---
title: O.C.G.A. § 15-1-3. Powers of courts generally.
collection: code
id: 15-1-3
cite_as: O.C.G.A. § 15-1-3 (2025)
canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/15-1-3
md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/15-1-3.md
text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/15-1-3/text
source_url: https://www.legis.ga.gov/api/document/docs/default-source/joint-features-document-library/t15-ch1-11a-(v13)-2020-pdf.pdf?sfvrsn=d8a8826c_0#page=22
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.
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version: the only printed version
in_force: true
current_through: Including Acts of the 2025 Regular Session of the General Assembly
heading_path: COURTS / GENERAL PROVISIONS
---

# O.C.G.A. § 15-1-3. Powers of courts generally.

Every court has power:

(1) To preserve and enforce order in its immediate presence and, as near thereto as is necessary, to prevent interruption, disturbance, or hindrance to its proceedings;

(2) To enforce order before a person or body empowered to conduct a judicial investigation under its authority;

(3) To compel obedience to its judgments, orders, and process and to the orders of a judge out of court in an action or proceeding therein;

(4) To control, in the furtherance of justice, the conduct of its officers and all other persons connected with a judicial proceeding before it, in every matter appertaining thereto;

(5) To administer oaths in an action or proceeding pending therein and in all other cases when it may be necessary in the exercise of its powers and duties;

(6) To amend and control its processes and orders, so as to make them conformable to law and justice, and to amend its own records, so as to make them conform to the truth; and

(7) To correct its own proceedings before final judgment.

## History

Orig. Code 1863, §§ 200, 3428; Code 1868, §§ 194, 3448; Code 1873, §§ 206, 3499; Code 1882, §§ 206, 3499; Civil Code 1895, §§ 4047, 5118; Civil Code 1910, §§ 4644, 5702; Code 1933, §§ 24-104, 81-1202.

## Cross References

Powers of courts with regard to management of churches, § 14-5-45.

## Law Reviews

For article comparing sections of the Georgia Civil Practice Act with preexisting provisions of the Georgia Code, see 3 Ga. St. B. J. 295 (1967). For article, ‘‘The Civil Jurisdiction of State and Magistrate Courts,’’ see 24 Ga. St. B. J. 29 (1987). For annual survey of domestic relations law, see 58 Mercer L. Rev. 133 (2006).