---
title: O.C.G.A. § 51-7-21. Effect of good faith on liability for imprisonment under warrant.
collection: code
id: 51-7-21
cite_as: O.C.G.A. § 51-7-21 (2025)
canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/51-7-21
md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/51-7-21.md
text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/51-7-21/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=667
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 / FALSE ARREST, FALSE IMPRISONMENT, MALICIOUS PROSECUTION, AND ABUSIVE LITIGATION / FALSE IMPRISONMENT
---

# O.C.G.A. § 51-7-21. Effect of good faith on liability for imprisonment under warrant.

If imprisonment is by virtue of a warrant, neither the party who procured the warrant in good faith nor the officer who executed the warrant in good faith shall be liable for false imprisonment even if the warrant is defective in form or is void for lack of jurisdiction. In such cases, good faith must be determined from the circumstances. A judicial officer issuing a warrant in good faith shall not be liable for false imprisonment, provided that, when he has no jurisdiction, there shall be a presumption against such officer’s good faith.

## History

Orig. Code 1863, § 2933; Code 1868, § 2940; Code 1873, § 2991; Code 1882, § 2991; Civil Code 1895, § 3852; Civil Code 1910, § 4448; Code 1933, § 105-902.

## Law Reviews

For article, ‘‘Georgia Local Government Officers: Rights for Their Wrongs,’’ see 13 Ga. L. Rev. 747 (1979).