---
title: O.C.G.A. § 24-6-601. General rule of competency.
collection: code
id: 24-6-601
cite_as: O.C.G.A. § 24-6-601 (2025)
canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/24-6-601
md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/24-6-601.md
text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/24-6-601/text
source_url: https://www.legis.ga.gov/api/document/docs/default-source/joint-features-document-library/t24-ch1-7-(v20)-2023-pdf.pdf?sfvrsn=27d520aa_0#page=446
date: 2025
status: active
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publisher: Georgia Commons, an independent project of Georgia Civic Data. Not the State of Georgia. Not legal advice.
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current_through: Including Acts of the 2025 Regular Session of the General Assembly
heading_path: EVIDENCE / WITNESSES / GENERAL PROVISIONS
---

# O.C.G.A. § 24-6-601. General rule of competency.

Except as otherwise provided in this chapter, every person is competent to be a witness.

## History

Code 1981, § 24-6-601, enacted by Ga. L. 2011, p. 99, § 2/HB 24.

## Cross References

Adultery generally, § 16-6-19.

Child abandonment generally, § 19-10-1.

Testimony as to child’s description of sexual contact or physical abuse, § 24-8-820.

Competency to testify in general, Fed. R. Evid. 601.

## Law Reviews

For comment discussing the effect of mental unsoundness on the competency of witnesses, in light of O’Shea v. Jewel Tea Co., 233 F.2d 530 (9th Cir. 1956), see 19 Ga. B.J. 533 (1957).

For comment on Western & A.R.R. v. Hart, 95 Ga. App. 810, 99 S.E.2d 302 (1957), holding that the accuracy of the opinion of a 12 year old as to the speed of a train is a matter for the jury to decide and its admission into evidence was not error, see 20 Ga. B.J. 395 (1958).

For comment on Bacon v. State, 222 Ga. 151, 149 S.E.2d 111 (1966), see 18 Mercer L. Rev. 506 (1967).

For note discussing the admissibility of husband and wife’s testimony concerning nonaccess in determining the legitimacy of a child, see 6 Ga. St. B.J. 448 (1970).

For article, “The Evidence Code and Cases Instituted in Consequence of Adultery,” see 15 Ga. St. B.J. 176 (1979).

For article, “The Need for a Special Exception to the Hearsay Rule in Child Sexual Abuse Cases,” see 21 Ga. St. B.J. 50 (1984).

For article, “An Analysis of Georgia’s Proposed Rules of Evidence,” see 26 Ga. St. B.J. 173 (1990).

For note, “The Georgia Child Hearsay Statute, and the Sixth Amendment: Is There a Confrontation?,” see 10 Ga. St. U.L. Rev. 367 (1994).