2020 Georgia Code
Title 51 - Torts
Chapter 1 - General Provisions
§ 51-1-7. When Infraction of Public Duty Gives Cause of Action to Individual

Injury suffered in common with the community, though to a greater extent, will not give a right of action to an individual for the infraction of some public duty. In order for an individual to have such a right of action, there must be some special damage to him, in which the public has not participated.

(Orig. Code 1863, § 2895; Code 1868, § 2901; Code 1873, § 2952; Code 1882, § 2952; Civil Code 1895, § 3808; Civil Code 1910, § 4404; Code 1933, § 105-102.)

- For article, "Georgia's Public Duty Doctrine: The Supreme Court Held Hostage," see 51 Mercer L. Rev. 73 (1999). For comment, "The Officer Has No Robes: A Formalist Solution to the Expansion of Quasi-Judicial Immunity," see 66 Emory L.J. 123 (2016).

This section is basis of the distinction between private and public nuisances. Campbell v. Metropolitan S.R.R., 82 Ga. 320, 9 S.E. 1078 (1889).

- Any interference with a landowner's right to the use of a street abutting the landowner's land by an obstruction of the street which inflicts upon the landowner a damage and inconvenience respecting the landowner's lot, which is different in kind from that inflicted upon the community in general, constitutes an injury for which the landowner is entitled to recover damages. Felton v. State Hwy. Bd., 47 Ga. App. 615, 171 S.E. 198 (1933), later appeal, 57 Ga. App. 930, 181 S.E. 506 (1935).

- It is not necessary, to constitute an interference with the abutting landowner's easement in the street, that the obstruction causing the interference should be immediately in front of the landowner's lot or touching upon the land. Felton v. State Hwy. Bd., 47 Ga. App. 615, 171 S.E. 198 (1933), later appeal, 57 Ga. App. 930, 181 S.E. 506 (1935).

- Company which is the holder of a franchise to conduct the business of furnishing water to a city and the city's inhabitants and which has the power of eminent domain is a public service corporation, and owes a public duty to the city's inhabitants. Washington Water & Elec. Co. v. Pope Mfg. Co., 176 Ga. 155, 167 S.E. 286 (1932).

Defendant, merely working as section foreman on railroad, owed no individual duty to the defendant's public in keeping the right of way free from ignitable growth. The defendant did owe a duty to the defendant's master to properly perform the defendant's duties, and if there was embraced in such duties the obligation to keep the right of way free from ignitable growth there would be a liability on the defendant's part to the defendant's master for failure to perform the defendant's agreement. Knight v. Atlantic Coast Line R.R., 4 F. Supp. 713 (S.D. Ga. 1933), aff'd, 73 F.2d 76 (5th Cir. 1934).

- If county commissioners failed to perform the public duty resting upon the commissioners to erect suitable quarters for safe-keeping and support of the county convicts under the commissioners' control, the commissioners would be liable, if at all, for only such special damages as the plaintiff sustained by reason of the commissioners infraction of this public duty. McConnell v. Floyd County, 164 Ga. 177, 137 S.E. 919 (1927).

- State has an interest in the welfare, peace, and good order of the state's citizens and communities, and that an action may be maintained at the instance of the prosecuting attorney to enjoin an existing or threatened public nuisance, even though the nuisance constitutes a crime punishable under the criminal laws. Evans Theatre Corp. v. Slaton, 227 Ga. 377, 180 S.E.2d 712, cert. denied, 404 U.S. 950, 92 S. Ct. 281, 30 L. Ed. 2d 267 (1971).

Court of equity is authorized to enjoin the exhibition of an obscene motion picture to the public. Evans Theatre Corp. v. Slaton, 227 Ga. 377, 180 S.E.2d 712, cert. denied, 404 U.S. 950, 92 S. Ct. 281, 30 L. Ed. 2d 267 (1971).

Cited in Hughes v. Weaver, 39 Ga. App. 597, 148 S.E. 12 (1929).

RESEARCH REFERENCES

Am. Jur. 2d.

- 74A Am. Jur. 2d, Torts, § 1 et seq.

- 86 C.J.S., Torts, § 16.

- Liability of gas company for injury or damage by escaping gas, 29 A.L.R. 1250; 47 A.L.R. 488; 90 A.L.R. 1082; 138 A.L.R. 870.

Liability of county for torts in connection with activities which pertain, or are claimed to pertain, to private or proprietary functions, 101 A.L.R. 1166; 16 A.L.R.2d 1079.

Duty and liability of governmental body responsible for condition of street or highway for injury or damage due to cracking or upheaval of surface, 111 A.L.R. 862.

Liability of irrigation district for damages, 160 A.L.R. 1165.

Liability of county for torts in connection with activities which pertain, or are claimed to pertain, to private or proprietary function, 16 A.L.R.2d 1079.

Duty and liability of municipality as regards barriers for protection of adult pedestrians who may unintentionally deviate from street or highway into marginal or external hazards, 44 A.L.R.2d 633.

Liability of municipality for torts in connection with airport, 66 A.L.R.2d 634.

Liability of gas company for personal injury or property damage caused by gas escaping from mains in street, 96 A.L.R.2d 1007, 34 A.L.R.5th 1.

Liability of water distributor for damage caused by water escaping from main, 20 A.L.R.3d 1294.

Personal liability of policeman, sheriff, or similar peace officer or his bond, for injury suffered as a result of failure to enforce law or arrest lawbreaker, 41 A.L.R.3d 700.

Liability of governmental entity or public officer for personal injury or damages arising out of vehicular accident due to negligent or defective design of a highway, 45 A.L.R.3d 875; 58 A.L.R.4th 559.

Liability of municipality or other governmental unit for failure to provide police protection, 46 A.L.R.3d 1084.

Liability of gas company for damage resulting from failure to inspect or supervise work of contractors digging near gas pipes, 71 A.L.R.3d 1174.

Immunity of public officer from liability for injuries caused by negligently released individual, 5 A.L.R.4th 773.

Governmental liability for failure to reduce vegetation obscuring view at railroad crossing or at street or highway intersection, 22 A.L.R.4th 624.

Applicability of judicial immunity to acts of clerk of court under state law, 34 A.L.R.4th 1186.

Personal injury liability of civil engineer for negligence in highway or bridge construction or maintenance, 43 A.L.R.4th 911.

Recoverability from tortfeasor of cost of diagnostic examinations absent proof of actual bodily injury, 46 A.L.R.4th 1151.

Res ipsa loquitor in gas leak cases, 34 A.L.R.5th 1.