---
title: Ga. Const. Art. I, Sec. I, Para. XX. Conviction, effect of.
collection: code
id: ga-const:art-i-sec-i-para-xx
cite_as: Ga. Const. Art. I, Sec. I, Para. XX
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date: 2016
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---

# Ga. Const. Art. I, Sec. I, Para. XX. Conviction, effect of.

A constitution provision shown as in force is in force as printed in the volume. A court decision can make a printed provision unenforceable without changing the volume, and the volume does not record that.

No conviction shall work corruption of blood or forfeiture of estate.

## Cross References

Treason and punishment for treason, U.S. Const., art. III, sec. III, cl. 2 and § 44-5-210.

## Law Reviews

For article on whether one’s property is forfeited after a conviction based on a nolo contendere plea, see 13 Ga. L. Rev. 723 (1979).

For note, ‘‘Vesting Title in a Murderer: Where is the Equity in the Georgia Supreme Court’s Interpretation of the Slayer Statute in Levenson?,’’ see 45 Ga. L. Rev. 877 (2011).

## 1976 Constitution.

Art. I, Sec. I, Para. XVII.

## This Guaranty Imposes No Restricby Murdering Wife.

The fact that an heir kills the person from whom the heir expects to inherit will not change the application of the statutes of descent. Hagan v. Cone, 21 Ga. App. 416, 94 S.E. 602 (1917).

When wife dies without issue, husband is her sole heir and his right of inheritance is not forfeited by reason of having murdered her. Crumley v. Hall, 202 Ga. 588, 43 S.E.2d 646 (1947).

Confiscation of bribe money not

## Prohibited Forfeiture.

When trial court, in bribery case, ordered confiscation of bribe money and ruled that the money might be used toward payment of a fine assessed in the case, and if the bribe money did not exceed the maximum fine under former Code 1933, § 26-2301 (see now O.C.G.A. § 16-10-2), the confiscation was not tantamount to a forfeiture prohibited under former Code 1933, § 85-1109 (see now O.C.G.A. § 44-5-210) and this paragraph. Hall v. State, 155 Ga. App. 724, 272 S.E.2d 578 (1980).

## Statute Was Not Unconstitutional.

— Former § 2500 of the Civil Code 1910 (now repealed, but see now O.C.G.A. § 33-25-5), which provided that ‘‘death by suicide, or by the hands of justice, either punitive or preventive, releases the insurer from the obligation of his contract,’’ is not unconstitutional as being in conflict with this paragraph and the similar provision of U.S. Const., art. III, sec. III, cl. 1, providing that no conviction ‘‘shall work corruption of blood, or forfeiture’’ of estate. Adams v. Sovereign Camp, Woodmen of the World, 176 Ga. 6, 167 S.E. 604 (1932).

Cited in Caldwell v. Hill, 179 Ga. 417, 176 S.E. 381 (1934); Moore v. Moore, 225 Ga. 340, 168 S.E.2d 318 (1969); Moore v. Moore, 231 Ga. 232, 201 S.E.2d 133 (1973).

## Forfeiture of Public Retirement System Rights.

The General Assembly has the authority to enact a statute which proposes the forfeiture of earned retirement benefits of future public employees due to the conviction of a crime; however, an amendment to the Georgia Constitution proposing such a forfeiture by employees who are currently by law vested with rights under the public retirement system would, in all probability, be unconstitutional under the federal Impairment Clause contained in U.S. Const., art. I, sec. X. 1985 Op. Att’y Gen. No. U85-3.

## Alr.

Revocability of power or agency to collect interest in estate, 7 ALR 947.

Civil effects of sentence to life imprisonment, 139 ALR 1308.