View source for Law of Georgia (U.S. state)

{{Short description|none}} <!-- "none" is preferred when the title is sufficiently descriptive; see [[WP:SDNONE]] -->
The [[law]] of the U.S. state of [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]] consists of several levels, including constitutional, statutory, and regulatory law, as well as case law and local law. The ''[[Official Code of Georgia Annotated]]'' forms the general statutory law.

==Sources==
{{see also|Government of Georgia (U.S. state)}}

The [[Constitution of Georgia (U.S. state)|Constitution of Georgia]] is the foremost source of state law. Legislation is enacted by the [[Georgia General Assembly]], published in the ''[[Georgia Laws]]'', and codified in the ''[[Official Code of Georgia Annotated]]'' (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]], 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]]'', respectively. Counties and municipalities may also promulgate [[local ordinance]]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 (U.S. state)|Constitution of Georgia]] is the foundation of the [[Government of Georgia (U.S. state)|government of Georgia]] and vests the legislative power of the state in the [[Georgia General Assembly]]. The Georgia Constitution is subordinate only to the [[Constitution of the United States]], which is the supreme law of the land.

===Legislation===
[[File:Govlawgacode20071 0001.jpg|thumb|Cover of volume 1 of the 2007 edition of the ''[[Official Code of Georgia Annotated]]'']]

Pursuant to the state constitution, the [[Georgia General Assembly]] has enacted [[legislation]]. Its [[session laws]] are published in the official ''[[Georgia Laws]]'',<ref name="gsu-statutes">{{cite web|title=Statutes - Georgia Legal Research - LibGuides at Georgia State University College of Law|publisher=[[Georgia State University College of Law]]|access-date=22 September 2013|url=http://libguides.law.gsu.edu/content.php?pid=189396&sid=1641359|archive-date=27 September 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130927101727/http://libguides.law.gsu.edu/content.php?pid=189396&sid=1641359|url-status=live}}</ref> which in turn have been [[codification (law)|codified]] in the ''[[Official Code of Georgia Annotated]]'' (O.C.G.A.).<ref name="gsu-statutes"/> The ''Code of Georgia Annotated'' is another, unofficial codification published by [[West (publisher)|West]].<ref name="gsu-statutes"/>

The [[Georgia Code Revision Commission]] oversees the publication of the O.C.G.A.,<ref name=lc>{{cite web|title=Legislative Counsel|publisher=[[Georgia General Assembly]]|url=http://www.legis.ga.gov/Joint/en-US/LegCounsel.aspx|access-date=2 June 2014|archive-date=25 May 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140525193343/http://www.legis.ga.gov/Joint/en-US/LegCounsel.aspx|url-status=live}}</ref> which is published by [[LexisNexis]].<ref name="gsu-statutes"/> 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.<ref name="gsu-statutes"/>

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,<ref name=lc/> and are distributed by the [[Secretary of State of Georgia|Georgia Secretary of State]].<ref>[[Official Code of Georgia Annotated|O.C.G.A.]] §§ 28-4-3, 45-13-22, 50-18-2</ref> The ''Georgia Laws'' have been published since 1820.<ref name="gsu-statutes"/> The ''Session Laws of American States and Territories Georgia'' contains session laws from 1787–1899.<ref name="gsu-statutes"/>

===Regulations===
Pursuant to certain statutes, state agencies have promulgated bodies of [[regulation]]s (sometimes called [[administrative law]]). The regulations are codified in the ''[[Rules and Regulations of Georgia]]'' (formally the ''Official Compilation, Rules and Regulations of the State of Georgia'').<ref name="gsu-regulations">{{cite web|title=Administrative Law Sources - Georgia Legal Research - LibGuides at Georgia State University College of Law|publisher=[[Georgia State University College of Law]]|access-date=22 September 2013|url=http://libguides.law.gsu.edu/content.php?pid=189396&sid=1641287|archive-date=27 September 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130927101738/http://libguides.law.gsu.edu/content.php?pid=189396&sid=1641287|url-status=live}}</ref> ''Weil's Georgia Government Register'' (the ''Register'') from LexisNexis and the Georgia Regulation Tracking database from [[Westlaw]] provide information on rulemaking activity.<ref name="gsu-regulations"/>

===Case law===
{{see also|Judiciary of Georgia (U.S. state)}}

The legal system of Georgia is based on the [[common law]]. Like all U.S. states except [[Louisiana]], Georgia has a [[reception statute]] providing for the "reception" of [[English law]]. All statutes, regulations, and ordinances are subject to [[judicial review]]. Pursuant to common law tradition, the courts of Georgia have developed a large body of [[case law]] through the [[legal opinion|decisions]] of the [[Supreme Court of Georgia (U.S. state)|Supreme Court of Georgia]] and the [[Georgia Court of Appeals]].

The official [[law report|reporter]] for the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals are the ''[[Georgia Reports]]'' and ''[[Georgia Appeals Reports]]'', respectively.<ref name="gsu-cases">{{cite web|title=Cases - Georgia Legal Research - LibGuides at Georgia State University College of Law|publisher=[[Georgia State University College of Law]]|access-date=22 September 2013|url=http://libguides.law.gsu.edu/content.php?pid=189396&sid=1641501|archive-date=27 September 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130927102007/http://libguides.law.gsu.edu/content.php?pid=189396&sid=1641501|url-status=live}}</ref> ''Georgia Cases'' (a Georgia-specific version of the ''[[South Eastern Reporter]]'') is another, unofficial reporter.<ref name="gsu-cases"/> 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]] that result in a verdict.<ref name="gsu-cases"/>

===Local ordinances===
{{see also|Administrative divisions of Georgia (U.S. state)}}
{{see also|Government of Atlanta}}

The Georgia Constitution grants cities and counties a significant amount of [[home rule]] authority.<ref name="gsu-statutes"/> As such, cities and counties enact [[local ordinance]]s for their governance, and most highly populated cities and counties have published codifications of their ordinances.<ref name="gsu-statutes"/>

===Other===
''Georgia Jurisprudence'' is a major legal [[encyclopedia]].<ref name="gsu-secondary">{{cite web|title=Secondary Sources - Georgia Legal Research - LibGuides at Georgia State University College of Law|publisher=[[Georgia State University College of Law]]|access-date=22 September 2013|url=http://libguides.law.gsu.edu/content.php?pid=189396&sid=1641631|archive-date=28 September 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130928212005/http://libguides.law.gsu.edu/content.php?pid=189396&sid=1641631|url-status=live}}</ref>

==See also==
===Topics===
* [[Georgia (U.S. state) wiretapping laws]]
* [[Gun laws in Georgia (U.S. state)|Gun laws in Georgia]]
* [[LGBT rights in Georgia (U.S. state)]]

===Other===
* [[Crime in Georgia]]
* [[Law enforcement in Georgia (U.S. state)]]
* [[Law of the United States]]
* [[List of legislative committees of Georgia (U.S. state)]]
* [[Politics of Georgia (U.S. state)]]

==References==
{{reflist}}
{{refbegin}}
* 
{{refend}}

==External links==
* [https://www.lexisnexis.com/hottopics/gacode/Default.asp Official Code of Georgia Annotated] from [[LexisNexis]]
* [https://law.resource.org/pub/us/code/ga/ Official Code of Georgia Annotated] from [[Public.Resource.Org]]
* [https://archive.org/details/gov.ga.ocga.2018 Bulk Access to Official Code of Georgia Annotated]. (HTML, .rtf, Open Document file formats)
* [https://law.justia.com/codes/georgia/ Code of Georgia] from [[Justia]]
* [http://rules.sos.state.ga.us/ Rules and Regulations] from the [[Secretary of State of Georgia|Georgia Secretary of State]]
* [http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/en-US/SignedByGov.aspx Session laws] from the [[Georgia General Assembly]]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20130927160850/http://www.gasupreme.us/docket_search/ Docket search] from the [[Supreme Court of Georgia (U.S. state)|Supreme Court]]
* [http://www.gaappeals.us/docket/ Docket search] from the [[Georgia Court of Appeals|Court of Appeals]]
* [https://law.resource.org/pub/us/code/city/ga/ Local ordinance codes] from Public.Resource.Org
* Case law: {{citation |url=https://cite.case.law |title= Georgia |work= Caselaw Access Project |publisher= Harvard Law School |oclc=1078785565 |quote= Court decisions freely available to the public online, in a consistent format, digitized from the collection of the [[Harvard Law Library]] }}

{{Georgia (U.S. state)}}
{{Laws of the United States by U.S. state}}

[[Category:Georgia (U.S. state) law| ]]
[[Category:State law in the United States|Georgia]]