---
title: O.C.G.A. § 51-3-2. Duty of owner of premises to licensee.
collection: code
id: 51-3-2
cite_as: O.C.G.A. § 51-3-2 (2025)
canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/51-3-2
md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/51-3-2.md
text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/51-3-2/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=428
date: 2025
status: active
corpus_version: 2025-supplement-89aa39ab3c68
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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 / LIABILITY OF OWNERS AND OCCUPIERS OF LAND / GENERAL PROVISIONS
---

# O.C.G.A. § 51-3-2. Duty of owner of premises to licensee.

(a) A licensee is a person who:

(1) Is neither a customer, a servant, nor a trespasser;

(2) Does not stand in any contractual relation with the owner of the premises; and

(3) Is permitted, expressly or impliedly, to go on the premises merely for his own interests, convenience, or gratification.

(b) The owner of the premises is liable to a licensee only for willful or wanton injury.

## History

Code 1933, § 105-402.

## Law Reviews

For article discussing origin and construction of Georgia provision concerning duty of landowner to licensees, see 14 Ga. L. Rev. 239 (1980). For article, ‘‘Changes in Liability Standards for Owners and Occupiers,’’ see 20 Ga. St. B. J. 41 (1983). For annual survey of tort law, see 57 Mercer L. Rev. 363 (2005). For survey article on tort law, see 60 Mercer L. Rev. 375 (2008).

For note discussing Georgia’s approach to social guests injured on the land of another, and advocating elevation of the expressly invited social guest to the status of invitee, see 6 Ga. St. B. J. 130 (1969).

For comment advocating revision of this section to distinguish between injuries caused by condition of the premises and those caused by landowner’s affirmative acts, in light of Potts v. Amis, 62 Wash. 777, 384 P.2d 825 (1963), see 15 Mercer L. Rev. 523 (1964). For comment discussing motel owner’s duty of care to infants, in light of Waugh v. Duke Corp., 248 F. Supp. 626 (M.D.N.C. 1966), see 18 Mercer L. Rev. 480 (1967). For comment on Nesmith v. Starr, 115 Ga. App. 473, 155 S.E.2d 24 (1967), see 4 Ga. St. B. J. 518 (1968). For comment on Rowland v. Christian, 69 Cal. 2d 108, 70 Cal. Rep. 97, 443 P.2d 561, 32 A.L.R.3d 496 (1968), applying a reasonable man test to the host in a personal injury suit brought by a social guest, rather than classifying plaintiff’s status, see 20 Mercer L. Rev. 338 (1969). For comment on Ryckeley v. Georgia Power Co., 122 Ga. App. 107, 176 S.E.2d 493 (1970), see 23 Mercer L. Rev. 431 (1972). For comment, ‘‘A New Beginning for the Attractive Nuisance Doctrine in Georgia,’’ see 34 Mercer L. Rev. 433 (1982).

## History of Code Section.

The language of this Code section is derived in part from the decision in Petree v. Davison-Paxon-Stokes Co., 30 Ga. App. 490, 118 S.E. 697 (1923).