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Official Code of Georgia Annotated

Title 15. COURTS · Chapter 10. MAGISTRATE COURTS · Article 2. MAGISTRATES

15-10-22. Qualifications; restrictions on practice of law.

Active

Current through: Including Acts of the 2025 Regular Session of the General Assembly.

  1. (a)

    Each magistrate taking office on or after July 1, 2019, shall:#

    1. (1)

      Have been a resident of the county for two years next preceding the beginning of his or her term of office;#

    2. (2)

      Be at least 25 years of age;#

    3. (3)

      Remain a resident of such county during his or her term of office;#

    4. (4)

      Be a citizen of the United States;#

    5. (5)

      Be a registered voter; and#

    6. (6)

      Have obtained a state accredited high school diploma or state approved high school equivalency (HSE) diploma.#

  2. (b)

    Additional qualifications for the office of chief magistrate or magistrate or both may be imposed by local law.#

  3. (c)

    A magistrate who is an attorney may practice in other courts but may not practice in the magistrate’s own court or appear in any matter as to which that magistrate has exercised any jurisdiction.#

The notes below are printed with the section but are not enacted law (O.C.G.A. § 1-1-1(c)). They are shown apart from the text.

History

Code 1981, § 15-10-22, enacted by Ga. L. 1983, p. 884, § 2-1; Ga. L. 1984, p. 1096, § 3; Ga. L. 1987, p. 430, § 1; Ga. L. 2019, p. 658, § 3/HB 257; Ga. L. 2022, p. 168, § 1/SB 397.

Amendments

The 2022 amendment, effective July 1, 2022, substituted “state approved high school equivalency (HSE)” for “general educational development (GED)” in paragraph (a)(6).

Read the official page (the state's PDF, opened at the page this text was read from).

Current through: Including Acts of the 2025 Regular Session of the General Assembly.

Text read from t15-ch1-11a-(v13)-pdf.pdf, Volume V13, 2020 edition, 2025 supplement, pages 111 to 112; merge action: replaced; file SHA-256 d86fd6e4449f.