--- title: Ga. Const. Art. I, Sec. I, Para. XXII. Involuntary servitude. collection: code id: ga-const:art-i-sec-i-para-xxii cite_as: Ga. Const. Art. I, Sec. I, Para. XXII canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/constitution/ga/art-i-sec-i-para-xxii md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/constitution/ga/art-i-sec-i-para-xxii.md text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/constitution/ga/art-i-sec-i-para-xxii/text source_url: https://www.legis.ga.gov/api/document/docs/default-source/joint-features-document-library/2ga-const-(v2)-2016-pdf.pdf?sfvrsn=f5de823e_0#page=656 date: 2016 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. up: https://georgiacommons.org/constitution/ga/index.md previous: https://georgiacommons.org/constitution/ga/art-i-sec-i-para-xxi.md next: https://georgiacommons.org/constitution/ga/art-i-sec-i-para-xxiii.md index: https://georgiacommons.org/code/index.md version: the only printed version in_force: true current_through: Including Acts of the 2025 Regular Session of the General Assembly heading_path: CONSTITUTION OF THE / BILL OF RIGHTS / RIGHTS OF PERSONS --- # Ga. Const. Art. I, Sec. I, Para. XXII. Involuntary servitude. 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. There shall be no involuntary servitude within the State of Georgia except as a punishment for crime after legal conviction thereof or for contempt of court. ## Cross References Slavery prohibited, U.S. Const., amend. 13. ## 1976 Constitution. Art. I, Sec. I, Para. XIX. ## Labor by Contract Is Not Prohibited. Potts v. Riddle, 5 Ga. App. 378, 63 S.E. 253 (1908). ## Ballplayers. A ballplayer may be released from one club to another. Augusta Baseball Ass’n v. Thomasville Baseball Club, 147 Ga. 201, 93 S.E. 208, 1917F L.R.A. 841 (1917). Labor under municipal control as ## Punishment Not Violative of Paragraph. To punish an offender charged with the violation of a valid municipal ordinance by confining the offender at labor under municipal control is not obnoxious to this paragraph. Pearson v. Wimbish, 124 Ga. 701, 52 S.E. 751, 4 Ann. Cas. 501 (1906). ‘‘Crime’’ construed. Pearson v. Wimbish, 124 Ga. 701, 52 S.E. 751, 4 Ann. Cas. 501 (1906); Williams v. City of Hazelhurst, 11 Ga. App. 194, 74 S.E. 1039 (1912). untary servitude. Brown v. State Merit Sys. of Personnel Admin., 245 Ga. 239, 264 S.E.2d 186 (1980). Statute does not create involuntary ## Involuntary Demotions Do Not Conflict with Prohibition Against Involservitude. The legislative purpose of former Code 1933, § 26-1808 (see now O.C.G.A. § 16-8-4) was to punish for the fraudulent conversion, and not for a failure to comply with a contractual obligation. It follows that former Code 1933, § 26-1808 was not unconstitutional for violating due process, creating involuntary servitude, or imprisoning for debt. Smith v. State, 229 Ga. 727, 194 S.E.2d 82 (1972). Involuntary servitude not criminal ## Defense. Involuntary servitude is a constitutional violation, as well as a criminal offense, but is not a criminal defense; therefore, the trial court did not err in failing to give the defendant’s requested charges on involuntary servitude in a prosecution for selling and trafficking in cocaine in which the defendant alleged that the defendant had been illegally procured as an agent to work for the state involuntarily in connection with drug transactions. Satterfield v. State, 248 Ga. App. 479, 546 S.E.2d 859 (2001). Cited in King v. State, 174 Ga. 432, 163 S.E. 168 (1932); Garner v. Wood, 188 Ga. 463, 4 S.E.2d 137 (1939). ## Am. Jur. 2d. 45 Am. Jur. 2d, Involuntary Servitude and Peonage, § 1 et seq. ## C.j.s. 16A C.J.S., Constitutional Law, § 798 et seq. ## Alr. Injunction against strike as violating constitutional provision against involuntary servitude, 46 ALR 1541. Court appointment of attorney to represent, without compensation, indigent in civil action, 52 ALR4th 1063.