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2018 Georgia Code 42-5-31 | Car Wreck Lawyer

Link to State of Georgia Official Statute 2018 Georgia Code Annotated (sourced from legal.resource.org)
O.C.G.A. 42-5-31 Case Law from Google Scholar Amendments to OCGA 42-5-31

TITLE 42 PENAL INSTITUTIONS

Section 5. Correctional Institutions of State and Counties, 42-5-1 through 42-5-125.

ARTICLE 2 WARDENS, SUPERINTENDENTS, AND OTHER PERSONNEL

42-5-31. Oath of office of wardens and superintendents, their deputies, and other correctional officers.

Before entering upon the duties of their office, wardens and superintendents, their deputies, and other correctional officers or employees shall take and subscribe, before some officer authorized to administer oaths, the following oath:

"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitutions of the United States of America and the State of Georgia and that I will faithfully perform and discharge the duties of my office conscientiously and without malice or partiality, to the best of my ability. So help me God."

(Penal Code 1910, § 1197; Code 1933, § 77-311; Ga. L. 1968, p. 1155, § 1; Ga. L. 1984, p. 639, § 2.)

JUDICIAL DECISIONS

Liability for acts committed by convicts.

- Warden of a public works camp (now county correctional institution) will not be held liable for torts of convicts on mere averment that the warden was negligent "in permitting said convicts to roam the roads of county and state in a truck, without any guard," whereby injuries resulted from a collision of the truck with the plaintiff's car, as it was discretionary with the warden to determine how and in what manner convicts employed outside confines of the camp (now county correctional institution) doing work in connection with the operation should be allowed to go at large, and wardens acting in a discretionary capacity will not be liable unless guilty of willfulness, fraud, malice, or corruption, or unless they knowingly act wrongfully, and not according to their honest convictions of duty. Price v. Owen, 67 Ga. App. 58, 19 S.E.2d 529 (1942) (decided under former Code 1933, §§ 77-307, 77-311, and 77-313).

Cited in Cleveland v. State, 260 Ga. 770, 399 S.E.2d 472 (1991); Bradley v. State, 292 Ga. App. 737, 665 S.E.2d 428 (2008).

RESEARCH REFERENCES

C.J.S.

- 67 C.J.S., Oaths and Affirmations, §§ 4, 6, 7.

ALR.

- Liability of prison authorities for injury to prisoner directly caused by assault by other prisoner, 41 A.L.R.3d 1021.

Cases Citing O.C.G.A. § 42-5-31

Total Results: 2  |  Sort by: Relevance  |  Newest First

State v. Phillips (Ga. 2025).

Published | Supreme Court of Georgia | Dec 9, 2025

...; Bradley, 292 Ga. App. at 740–41 (upholding conviction where the oath taken by defendant, a correctional officer, was prescribed by law where the oath almost exactly tracked the language of the oath for correctional officers set forth in OCGA § 42-5-31); Jowers, 225 Ga....
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Cleveland v. State, 260 Ga. 770 (Ga. 1991).

Published | Supreme Court of Georgia | Jan 10, 1991 | 399 S.E.2d 472

...failing to remit these sums which he was aware were due the county. Jackson v. Virginia, supra. 3. Likewise, the evidence was sufficient under Jackson v. Virginia to support Cleveland’s conviction for violation of his oath of public office. OCGA § 42-5-31. 4....