O.C.G.A. § 10-6-20 (2019)
Rights under agency for illegal purpose
No rights shall arise to either party out of an agency created for an illegal purpose.
History
Orig. Code 1863, § 2169; Code 1868, § 2165; Code 1873, § 2191; Code 1882,
§ 2191; Civil Code 1895, § 3018; Civil Code 1910, § 3590; Code 1933, § 4-201.
Annotations
JUDICIAL DECISIONS Scope of agent’s power. - There is conferred upon agent no greater power than that possessed by the principal. Tippins v. Cobb County Parking Auth., 213 Ga. 685, 100 S.E.2d 893, 1957 Ga. LEXIS 487 (1957). There was no merit to a homeowner’s argument that a restrictive covenant barring “For Sale” signs in a subdivision did
not apply to the homeowner’s real estate agent; under O.C.G.A. §§ 10-6-20 and 10-6-25, an agent could do no more than a principal. Godley Park Homeowners Ass’n v. Bowen, 286 Ga. App. 21, 649 S.E.2d 308, 2007 Ga. App. LEXIS 677 (2007). Principal may recover future money deposited with agent for speculation, as the action is not one to
enforce an illegal contract, but to recover money in the hands of an agent belonging to the principal. Clark, Harrison & Co. v.
Brown, 77 Ga. 606, 1886 Ga. LEXIS 374 (1886).
RESEARCH REFERENCES Am. Jur. 2d. 3 Am. Jur. 2d, Agency, § 202. ALR. Right to recover against employee or his bond for money or property, the fruits of an employment involving a violation of law, 2 A.L.R. 906. Right to recover money which the plain-
tiff placed in the hands of an agent, to be used for gambling purposes, 3 A.L.R. 1635. Illegality of transaction or proposed transaction as affecting right of real estate broker to commission for promoting it, 85 A.L.R. 274.