Court of Appeals of Georgia
The Court of Appeals serves the parties and attorneys who have cases before this Court, and the trial lawyers and trial judges of this State and others who rely upon the opinion of the Court of Appeals of Georgia as precedent in deciding cases and advising clients.
History
Following the election of three initial judges of the Court of Appeals of Georgia on Nov. 6, 1906, the Court of Appeals convened initially at the State Capitol on January 2, 1907, in what is now the Appropriation Hearing Room. The Court was expanded from three judges to six judges in 1916; from six judges to seven judges in 1960; from seven judges to nine judges in 1961; from nine judges to 10 judges in 1996 and from 10 judges to it's current number of 12 in 1999.
Mission
The Court of Appeals shall be a Court of review and shall exercise appellate and certiorari jurisdiction in all cases not reserved to the Supreme Court or conferred on other Courts by law. The decisions of the Court of Appeals insofar as not in conflict with those of the Supreme Court shall bind all courts except the Supreme Court as precedent. Article VI, Section V, Paragraph III Georgia Constitution in 1983. Article VI, Section IX, Paragraph II provides that the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals shall dispose of every case in the term for which it is entered in the Court's docket for hearing or at the next term. This is the so-called two-term rule which requires that the appellate courts dispose of every case within two terms. Failure to so comply would result in the affirmance of the appeal by operation of law. As far as anyone knows, the appellate courts have never failed to meet this constitutional mandate.
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