Thelaw of the U.S. state ofGeorgia consists of several levels, including constitutional, statutory, and regulatory law, as well as case law and local law. TheOfficial Code of Georgia Annotated forms the general statutory law.
TheConstitution of Georgia is the foremost source of state law. Legislation is enacted by theGeorgia General Assembly, published in theGeorgia Laws, and codified in theOfficial Code of Georgia Annotated (O.C.G.A.). State agencies promulgate regulations (sometimes called administrative law) which are codified in theRules and Regulations of Georgia. Georgia's legal system is based oncommon law, which is interpreted by case law through the decisions of the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals, which are published in theGeorgia Reports andGeorgia Appeals Reports, respectively. Counties and municipalities may also promulgatelocal ordinances, 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.
TheConstitution of Georgia is the foundation of thegovernment of Georgia and vests the legislative power of the state in theGeorgia General Assembly. The Georgia Constitution is subordinate only to theConstitution of the United States, which is the supreme law of the land.
Pursuant to the state constitution, theGeorgia General Assembly has enactedlegislation. Itssession laws are published in the officialGeorgia Laws,[1] which in turn have beencodified in theOfficial Code of Georgia Annotated (O.C.G.A.).[1] TheCode of Georgia Annotated is another, unofficial codification published byWest.[1]
TheGeorgia Code Revision Commission oversees the publication of the O.C.G.A.,[2] which is published byLexisNexis.[1] 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.[1]
TheGeorgia Laws are compiled and annually published by theGeorgia Office of Legislative Counsel, who also serves as the staff of the Code Revision Commission,[2] and are distributed by theGeorgia Secretary of State.[3] TheGeorgia Laws have been published since 1820.[1] TheSession Laws of American States and Territories Georgia contains session laws from 1787–1899.[1]
Pursuant to certain statutes, state agencies have promulgated bodies ofregulations (sometimes calledadministrative law). The regulations are codified in theRules and Regulations of Georgia (formally theOfficial Compilation, Rules and Regulations of the State of Georgia).[4]Weil's Georgia Government Register (theRegister) from LexisNexis and the Georgia Regulation Tracking database fromWestlaw provide information on rulemaking activity.[4]
The legal system of Georgia is based on thecommon law. Like all U.S. states exceptLouisiana, Georgia has areception statute providing for the "reception" ofEnglish law. All statutes, regulations, and ordinances are subject tojudicial review. Pursuant to common law tradition, the courts of Georgia have developed a large body ofcase law through thedecisions of theSupreme Court of Georgia and theGeorgia Court of Appeals.
The officialreporter for the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals are theGeorgia Reports andGeorgia Appeals Reports, respectively.[5]Georgia Cases (a Georgia-specific version of theSouth Eastern Reporter) is another, unofficial reporter.[5] There is no official reporting of decisions of trial courts, butWest's Jury Verdicts Georgia Reports publishes significant trial court decisions, and theGeorgia Trial Reporter publishes a monthly summary of all available superior and state court civil jury trials in theAtlanta metropolitan area that result in a verdict.[5]
The Georgia Constitution grants cities and counties a significant amount ofhome rule authority.[1] As such, cities and counties enactlocal ordinances for their governance, and most highly populated cities and counties have published codifications of their ordinances.[1]
Georgia Jurisprudence is a major legalencyclopedia.[6]
Court decisions freely available to the public online, in a consistent format, digitized from the collection of theHarvard Law Library
