---
title: O.C.G.A. § 44-9-1. Methods of acquiring private ways.
collection: code
id: 44-9-1
cite_as: O.C.G.A. § 44-9-1 (2025)
canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/44-9-1
md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/44-9-1.md
text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/44-9-1/text
source_url: https://www.legis.ga.gov/api/document/docs/default-source/joint-features-document-library/t44-ch8-15-(v32)-2022-pdf.pdf?sfvrsn=9e9e06de_0#page=45
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: PROPERTY / EASEMENTS / IN GENERAL
---

# O.C.G.A. § 44-9-1. Methods of acquiring private ways.

The right of private way over another’s land may arise from an express grant, from prescription by seven years’ uninterrupted use through improved lands or by 20 years’ use through wild lands, by implication of law when the right is necessary to the enjoyment of lands granted by the same owner, or by compulsory purchase and sale through the superior court in the manner prescribed by Article 3 of this chapter.

## History

Orig. Code 1863, § 2214; Code 1868, § 2209; Code 1873, § 2235; Code 1882, § 2235; Civil Code 1895, § 3065; Civil Code 1910, § 3641; Code 1933, § 85-1401; Ga. L. 1982, p. 3, § 44.

## Cross References

Acquisition and loss of title to land through adverse possession generally, § 44-5-160 et seq.

## Law Reviews

For note distinguishing easement from conditional limitation, see 10 Ga. B.J. 335 (1948).

For article, “Some Aspects of the Law of Easements,” see 9 Ga. St. B.J. 287 (1973).

For annual survey of real property law, see 56 Mercer L. Rev. 395 (2004).

For annual survey of zoning and land use law, see 58 Mercer L. Rev. 477 (2006).

For annual survey of real property law, see 68 Mercer L. Rev. 231 (2016).

For annual survey on real property law, see 70 Mercer L. Rev. 209 (2018).