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Constitution of the State of Georgia

Article VI. JUDICIAL BRANCH · Article VI. JUDICIAL BRANCH · Section VII. SELECTION, TERM, COMPENSATION, AND DISCIPLINE OF JUDGES

Art. VI, Sec. VII, Para. II. Qualifications.

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Current through: Including Acts of the 2025 Regular Session of the General Assembly.

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.

  1. (a)

    Appellate, superior, and state-wide business court judges shall have been admitted to practice law for seven years.#

  2. (b)

    State court judges shall have been admitted to practice law for seven years, provided that this requirement shall be five years in the case of state court judges elected or appointed in the year 2000 or earlier. Juvenile court judges shall have been admitted to practice law for five years.#

  3. (b.1)

    State-wide business court judges shall have such qualifications as provided by law.#

  4. (b.2)

    Georgia Tax Court judges shall have such qualifications as provided by law.#

  5. (c)

    Probate and magistrate judges shall have such qualifications as provided by law.#

  6. (d)

    All judges shall reside in the geographical area in which they are selected to serve.#

  7. (e)

    The General Assembly may provide by law for additional qualifications, including, but not limited to, minimum residency requirements.#

The notes below are printed with the section but are not enacted law (O.C.G.A. § 1-1-1(c)). They are shown apart from the text.

History

Ga. Const. 1983, Art. 6, § 7, Para. 2; Ga. L. 2000, p. 2002, § 1/HR 268; Ga. L. 2018, p. 1130, § 1/HR 993; Ga. L. 2024, p. 1189, § 6/HR 598.

Editor's notes

The constitutional amendment (Ga. L. 2018, p. 1130, § 1/HR 993), which substituted “Appellate, superior, and state-wide business court” for “Appellate and superior court” in subparagraph (a), and added subparagraph (b.1) to read: “State-wide business court judges shall have such qualifications as provided by law.”, was ratified at the general election held on November 6, 2018. The constitutional amendment (Ga. L. 2024, p. 1189, § 6/HR 598), which added subparagraph (b.2), was ratified at the general election held November 5, 2024.

Law reviews

For annual survey on trial practice and procedure, see 70 Mercer L. Rev. 253 (2018).

Read the official page (the state's PDF, opened at the page this text was read from).

Current through: Including Acts of the 2025 Regular Session of the General Assembly.

Text read from 2ga-const-(v2)-pdf.pdf, Volume V2, 2016 edition, 2025 supplement, page 101; merge action: replaced; file SHA-256 6dc4b5d1cb11.