is the common law legal system of England and Wales, comprising mainly criminal law and civil law, each branch having its own courts and procedures. Principal elements of English law Although the common law has, historically, be ...
. All statutes, regulations, and ordinances are subject to
judicial review Judicial review is a process under which executive, legislative and administrative actions are subject to review by the judiciary. A court with authority for judicial review may invalidate laws, acts and governmental actions that are incompat ...
. Pursuant to common law tradition, the courts of Georgia have developed a large body of
case law Case law, also used interchangeably with common law, is law that is based on precedents, that is the judicial decisions from previous cases, rather than law based on constitutions, statutes, or regulations. Case law uses the detailed facts of a l ...
through the decisions of the Supreme Court of Georgia and the
Georgia Court of Appeals The Georgia Court of Appeals is the intermediate-level appellate court for the U.S. state of Georgia. History Founding of the court The genesis of the Court of Appeals began with a report by the State Bar of Georgia in 1895, suggesting that the G ...
. The official
reporter A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...
for the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals are the '' Georgia Reports'' and ''
Georgia Appeals Reports Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...
'', respectively. ''Georgia Cases'' (a Georgia-specific version of the ''
South Eastern Reporter The ''South Eastern Reporter'' and ''South Eastern Reporter Second'' are United States regional case law reporters. It is part of the National Reporter System created by John B. West for West Publishing Company, which is now part of Thomson West. ...
'') is another, unofficial reporter. There is no official reporting of decisions of trial courts, but ''West's Jury Verdicts Georgia Reports'' publishes significant trial court decisions, and the ''Georgia Trial Reporter'' publishes a monthly summary of all available superior and state court civil jury trials in the
Atlanta metropolitan area Metro Atlanta, designated by the United States Office of Management and Budget as the Atlanta–Sandy Springs–Alpharetta, GA Metropolitan Statistical Area, is the most populous metropolitan statistical area in the U.S. state of Georgia and the ...
that result in a verdict.


Local ordinances

The Georgia Constitution grants cities and counties a significant amount of
home rule Home rule is government of a colony, dependent country, or region by its own citizens. It is thus the power of a part (administrative division) of a state or an external dependent country to exercise such of the state's powers of governance wit ...
authority. As such, cities and counties enact
local ordinance A local ordinance is a law issued by a local government. such as a municipality, county, parish, prefecture, or the like. China In Hong Kong, all laws enacted by the territory's Legislative Council remain to be known as ''Ordinances'' () af ...
s for their governance, and most highly populated cities and counties have published codifications of their ordinances.


Other

''Georgia Jurisprudence'' is a major legal
encyclopedia An encyclopedia (American English) or encyclopædia (British English) is a reference work or compendium providing summaries of knowledge either general or special to a particular field or discipline. Encyclopedias are divided into articles ...
.


See also


Topics

* Georgia (U.S. state) wiretapping laws *
Gun laws in Georgia Gun laws in the state of Georgia regulate the sale, possession, and use of firearms and ammunition in the state of Georgia in the United States. Summary table State constitutional provisions The Georgia Constitution guarantees the right ...
*
LGBT rights in Georgia (U.S. state) LGBT residents in the U.S. state of Georgia enjoy most of the same rights and liberties as non-LGBT Georgians. LGBT rights in the state have been a recent occurrence, with most improvements occurring from the 2010s onward. Same-sex sexual activi ...


Other

*
Crime in Georgia This article refers to crime in the U.S. state of Georgia. Statistics In the period between 1877 and 1950, the state was the site of at least 586 lynchings of black people, the most of any state. In 2008, there were 434,560 crimes reported in Geo ...
* Law enforcement in Georgia (U.S. state) *
Law of the United States The law of the United States comprises many levels of Codification (law), codified and uncodified forms of law, of which the most important is the nation's Constitution of the United States, Constitution, which prescribes the foundation of the ...
* List of legislative committees of Georgia (U.S. state) *
Politics of Georgia (U.S. state) The politics of Georgia change frequently and often follow the rest of the United States in major historical landmarks. The state has a long history, starting in the 18th century as a British colony ...


References

*


External links


Official Code of Georgia Annotated
from
LexisNexis LexisNexis is a part of the RELX corporation that sells data analytics products and various databases that are accessed through online portals, including portals for computer-assisted legal research (CALR), newspaper search, and consumer informa ...

Official Code of Georgia Annotated
from
Public.Resource.Org Public.Resource.Org (PRO) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation dedicated to publishing and sharing public domain materials in the United States and internationally. It was founded by Carl Malamud and is based in Sebastopol, California. Public.Re ...

Bulk Access to Official Code of Georgia Annotated
(HTML, .rtf, Open Document file formats)
Code of Georgia
from
Justia Justia is an American website specializing in legal information retrieval. It was founded in 2003 by Tim Stanley, formerly of FindLaw, and is one of the largest online databases of legal cases. The company is headquartered in Mountain View, Cali ...

Rules and Regulations
from the
Georgia Secretary of State The Secretary of State of the U.S. state of Georgia is an elected official with a wide variety of responsibilities, including supervising elections and maintaining public records. The office has had a four-year term since 1946. Before 1880, th ...

Session laws
from the
Georgia General Assembly The Georgia General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is bicameral, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. Each of the General Assembly's 236 members serve two-year terms and are directly ...

Docket search
from the
Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

Docket search
from the
Court of Appeals A court of appeals, also called a court of appeal, appellate court, appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal. In much of ...

Local ordinance codes
from Public.Resource.Org * Case law: {{Laws of the United States by U.S. state
Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...