---
title: O.C.G.A. § 46-8-291. Consent and contributory negligence as defenses; comparative negligence as affecting amount of recovery.
collection: code
id: 46-8-291
cite_as: O.C.G.A. § 46-8-291 (2025)
canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/46-8-291
md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/46-8-291.md
text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/46-8-291/text
source_url: https://www.legis.ga.gov/api/document/docs/default-source/joint-features-document-library/t46-(v34)-2025-pdf.pdf?sfvrsn=48adb3c4_0#page=739
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 Session of the General Assembly of Georgia
heading_path: PUBLIC UTILITIES AND PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION / RAILROAD COMPANIES / LIABILITY OF COMPANIES FOR DAMAGES GENERALLY
---

# O.C.G.A. § 46-8-291. Consent and contributory negligence as defenses; comparative negligence as affecting amount of recovery.

No person shall recover damages from a railroad company for injury to himself or his property where the same is done by his consent or is caused by his own negligence, provided that, if the complainant and the agents of the company are both at fault, the former may recover, but the damages shall be diminished by the jury in proportion to the amount of fault attributable to him.

## History

Orig. Code 1863, § 2979; Code 1868, § 2980; Code 1873, § 3034; Code 1882, § 3034; Civil Code 1895, § 2322; Civil Code 1910, § 2781; Code 1933, § 94-703; Ga. L. 2025, p. 1029, § 46(59)/SB 153, effective July 1, 2025.

## Law Reviews

For comment on Aycock v. Callaway, 78 Ga. App. 219, 51 S.E.2d 53 (1948), see 11 Ga. B.J. 495 (1949).

For article discussing defenses to action for wrongful death in Georgia, see 22 Ga. B.J. 459 (1960).

For comment discussing Georgia’s comparative negligence laws in light of Maki v. Frelk, 85 Ill. App. 2d 439, 229 N.E.2d 284 (1967), see 19 Mercer L. Rev. 486 (1968).

For note, “Plaintiff’s Last Clear Chance and Comparative Negligence in Georgia,” see 6 Ga. St. B. J. 47 (1969).

For article, “Reappraising the Jury’s Role as Finder of Fact,” see 20 Ga. L. Rev. 123 (1985).

## Amendments

The 2025 amendment, effective July 1, 2025, part of an Act to revise, modernize, and correct the Code, inserted a comma following “provided that”.