---
title: O.C.G.A. § 16-6-18. Fornication.
collection: code
id: 16-6-18
cite_as: O.C.G.A. § 16-6-18 (2025)
canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/16-6-18
md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/16-6-18.md
text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/16-6-18/text
source_url: https://www.legis.ga.gov/api/document/docs/default-source/joint-features-document-library/t16-ch1-6-(v14)-2019-pdf.pdf?sfvrsn=af47a366_0#page=1255
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/16-6.md
previous: https://georgiacommons.org/code/16-6-17.md
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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: CRIMES AND OFFENSES / SEXUAL OFFENSES
---

# O.C.G.A. § 16-6-18. Fornication.

An unmarried person commits the offense of fornication when he voluntarily has sexual intercourse with another person and, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished as for a misdemeanor.

## History

Laws 1833, Cobb’s 1851 Digest, pp. 814, 815; Code 1863, § 4419; Ga. L. 1865-66, p. 233, § 2; Code 1868, § 4460; Code 1873, § 4534, Code 1882, § 4534; Penal Code 1895, § 381; Penal Code 1910, § 372; Code 1933, § 26-5801; Code 1933, § 26-2010, enacted by Ga. L. 1968, p. 1249, § 1.

## Law Reviews

For article, ‘‘Shotgun Marriage by Operation of Law,’’ see 1 Ga. L. Rev. 183 (1967). For article, ‘‘Misdemeanor Sentencing in Georgia,’’ see 7 Ga. St. B. J. 8 (2001). For annual survey of law of wills, trusts, guardianships, and fiduciary administration, see 56 Mercer L. Rev. 457 (2004).

For note, ‘‘Sharpening the Prongs of the Establishment Clause: Applying Stricter Scrutiny to Majority Religions,’’ see 23 Ga. L. Rev. 1085 (1989).

For comment on Rehak v. Mathis, 239 Ga. 541, 238 S.E.2d 81 (1977), see 12 Ga. L. Rev. 361 (1978).