---
title: O.C.G.A. § 44-11-31. Sheriff and other peace officers competent to administer oath to person in possession.
collection: code
id: 44-11-31
cite_as: O.C.G.A. § 44-11-31 (2025)
canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/44-11-31
md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/44-11-31.md
text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/44-11-31/text
source_url: https://www.legis.ga.gov/api/document/docs/default-source/joint-features-document-library/t44-ch8-17-(v32)-pdf.pdf?sfvrsn=a600a9b5_0#page=16
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/44-11.md
previous: https://georgiacommons.org/code/44-11-30.md
next: https://georgiacommons.org/code/44-11-32.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: PROPERTY / EJECTMENT AND PROCEEDINGS AGAINST INTRUDERS / PROCEEDINGS AGAINST INTRUDERS
---

# O.C.G.A. § 44-11-31. Sheriff and other peace officers competent to administer oath to person in possession.

The sheriff, deputy sheriff, constable, marshal, or other individual certified by the Georgia Peace Officer Standards and Training Council shall be a competent officer to administer the oath to the person in possession if he desires to tender the counteraffidavit provided for in Code Section 44-11-30.

## History

Ga. L. 1853-54, p. 52, § 2; Code 1863, § 3980; Code 1868, § 4001; Code 1873, § 4073; Code 1882, § 4073; Civil Code 1895, § 4809; Civil Code 1910, § 5381; Code 1933, § 105-1502; Ga. L. 2024, p. 400, § 5/HB 1017, effective April 24, 2024; Ga. L. 2025, p. 1029, § 44(8)/SB 153, effective July 1, 2025.

## Editor's Notes

Ga. L. 2024, p. 400, § 1/HB 1017, not codified by the General Assembly, provides: “This Act shall be known and may be cited as the ‘Georgia Squatter Reform Act.’”

Ga. L. 2025, p. 1029, § 44(8)/SB 153, which amended this Code section, purported to amend Code Section 43-11-31 but actually amended Code Section 44-11-31.

## Amendments

The 2024 amendment, effective April 24, 2024, inserted “, sheriff deputy, constable, marshal, or other individual certified by the Georgia Peace Officer Standards and Training Council” in this Code section.

The 2025 amendment, effective July 1, 2025, part of an Act to revise, modernize, and correct the Code, substituted “deputy sheriff,” for “sheriff deputy,”.