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Call Now: 904-383-7448There 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.
- Art. I, Sec. I, Para. XIX.
- Slavery prohibited, U.S. Const., amend. 13.
This paragraph was directed against any attempt to reestablish slavery. Pearson v. Wimbish, 124 Ga. 701, 52 S.E. 751, 4 Ann. Cas. 501 (1906).
This paragraph prohibits leasing of convicts to private persons. Penitentiary Co. v. Rountree, 113 Ga. 799, 39 S.E. 508 (1901).
Right to provide for control of one's labor by contract is not prohibited. Potts v. Riddle, 5 Ga. App. 378, 63 S.E. 253 (1908).
- 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).
- 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).
Involuntary demotions do not conflict with prohibition against involuntary servitude. Brown v. State Merit Sys. of Personnel Admin., 245 Ga. 239, 264 S.E.2d 186 (1980).
- 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 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).
- 45 Am. Jur. 2d, Involuntary Servitude and Peonage, § 1 et seq.
- 16A C.J.S., Constitutional Law, § 798 et seq.
- Injunction against strike as violating constitutional provision against involuntary servitude, 46 A.L.R. 1541.
Court appointment of attorney to represent, without compensation, indigent in civil action, 52 A.L.R.4th 1063.
Application of Section 1 of 13th Amendment to United States Constitution, U.S. Const. Amend. XIII, § 1, prohibiting slavery and involuntary servitude - labor required as punishment for crime, 87 A.L.R.6th 109.
Application of Section 1 of 13th Amendment to United States Constitution, U.S. Const. Amend. XIII, § 1, prohibiting slavery and involuntary servitude - labor required by law or force not as punishment for crime, 88 A.L.R.6th 203.