---
title: O.C.G.A. § 9-14-40. Legislative intent.
collection: code
id: 9-14-40
cite_as: O.C.G.A. § 9-14-40 (2025)
canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/9-14-40
md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/9-14-40.md
text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/9-14-40/text
source_url: https://archive.org/download/gov.ga.ocga.2024/T09%20Ch12-16%20%28V7A%29%202015.pdf#page=352
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: CIVIL PRACTICE / HABEAS CORPUS / PROCEDURE FOR PERSONS UNDER SENTENCE OF STATE COURT OF RECORD
---

# O.C.G.A. § 9-14-40. Legislative intent.

(a) The General Assembly finds that:

(1) Expansion of the scope of habeas corpus in federal court by decisions of the United States Supreme Court together with other decisions of the court substantially curtailing the doctrine of waiver of constitutional rights by an accused and limiting the requirement of exhaustion of state remedies to those currently available have resulted in an increasingly large number of convictions of the courts of this state being collaterally attacked by federal habeas corpus based upon issues and contentions not previously presented to or passed upon by courts of this state;

(2) The increased reliance upon federal courts tends to weaken state courts as instruments for the vindication of constitutional rights with a resultant deterioration of the federal system and federal-state relations; and

(3) To alleviate such problems, it is necessary that the scope of state habeas corpus be expanded and the state doctrine of waiver of rights be modified.

(b) The General Assembly further finds that expansion of state habeas corpus to include many sharply contested issues of a factual nature requires that only the superior courts have jurisdiction of such cases.

## History

Ga. L. 1967, p. 835, § 1.

## Law Reviews

For note, ‘‘Seen But Not Heard: An Argument for Granting Evidentiary Hearings to Weigh the Credibility of Recanted Testimony,’’ see 46 Ga. L. Rev. 213 (2011).