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GEORGIA RESEARCH
Georgia Case Law Search: Plain-English Georgia Case Law Research With Binding and Physical Precedent
Ask a Georgia question in plain English and get the controlling opinions from the right court, with the holding in plain language and a signal for whether it is binding or only physical precedent.
Last updated July 2026 · US firms · Research tool, not legal advice
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The controlling statute is surfaced alongside the case law so you read the code and the precedents together.
Plain-English answer
Research memo
- Question
- Short answer
- Authorities
Casesearch shows you the sources. Always read the full opinion and verify citations before you rely on them.
The short answer
Georgia case law search means finding opinions of the Supreme Court of Georgia and the Court of Appeals of Georgia, which sits fifteen judges across five divisions. Supreme Court opinions appear in Georgia Reports (Ga.) and Court of Appeals opinions in Georgia Appeals Reports (Ga. App.), and both also appear in the South Eastern Reporter (S.E.2d). Georgia has a doctrine no other state uses the same way: a Court of Appeals decision is only fully binding when a majority of the panel concurs in both the judgment and the reasoning. If a judge concurs in the judgment only or dissents, the decision is physical precedent, meaning persuasive but not binding.
15
judges on the Court of Appeals, sitting in five divisions
Ga. App.
the official reporter for Court of Appeals opinions
Aug 1 2020
the physical precedent rule narrowed but did not disappear
S.E.2d
the regional reporter Georgia opinions also appear in
Side by side
The Georgia court structure and what binds your court
In Georgia a published opinion is not automatically binding. The concurrences decide whether it is binding precedent or merely physical precedent, so reading the vote lineup is part of the research.
| Court | What it decides | Official reporter | Precedential weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Supreme Court of Georgia | Constitutional questions, murder, habeas, election, and certified questions | Ga. (also S.E.2d) | Binding on every Georgia court |
| Court of Appeals of Georgia | All appeals not reserved to the Supreme Court | Ga. App. (also S.E.2d) | Binding statewide when a majority fully concurs; otherwise physical precedent |
| Superior courts | Felonies, equity, land title, divorce, general civil trials | Not published | No precedential value |
| State, probate, magistrate courts | Misdemeanors, limited civil, wills, small claims | Not published | No precedential value |
| Eleventh Circuit and federal district courts | Federal questions and diversity cases applying Georgia law | F.4th, F.Supp.3d | Persuasive only in state court on Georgia law |
Casesearch is a research accelerator, not legal advice. Check the concurrences and the citator before you rely on a Georgia opinion.
How do I search Georgia case law?
Start with the issue and the court that would hear it, because Georgia splits its appellate jurisdiction by subject. The Supreme Court of Georgia has exclusive appellate jurisdiction over a defined list: constitutional challenges, murder cases, habeas corpus, election contests, wills, and title to land. Everything else goes to the Court of Appeals. Type the full question, including the subject matter, and the search can route you to opinions from the court that actually controls that kind of case.
Then read past the result to the concurrences. This is the Georgia habit that out-of-state lawyers miss. A Court of Appeals opinion that looks published and on point may be only physical precedent if the panel did not fully agree on the reasoning, which means you can cite it but it does not bind the next panel. A plain-English search surfaces the opinion; you still have to confirm it is binding before you build an argument on it.
Route by subject
Constitutional, murder, habeas, wills, and land-title appeals go to the Supreme Court; most others go to the Court of Appeals.
Describe the issue fully
Include the statute, the parties, and the procedural stage so the search matches real facts.
Check the concurrences
A Court of Appeals opinion is binding only if a majority fully concurs in judgment and reasoning.
Read the passage you cite
Summaries triage; the opinion, and its vote lineup, is what you rely on.
What is physical precedent in Georgia?
Physical precedent is a Georgia Court of Appeals opinion that is persuasive but not binding. Under Court of Appeals Rule 33.2, a decision is binding precedent only when a majority of the panel concurs fully, in both the judgment and the reasoning. If one judge concurs in the judgment only, concurs specially, or dissents in a way that breaks the full majority, the opinion becomes physical precedent. It is published, it is citable, and a later panel is free to disregard it.
The rule changed on August 1, 2020, but it did not go away. Before that date, an opinion was binding only if all three panel judges fully concurred, so a single special concurrence knocked it down to physical precedent. For decisions issued on or after August 1, 2020, a full concurrence by a majority is enough to make it binding, and only a decision with a judgment-only concurrence or a dissent that denies a full majority is physical precedent. Decisions that were physical precedent before that date stay physical precedent.
Binding precedent
A majority of the panel concurs fully in the judgment and the reasoning.
Physical precedent
Published and citable, but persuasive only; a later panel need not follow it.
Watch the date
The all-three-judges rule applied before August 1, 2020; a majority-full-concurrence rule applies after.
Read the concurrence type
A concurrence in the judgment only is what usually turns an opinion into physical precedent.
How do I cite a Georgia case?
Georgia practice uses parallel citations. A Supreme Court case is cited to Georgia Reports and the South Eastern Reporter, for example Perez-Castillo v. State, 275 Ga. 124, 562 S.E.2d 184 (2002). A Court of Appeals case is cited to Georgia Appeals Reports and the regional reporter, such as Ponder v. Williams, 80 Ga. App. 145, 55 S.E.2d 668 (1949). Georgia court rules ask for the parallel cite when a case appears in more than one source, which most published Georgia opinions do.
Note the two different official reporters. Ga. is the Supreme Court of Georgia; Ga. App. is the Court of Appeals. Getting them backward signals to a Georgia judge that the writer does not practice there. When you rely on a Court of Appeals opinion, it is also good practice to note in a parenthetical whether it is physical precedent, because opposing counsel will if you do not.
Supreme Court
Georgia Reports (Ga.) with the S.E.2d parallel, for example 275 Ga. 124.
Court of Appeals
Georgia Appeals Reports (Ga. App.) with the S.E.2d parallel, for example 80 Ga. App. 145.
Parallel cite
Georgia rules expect both the official and regional reporter when a case appears in both.
Flag physical precedent
Note in a parenthetical when a Court of Appeals opinion is physical precedent only.
How do I check whether a Georgia case is still good law?
A Georgia treatment check has an extra step other states do not. First the usual questions: has the Supreme Court of Georgia or a later Court of Appeals decision overruled, disapproved, or distinguished it, and has the underlying statute been amended. Georgia moves quickly on criminal and evidence statutes, and a case reading an old version of the Evidence Code can be dead law about a rule that was rewritten in 2013.
Then the Georgia-specific step: confirm whether the opinion is binding precedent or physical precedent in the first place. A case can be perfectly current, never questioned by any later court, and still not bind the panel you are arguing to, because the original concurrences made it physical precedent. Treating physical precedent as binding is a distinctively Georgian way to lose an argument, so the vote lineup belongs in every Georgia verification.
Where can I find Georgia case law online?
The official opinions are free. The Supreme Court of Georgia and the Court of Appeals of Georgia both post their opinions on the state courts website within a day of release, and the Reporter of Decisions maintains the official Ga. and Ga. App. citations. CourtListener and Google Scholar carry the same opinions with better full-text search. None of the free sources tells you whether an opinion is binding or physical precedent, or runs a treatment check, which is where Georgia research needs more than a free database.
The paid tier buys the citator and the editorial layer. Westlaw and Lexis carry headnotes and the KeyCite and Shepard's systems, useful for deep Georgia appellate work. For the everyday job, finding the controlling opinions, reading the holdings, and confirming they still stand and actually bind, a self-serve research tool does the work for far less than a full seat. We compare the category in the legal research software guide.
Frequently asked
Questions buyers ask about georgia case law search
How do I search Georgia case law?
Describe your issue as a full question and note the subject matter, since the Supreme Court of Georgia hears constitutional, murder, habeas, wills, and land-title appeals while the Court of Appeals hears the rest. Search the opinions of both courts, then check the concurrences to confirm a Court of Appeals opinion is binding precedent rather than physical precedent before you rely on it.
What is physical precedent in Georgia?
Physical precedent is a Georgia Court of Appeals opinion that is published and citable but not binding, so a later panel does not have to follow it. Under Court of Appeals Rule 33.2, an opinion is binding only when a majority of the panel fully concurs in both the judgment and the reasoning; a concurrence in the judgment only or a dissent that breaks the majority makes it physical precedent.
What court reporters are Georgia cases in?
Supreme Court of Georgia opinions are published in Georgia Reports (Ga.) and the Court of Appeals in Georgia Appeals Reports (Ga. App.). Both courts' opinions also appear in the South Eastern Reporter (S.E.2d), and Georgia practice uses parallel citations to the official reporter and the regional reporter together.
Is a Georgia Court of Appeals decision binding statewide?
Yes, when it is binding precedent. A Court of Appeals opinion in which a majority of the panel fully concurs binds every Georgia trial court statewide. If the panel split so that a judge concurred in the judgment only or dissented, the opinion is physical precedent, which is persuasive across the state but does not bind any court.
How many judges are on the Georgia Court of Appeals?
The Court of Appeals of Georgia has fifteen judges who sit in five divisions of three judges each. It hears every appeal not reserved by the Georgia Constitution to the Supreme Court, which keeps constitutional questions, murder, habeas, wills, and title to land. A single division decides most cases, with the full court sitting when a division cannot agree.
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Check if a case is still good law
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Legal research software
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Casesearch is a legal research tool, not legal advice. Always read the full opinion and verify citations before relying on them.
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Search Georgia case law in plain English
Ask your Georgia question and read the controlling opinions, the holdings, and whether each is binding or physical precedent for yourself. A research tool, not legal advice.