---
title: O.C.G.A. § 51-1-5. Meaning of ‘‘due care’’ in reference to child of tender years.
collection: code
id: 51-1-5
cite_as: O.C.G.A. § 51-1-5 (2025)
canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/51-1-5
md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/51-1-5.md
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source_url: https://www.legis.ga.gov/api/document/docs/default-source/joint-features-document-library/t51-(v39)-2017-pdf.pdf?sfvrsn=6b891965_0#page=39
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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current_through: Including Acts of the 2025 Regular Session of the General Assembly
heading_path: TORTS / GENERAL PROVISIONS
---

# O.C.G.A. § 51-1-5. Meaning of ‘‘due care’’ in reference to child of tender years.

The term ‘‘due care,’’ when used in reference to a child of tender years, is such care as the child’s mental and physical capacities enable him to exercise in the actual circumstances of the occasion and situation under investigation.

## History

Civil Code 1895, § 2901; Civil Code 1910, § 3474; Code 1933, § 105-204.

## Law Reviews

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

For comment criticizing Powell v. Hartford Accident & Indem. Co., 217 Tenn. 503, 398 S.W.2d 727 (1966), and advocating subjective determination by jury of minor’s capacity to exercise due care on the highway, see 18 Mercer L. Rev. 518 (1967). For comment criticizing Hatch v. O’Neill, 231 Ga. 446, 202 S.E.2d 44 (1973), holding individual under age of criminal responsibility not civilly liable for willful torts, see 26 Mercer L. Rev. 367 (1974).

## History of Code Section.

The language of this Code section is derived in part from the decision in Western & A.R.R. v. Young, 83 Ga. 512, 10 S.E. 197 (1889).