O.C.G.A.

O.C.G.A. § 45-15-35 (2019)

Power of Governor to direct institution of proceedings and litigation by department

✓ O.C.G.A. — 2019 edition (Public.Resource.Org Release 73)

Code text and O.C.G.A. statutory annotations on this page reflect the 2019 Official Code of Georgia Annotated (Public.Resource.Org Release 73, 2019-08-21; public domain per Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). The Syfert case-law annotations in Notes of Decisions, below, are current.

Find cases: SyfertCases citing this section GA-LEGlegis.ga.gov (official) JustiaJustia CornellLII Search CasesGoogle Scholar

The Governor shall have the power to direct the Department of Law, through the Attorney General as head thereof, to institute and prosecute in the name of the state such matters, proceedings, and litigations as he shall deem to be in the best interest of the people of the state.

History

(Ga. L. 1931, p. 7, § 92; Code 1933, § 40-1610.)

Annotations

Cross references. - Duty of Governor to provide for defense of actions against state or other actions involving claim inconsistent with state’s sovereignty, jurisdiction, or rights, § 45-12-26.

Law reviews. - For note, ‘‘Perdue v. Baker: Who Has the Ultimate Power over Litigation on Behalf of the State of Georgia - the Governor or the Attorney General?,’’ see 21 Ga. St. U.L. Rev. 751 (2005).

JUDICIAL DECISIONS Litigation over legislative reapportionment. - As neither the Governor nor the Attorney General of Georgia had the exclusive power to decide the state’s interest in litigation, the trial court properly refused the Governor’s request to compel the Attorney General to dismiss an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court filed on behalf

of Georgia in a case involving legislative reapportionment under the Voting Rights Ac, 42 U.S.C. § 1973t. Perdue v. Baker, 277 Ga. 1, 586 S.E.2d 606 (2003). An individual cannot sue personally for the use and benefit of the state. Alexander v. Citizens & S. Nat’l Bank, 212 Ga. 295, 92 S.E.2d 16 (1956).

PUBLIC OFFICERS & EMPLOYEES

OPINIONS OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL Action to enjoin nuisance. - This section is sufficient to authorize the Governor to authorize the Law Department

through the Attorney General to file a suit to restrain a public nuisance. 1968 Op. Att’y Gen. No. 68-442.

RESEARCH REFERENCES Am. Jur. 2d. - 7 Am. Jur. 2d, Attorney General, §§ 1, 9, 10.

C.J.S. - 7A C.J.S., Attorney General, §§ 4, 37.

Notes of Decisions

Cited in 4 cases (1 in the last 5 years), 1985–2021 · leading case: Perdue v. Baker, 586 S.E.2d 606 (Ga. 2003).

Sort: Relevance Newest Treatment

Perdue v. Baker, 586 S.E.2d 606 (Ga. 2003). · cites it 24× “" [40] In addition, OCGA § 45-15-35 vests the Governor with the power to direct the Department of Law to institute and prosecute litigation in the name of the State.”

Georgia Latino All. for Human Rights v. Deal, 793 F. Supp. 2d 1317 (N.D. Ga. 2011). · cites it 2× “) Further, under the Georgia Constitution, the Governor must “take care that the laws are faithfully executed and shall be the conservator of the peace.”

Brown v. State, 339 S.E.2d 332 (Ga. Ct. App. 1985). · cites it 2× “” OCGA § 45-15-35. The record contains a copy of a one-page document certified by the Attorney General to be a true and correct copy of a letter maintained in his office, addressed to him from the Governor and directing *292 him to investigate the Georgia Department of Labor and…”

Coalition for Good Governance v. Raffensperger (N.D. Ga. 2021). “§ 45-15-35. Defendants[, including the Governor,] are therefore appropriate parties against whom prospective relief could be ordered.”

Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.