Georgia Code
Article 1 - General Provisions
§ 45-2-1. Persons Ineligible to Hold Civil Office; Vacation of Office; Validity of Acts Performed While in Office

The following persons are ineligible to hold any civil office; and the existence of any of the following facts shall be a sufficient reason for vacating any office held by such person; but the acts of such person, while holding a commission, shall be valid as the acts of an officer de facto, namely:
History. Laws 1787, Cobb’s 1851 Digest, p. 366; Laws 1823, Cobb’s 1851 Digest, p. 209; Code 1863, § 125; Code 1868, § 120; Code 1873, § 129; Code 1882, § 129; Civil Code 1895, § 223; Ga. L. 1900, p. 42, § 1; Civil Code 1910, § 258; Ga. L. 1925, p. 77, § 1; Ga. L. 1931, p. 126, § 1; Code 1933, § 89-101; Ga. L. 1972, p. 868, § 1; Ga. L. 1976, p. 464, §§ 1, 2; Ga. L. 1982, p. 3, § 45; Ga. L. 1987, p. 3, § 45; Ga. L. 1988, p. 930, § 1; Ga. L. 1989, p. 596, § 1; Ga. L. 1992, p. 1138, § 1; Ga. L. 1993, p. 1279, § 15; Ga. L. 2016, p. 173, § 12/SB 199; Ga. L. 2016, p. 777, § 1/HB 73; Ga. L. 2017, p. 525, § 1/SB 258; Ga. L. 2018, p. 1112, § 45/SB 365.
The 2016 amendments. —
The first 2016 amendment, effective April 26, 2016, added the last two sentences in paragraph (1). The second 2016 amendment, effective May 3, 2016, made an identical change by adding the next to the last sentence in paragraph (1).
The 2017 amendment, effective May 8, 2017, inserted “, school district, or municipality” near the middle of paragraph (2).
The 2018 amendment, effective May 8, 2018, part of an Act to revise, modernize, and correct the Code, revised punctuation throughout paragraph (1).
Cross references.
Persons not eligible to hold office, Ga. Const. 1983, Art. II, Sec. II, Para. III.
Vacancies created by elected officials qualifying for other office, Ga. Const. 1983, Art. II, Sec. II, Para. V.
Nature and effect of adjudication, § 15-11-72.
Certain county officials ineligible, § 15-12-21.
Eligibility of subversive persons to hold office or position in government, § 16-11-12 .
Eligibility and qualifications of candidates for public office, §§ 21-2-5 through 21-2-8 .
Editor’s notes.
Ga. L. 1972, p. 193, § 10, not codified by the General Assembly, provided that it was the purpose of the Act to reduce the age of legal majority from 21 years to age 18 years of age so that all persons, upon reaching the age of 18 would have the rights, privileges, powers, duties, responsibilities, and liabilities, previously applicable to persons 21 years of age or over. The section further provided that the Act was not to be construed as having the effect of changing the provisions of any general law relative to the required age to qualify for holding public office.
Law reviews.
For comment criticizing Tarpley v. Carr, 204 Ga. 721 , 51 S.E.2d 638 (1949), requiring de jure offices to exist before acts by de facto city officers can be validated, see 1 Mercer L. Rev. 120 (1949).
For article on the effects of a conviction based on a nolo contendere plea on voting and holding public office, see 13 Ga. L. Rev. 723 (1979).
For article surveying Georgia cases citing developments in Georgia local government law from mid-1980 through mid-1981, see 33 Mercer L. Rev. 187 (1981).
For survey article on local government law for the period from June 1, 2002 to May 31, 2003, see 55 Mercer L. Rev. 353 (2003).
For article, “Using Empirical Data to Investigate the Original Meaning of ‘Emolument’ in the Constitution,” see 36 Ga. St. U.L. Rev. 465 (2020).

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