---
title: O.C.G.A. § 9-4-7. Only parties affected; when municipality made party; when Attorney General served and heard.
collection: code
id: 9-4-7
cite_as: O.C.G.A. § 9-4-7 (2025)
canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/9-4-7
md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/9-4-7.md
text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/9-4-7/text
source_url: https://www.legis.ga.gov/api/document/docs/default-source/joint-features-document-library/t9-ch1-10-(v6)-2023-pdf.pdf?sfvrsn=f3cabc45_0#page=450
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
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current_through: Including Acts of the 2025 Regular Session of the General Assembly
heading_path: CIVIL PRACTICE / DECLARATORY JUDGMENTS
---

# O.C.G.A. § 9-4-7. Only parties affected; when municipality made party; when Attorney General served and heard.

(a) No declaration shall prejudice the rights of persons not parties to the proceeding.

(b) In any proceeding involving the validity of a municipal ordinance or franchise, the municipality shall be made a party and shall be entitled to be heard as a party.

(c) If an Act of the General Assembly, a statute of the state, any order or regulation of any administrative body of the state, or any franchise granted by the state is alleged in an action for declaratory judgment or as a part of any other action to be unconstitutional or otherwise invalid, the Attorney General of the state shall be served with a copy of the proceeding and shall be entitled to be heard in defense of said Act, statute, order, regulation, or franchise, which may include appearing as a party as of right as he or she determines is appropriate.

## History

Ga. L. 1945, p. 137, § 6; Ga. L. 2022, p. 13, § 1/HB 1361.

The 2022 amendment, effective March 4, 2022, substituted the present provisions of subsection (c) for the former provisions, which read: “If a statute of the state, any order or regulation of any administrative body of the state, or any franchise granted by the state is alleged to be unconstitutional, the Attorney General of the state shall be served with a copy of the proceeding and shall be entitled to be heard.”.

## Editor's Notes

Ga. L. 2022, p. 13, § 2/HB 1361, not codified by the General Assembly, provides, in part, that the amendment to subsection (c) shall apply to all proceedings filed on and after the effective date. This Act became effective March 4, 2022.