---
title: O.C.G.A. § 44-9-3. Right of lateral support from adjoining land; right to make excavations up to boundary line; notice to adjoining landowner; standard of care.
collection: code
id: 44-9-3
cite_as: O.C.G.A. § 44-9-3 (2025)
canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/44-9-3
md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/44-9-3.md
text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/44-9-3/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=57
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. § 44-9-3. Right of lateral support from adjoining land; right to make excavations up to boundary line; notice to adjoining landowner; standard of care.

(a) Owners of adjoining lands owe to each other the lateral support of the soil of each to that of the other in its natural state. If they derive title from a common grantor, the lateral support shall include the weight of walls and other burdens that may be on it. If, at the time of the sale by such common grantor, there are buildings adjoining each other, the right shall extend to the lateral support which each adjacent wall gives to the other.

(b) On giving reasonable notice of his intention to the adjoining landowner, the owner of land has the right to make proper and needful excavations up to the boundary line for purposes of construction, provided that he uses ordinary care and takes reasonable precautions to sustain the land of the other.

## History

Civil Code 1895, §§ 3047, 3048; Civil Code 1910, §§ 3619, 3620; Code 1933, §§ 85-1202, 85-1203.

## Law Reviews

For comment on Levison v. Goode, 164 Ga. 361, 138 S.E. 583 (1927), see 1 Ga. L. Rev. No. 2, p. 47 (1927).

## History of Section.

This Code section is derived from the decisions in Montgomery v. Trustees of Masonic Hall, 70 Ga. 38 (1883) and Harrison v. Kiser, 79 Ga. 588, 4 S.E. 320 (1887).