---
title: O.C.G.A. § 14-2-801. Requirement for and functions of board of directors.
collection: code
id: 14-2-801
cite_as: O.C.G.A. § 14-2-801 (2025)
canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/14-2-801
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source_url: https://www.legis.ga.gov/api/document/docs/default-source/joint-features-document-library/t14-(v12)-2017-pdf.pdf?sfvrsn=507372ea_0#page=218
date: 2025
status: active
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version: the only printed version
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heading_path: CORPORATIONS, PARTNERSHIPS, AND ASSOCIATIONS / BUSINESS CORPORATIONS / DIRECTORS AND OFFICERS / BOARD OF DIRECTORS
---

# O.C.G.A. § 14-2-801. Requirement for and functions of board of directors.

(a) Except as provided in Article 9 of this chapter or in a written agreement meeting the requirements of Code Section 14-2-732, each corporation must have a board of directors.

(b) All corporate powers shall be exercised by or under the authority of the board of directors of the corporation, and the business and affairs of the corporation shall be managed by or under the direction, and subject to oversight, of its board of directors, subject to any limitation set forth in the articles of incorporation, in rights, options, or warrants permitted by paragraph (2) of subsection (d) of Code Section 14-2-624, or except as provided in an agreement among the shareholders meeting the requirements of Code Section 14-2-732.

(c) No limitation upon the authority of the directors, whether contained in the articles of incorporation or an agreement among the shareholders meeting the requirements of Code Section 14-2-732, shall be effective against persons, other than shareholders and directors, who are without actual knowledge of the limitation.

## History

Code 1981, § 14-2-801, enacted by Ga. L. 1988, p. 1070, § 1; Ga. L. 2000, p. 1567, § 6; Ga. L. 2001, p. 4, § 14; Ga. L. 2016, p. 225, § 1-1/SB 128.

## Cross References

Qualifications for officers, directors, and stockholders of pharmacy corporations, § 26-4-101.

## Law Reviews

For article, ‘‘Foreign Corporations in Georgia,’’ see 10 Ga. St. B. J. 243 (1973). For article, ‘‘Excessive Corporate Risk-Taking and the Decline of Personal Blame,’’ see 65 Emory L.J. 533 (2015).

For note on the 2000 amendment of this Code section, see 17 Ga. St. U. L. Rev. 46 (2000).

For comment on the survivability of the dead hand provision in corporate America, see 48 Emory L.J. 991 (1999). For comment, ‘‘Poison Pills: Are Dead Hand Pills Dead in Georgia?,’’ see 50 Mercer L. Rev. 809 (1999).

## Other Notes

The 2016 amendment, effective July 1, 2016, in subsection (a), substituted ‘‘Except’’ for ‘‘Each corporation must have a board of directors, except’’ at the beginning, and added ‘‘, each corporation must have a board of directors’’ at the end; in subsection (b), inserted ‘‘the board of directors of the corporation’’, inserted ‘‘shall be’’, inserted ‘‘by or’’ in the middle, substituted ‘‘direction, and subject to oversight, of’’ for ‘‘direction of, its’’, and inserted ‘‘except as provided’’ near the end.