---
title: O.C.G.A. § 14-5-45. Interference by courts with management of church.
collection: code
id: 14-5-45
cite_as: O.C.G.A. § 14-5-45 (2025)
canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/14-5-45
md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/14-5-45.md
text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/14-5-45/text
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=835
date: 2025
status: active
corpus_version: 2025-supplement-89aa39ab3c68
license: CC0-1.0
publisher: Georgia Commons, an independent project of Georgia Civic Data. Not the State of Georgia. Not legal advice.
up: https://georgiacommons.org/code/14-5.md
previous: https://georgiacommons.org/code/14-5-44.md
next: https://georgiacommons.org/code/14-5-46.md
index: https://georgiacommons.org/code/index.md
version: the only printed version
in_force: true
current_through: Including Acts of the 2025 Regular Session of the General Assembly
heading_path: CORPORATIONS, PARTNERSHIPS, AND ASSOCIATIONS / MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS RELATING TO CORPORATIONS / CORPORATIONS ORGANIZED FOR RELIGIOUS, FRATERNAL, OR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES
---

# O.C.G.A. § 14-5-45. Interference by courts with management of church.

Courts are reluctant to interpose in questions affecting the management of the temporalities of a church; but, when property is devoted to a specific doctrine or purpose, the courts will prevent it from being diverted from the trust.

## History

Civil Code 1895, § 2362; Civil Code 1910, § 2835; Code 1933, § 22-408; Code 1933, § 22-5506, enacted by Ga. L. 1968, p. 565, § 1.

## Cross References

Exercise of judicial power by courts generally, § 15-1-3.

## Law Reviews

For comment on Presbyterian Church in the United States v. Mary Elizabeth Blue Hull Mem. Presbyterian Church, 225 Ga. 259, 167 S.E.2d 658 (1969), cert. denied, 396 U.S. 1041, 90 S. Ct. 680, 24 L. Ed. 2d 685 (1970), see 6 Ga. St. B. J. 438 (1970).

## History of Code Section.

The language of this Code section is derived in part from the decision in Bates v. Houston, 66 Ga. 198 (1880).