51-2-7. Liability of owner or keeper of vicious or dangerous animal for injuries caused by animal.

Active

Current through: Including Acts of the 2025 Regular Session of the General Assembly.

A person who owns or keeps a vicious or dangerous animal of any kind and who, by careless management or by allowing the animal to go at liberty, causes injury to another person who does not provoke the injury by his own act may be liable in damages to the person so injured. In proving vicious propensity, it shall be sufficient to show that the animal was required to be at heel or on a leash by an ordinance of a city, county, or consolidated government, and the said animal was at the time of the occurrence not at heel or on a leash. The foregoing sentence shall not apply to domesticated fowl including roosters with spurs. The foregoing sentence shall not apply to domesticated livestock.

The notes below are printed with the section but are not enacted law (O.C.G.A. § 1-1-1(c)). They are shown apart from the text.

History

Orig. Code 1863, § 2907; Code 1868, § 2913; Code 1873, § 2964; Code 1882, § 2964; Civil Code 1895, § 3821; Civil Code 1910, § 4417; Code 1933, § 105-110; Ga. L. 1985, p. 1033, § 1.

Cross references

Vicious dogs, T. 4, C. 8, Art. 3. Care and confinement of wild animals, T. 27, C. 5.

Law reviews

For annual survey article on tort law, see 52 Mercer L. Rev. 421 (2000). For survey article on law of torts, see 59 Mercer L. Rev. 397 (2007). For annual survey on law of torts, see 61 Mercer L. Rev. 335 (2009). For annual survey of tort law, see 68 Mercer L. Rev. 279 (2016). For note, ‘‘Is There (and Should There Be) Any ‘Bite’ Left in Georgia’s ‘First Bite’ Rule?,’’ see 34 Ga. L. Rev. 1343 (2000).

Other notes

History of Code section.: The language of this Code section is derived in part from the decision in Conway v. Grant, 88 Ga. 40, 13 S.E. 803 (1891).

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Current through: Including Acts of the 2025 Regular Session of the General Assembly.

Text read from t51-(v39)-2017-pdf.pdf, Volume V39, 2017 edition, page 330; merge action: annotated; file SHA-256 bc30a40687b2.

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