---
title: O.C.G.A. § 51-1-9. Recovery for torts to self, wife, child, ward, or servant.
collection: code
id: 51-1-9
cite_as: O.C.G.A. § 51-1-9 (2025)
canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/51-1-9
md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/51-1-9.md
text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/51-1-9/text
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=71
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: TORTS / GENERAL PROVISIONS
---

# O.C.G.A. § 51-1-9. Recovery for torts to self, wife, child, ward, or servant.

Every person may recover for torts committed to himself, his wife, his child, his ward, or his servant.

## History

Orig. Code 1863, § 2903; Code 1868, § 2909; Code 1873, § 2960; Code 1882, § 2960; Civil Code 1895, § 3816; Civil Code 1910, § 4412; Code 1933, § 105-107.

## Law Reviews

For note advocating recognition of interspousal tort actions for personal injuries during coverture, see 14 Mercer L. Rev. 434 (1963). For note, ‘‘Torts — Parental Immunity in a Modern Perspective,’’ see 4 Ga. St. B. J. 142 (1967). For note tracing the development in the United States and Australia of recovery for negligently inflicted mental distress arising from peril or injury to another, see 26 Emory L.J. 647 (1977).

For comment criticizing McDade v. West, 80 Ga. App. 481, 56 S.E.2d 299 (1949), and the former common-law rule denying the wife an action for loss of consortium, see 1 Mercer L. Rev. 316 (1950). For comment suggesting grant of right of action to wife for loss of consortium with husband, in light of McDade v. West, 80 Ga. App. 481, 56 S.E.2d 299 (1949), see 12 Ga. B. J. 330 (1950). For comment on Brown v. Georgia Tenn. Coaches, Inc., 88 Ga. App. 519, 77 S.E.2d 24 (1953), allowing wife’s recovery for loss of consortium of husband which resulted from personal injuries to him caused by defendant’s negligence, see 16 Ga. B. J. 335 (1954). For comment on Hornbuckle v. Plantation Pipe Line Co., 212 Ga. 504, 93 S.E.2d 727 (1956), recognizing child’s right of action for prenatal injuries suffered prior to viability, see 8 Mercer L. Rev. 377 (1957). For comment discussing trend toward allowance of a wrongful death action for death of an unborn child, see 1 Ga. St. B. J. 508 (1968). For comment suggesting reconsideration of Georgia’s parental immunity doctrine in light of Gibson v. Gibson, 3 Cal. 3d 909, 92 Cal. Rptr. 288, 479 P.2d 648 (1971), see 22 Mercer L. Rev. 803 (1971).