Title 45

(a) The Attorney General, as head of the Department of Law and as chief legal officer of the state, is authorized to institute and conduct investigations at any time into the affairs of the state; or of any department, board, bureau, commission, institution, authority, instrument…

The Governor may at any time direct the Attorney General to conduct an investigation into the affairs of any department of the state or into the official conduct of any state official or employee or into the affairs of any person, firm, or corporation dealing with the state. The …

In addition to the power conferred upon the Attorney General in this article, the Governor or the General Assembly is authorized likewise to make investigations, including investigations of the Department of Law or the offices of the Attorney General or any agency under his contr…

The Attorney General shall be compensated in the amount and manner provided in Code Sections 45-7-3 and 45-7-4. He shall also be reimbursed for actual transportation costs while traveling by public carrier, the legal mileage rate for use of a personal automobile, and the actual c…

If the Attorney General shall charge, demand, or receive any fee, perquisite, or compensation, other than his salary, in any case in which the state shall be a party or in any manner interested, he shall be guilty of a felony and, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by imp…

It is the duty of the Attorney General: (1) When required to do so by the Governor, to give his opinion in writing, or otherwise, on any question of law connected with the interest of the state or with the duties of any of the departments; (2) When he deems it advisable, to prepa…

The Attorney General, upon the request of any department, office, officer, institution, commission, committee, board, or other agency of any branch of the government of the state or any instrumentality thereof, is authorized to select and employ private counsel to perform legal s…

Any department, office, officer, institution, commission, committee, board, or other agency of any branch of the government of the state or any instrumentality thereof is authorized and directed to pay for the legal services requested pursuant to Code Section 45-15-4, upon approv…

When the services of the Attorney General are needed in any court of competent jurisdiction, the presiding judge thereof shall notify the Governor 20 days before of the time, place, and cause; and the Governor may, in his discretion, order the Attorney General to represent the st…

When the services of a district attorney are necessary in collecting or securing any claim of the state in any part of the state, the comptroller general may, in his discretion, require the Attorney General to command the services of the Department of Law or of the district attor…

The Governor is authorized to require the Attorney General to perform such legal services as may be necessary for the Western & Atlantic Railroad without compensation other than his official salary. (Ga. L. 1902, p. 97, § 1; Civil Code 1910, § 257; Code 1933, § 40-1605.)

The Attorney General shall represent the state in all actions before the Supreme Court of the United States and perform all other services required of him by law beyond the limits of the state without extra compensation. (Ga. L. 1919, p. 134, § 2; Code 1933, § 40-1606.)

There is created a Department of Law with the Attorney General at the head thereof and with such numbers of deputy attorneys general, assistant attorneys general, special assistant attorneys general, other attorneys, paraprofessional personnel, and other employees or independent …

(a) All assistant attorneys general, deputy assistant attorneys general, and law assistants shall be appointed by the Attorney General for such periods of time as he deems advisable. The compensation of all assistant attorneys general, deputy assistant attorneys general, law assi…

The Attorney General as the head of the Department of Law is authorized and directed to employ such clerical assistants as may from time to time be needed. (Ga. L. 1931, p. 7, § 93; Code 1933, § 40-1611.)

Except as provided in this article, no employee of the Department of Law shall be entitled to or authorized to receive any salary, fee, compensation, or other remuneration of any type, nor shall he be entitled to the reimbursement of expenses from any other state department, agen…

The Department of Law is vested with complete and exclusive authority and jurisdiction in all matters of law relating to the executive branch of the government and every department, office, institution, commission, committee, board, and other agency thereof. Every department, off…

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. …

(a) When the Attorney General shall undertake the trial or preparation for trial of any action on behalf of any state department, agency, commission, board, authority, bureau, or any other legislative, judicial, or executive body of the state, such state agency involved is author…

(a) When any action or proceeding is filed in any court of this state, in any federal court, or with any professional licensing board, disciplinary board or commission, or other similar body, which action or proceeding is against a public officer, public official, a state board o…

Compensation. Duties generally. Attorney General authorized to employ private counsel. Payment for services of private counsel. Representation of state in court of competent jurisdiction. Discretion of comptroller general as to requirement of services of Attorney General or of di…

— In light of the similarity of the provisions, opinions under Ga. L. 1976, p. 586 are included in the annotations for this chapter. Superior court judges eligible for one of three retirement systems: (1) Superior Court Judges Retirement Fund of Georgia (Ch. 8 of this title, § 47…

(a) Coroners are elected, commissioned, and removed as are clerks of the superior courts; and coroners shall hold their offices for four years. (b)(1) No person shall be eligible to offer for election to or to hold the office of coroner unless he or she: (A) Is a citizen of the U…

Records, papers, or reports concerning the death of a person on file at any hospital, nursing home, or other medical facility in this state shall be available to a coroner of another state if such person was injured in, a resident of, or buried in the county of such coroner in su…

(a)(1) Any other law to the contrary notwithstanding, the minimum annual salary of each coroner in any of the counties in this state in the following population brackets shall be fixed according to the population of the county in which he or she serves, as determined by the Unite…

In addition to the minimum salary provided for in Code Section 45-16-11, in any county which is the site of more than one state correctional institution or prison for adults or juveniles and which compensates the county coroner by salary, the state shall compensate the county cor…

In addition to any salary, fees, or expenses now or hereafter provided by law, the governing authority of each of the counties in this state in the following population bracket is authorized to provide as contingent expenses for the operation of the office of coroner, and payable…

(a) Whenever an election fails to fill the office of coroner, the judge of the probate court shall appoint a person to serve as the coroner until a successor is duly elected in a special election which shall be held at the time of the next general election to serve out the remain…

Before beginning the duties of the office of coroner, a coroner shall take the oath required of all civil officers and shall take the following oath: ‘‘I swear that I will well and truly serve the State of Georgia in said office and faithfully and truly execute all writs and prec…

A coroner shall give bond and surety in the sum of $12,500.00 at the same time as he takes the oath provided for in Code Section 45-16-3. He is liable for retaining moneys collected or for otherwise failing to do his duty as sheriffs are and is subject to the same proceedings. (L…

When a coroner is required to act in the place of a sheriff, generally or specially, the judge of the probate court may require of him an additional bond in such sum and with such sureties as the judge, in his discretion, may think sufficient to meet the contingency. (Orig. Code …

During every calendar year they are in office, every coroner and deputy coroner shall be required, as a condition of continuing to serve as coroner, to take a training course approved by the Georgia Coroner’s Training Council pursuant to Code Section 45-16-66. Any coroner or depu…

(a) As soon as practicable after July 1, 1980, and at the beginning of each term of the coroner thereafter, the coroner of each county shall appoint a deputy coroner or coroners as provided in this Code section. A deputy coroner shall be appointed for each county, and one or more…

If any person makes an affidavit stating (1) that a sheriff is disqualified from acting in any proceeding, which disqualification was not apparent at the outset of the proceeding, or (2) that a sheriff or his deputy refuses to serve a writ or other process, then the clerk of the …

(a) When performing the duties of a sheriff, the coroner’s fees are the same as a sheriff’s. (b) This Code section shall not be construed to repeal or preempt any local Act or general Act of local application which places any coroner upon an annual salary or authorizes any corone…

This article shall be known and may be cited as the ‘‘Georgia Death Investigation Act.’’ (Ga. L. 1953, Jan.-Feb. Sess., p. 602, § 1; Ga. L. 1990, p. 1735, § 3.)

As used in this article, the term: (1) ‘‘Autopsy’’ means the dissection of a dead body and the examination of bone, tissue, organs, and foreign objects for the purpose of determining the cause of death and circumstances surrounding the same, which procedure shall include as a min…

(a) The director of the division is authorized and directed to cooperate with and assist the peace officers in charge, medical examiners, and coroners of the state in making the facilities of the division available for the performing of medical examiners’ inquiries on dead bodies…

(a) Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, any coroner or county medical examiner may delegate to a local medical examiner, forensic consultant, or medical examiner’s investigator the power to perform those duties of such coroner or medical examiner specified in thi…

(a) When any person dies in any county in this state: (1) As a result of violence; (2) By suicide or casualty; (3) Suddenly when in apparent good health; (4) When unattended by a physician; (5) In any suspicious or unusual manner, with particular attention to those persons 16 yea…

(a)(1) Upon receipt of the notice required by Code Section 45-16-24, the coroner or county medical examiner shall immediately take charge of the body. If a registered professional nurse authorized to make a pronouncement of death under Code Section 31-10-16 or a qualified physici…

A dead body, other than skeletal remains, taken into custody under this article shall be released to the next of kin of the deceased, or to the agent of the next of kin, no later than 24 hours after the demand for release by that next of kin, or agent thereof, unless by that time…

When there is no coroner or deputy coroner in a county in which the office of coroner has not been replaced by a county medical examiner or when both are absent from the county when needed or will not or cannot perform the duties required under this article, the medical examiner …

(a) Coroners shall require an inquest to be conducted in their respective counties as follows: (1) When any person dies under any circumstances specified in paragraphs (1) through (8) of subsection (a) of Code Section 45-16-24; provided, however, that an inquest is not required t…

(a) Where a coroner or county medical examiner has been notified pursuant to paragraph (6) of subsection (a) of Code Section 45-16-24 of the death of any person after birth but before seven years of age whose death is unexpected or unexplained, the medical examiner’s inquiry requ…

In the case of death of any person under such circumstances as would not require a medical examiner’s inquiry under Code Section 45-16-24, any physician who is duly licensed under the laws of this state or any other state having licensing requirements equal to or greater than tho…