GA Code § 15-2-8 (2021)
2021 Georgia Code|Title 15 - Courts|Chapter 2 - Supreme Court|Article 1 - General Provisions|§ 15-2-8. Powers of Court Generally

 The Supreme Court has authority:    To exercise appellate jurisdiction, and in no appellate case to hear facts or examine witnesses;   To hear and determine all cases, civil and criminal, that may come before it; to grant judgments of affirmance or reversal, or any other order, direction, or decree required therein; and, if necessary, to make a final disposition of a case in the manner prescribed elsewhere in this Code;   To grant any writ necessary to carry out any purpose of its organization or to compel any inferior tribunal or officers thereof to obey its order;   To appoint its own officers and to commission any person to execute any specific order it may make;   To establish, amend, and alter its own rules of practice and to regulate the admission of attorneys to the practice of law;   To punish for contempt by the infliction of a fine as high as $500.00 or imprisonment not exceeding ten days, or both; and   To exercise such other powers, not contrary to the Constitution of this state, as given to it by law. This paragraph shall not be interpreted to abrogate the inherent power of the court.    (Laws 1845, Cobb's 1851 Digest, pp. 450, 452; Code 1863, §§ 211, 4180; Code 1868, §§ 205, 4219; Code 1873, §§ 218, 4284; Code 1882, §§ 218, 4284; Civil Code 1895, § 5498; Penal Code 1895, § 1068; Civil Code 1910, § 6103; Penal Code 1910, § 1095; Code 1933, § 24-3901; Ga. L. 1986, p. 279, § 1; Ga. L. 2003, p. 334, § 1.)   Cross references.   - Exercise by Supreme Court of appellate jurisdiction generally, § 5-6-1 et seq.    Review of death sentences by Supreme Court, § 17-10-35 et seq.    Power of Justices of Supreme Court to appoint hearing examiners to hold hearings regarding continued involuntary hospitalization or habilitation of the mentally ill, §§ 37-3-84,37-7-84.   Law reviews.   - For article, "Jury Trials in Contempt Cases," see 20 Ga. B. J. 297 (1957). For note on the 2003 amendment to this Code section, see 20 Ga. St. U.L. Rev. 175 (2003). For comment on Sams v. Olah, 225 Ga. 497, 169 S.E.2d 790 (1969), as to the constitutionality of the State Bar Act (see now O.C.G.A. § 15-19-30 et seq.), see 21 Mercer L. Rev. 355 (1969). For comment, "Encroachment, Loss of Five Yards: Government Attorneys and the No-Contact Rule's Place in Civil False Claims Act Investigations," see 68 Mercer L. Rev. 877 (2017).   JUDICIAL DECISIONS   ANALYSIS    General Consideration   Affirmance and Reversal   Powers over Inferior Tribunals   Power to Establish Rules of Practice and Regulate Admission to Bar    RESEARCH REFERENCES   Am. Jur. 2d.   - 20 Am. Jur. 2d, Courts, § 55 et seq.   ALR.    - Change of former decisions by court of last resort as ground of relief from decrees or orders rendered or entered in the interval in other cases, 95 A.L.R. 708.    Injunction by appellate court to protect subject matter of appeal or preserve status quo as between the parties, 133 A.L.R. 1105.    Right of accused to attack indictment or information after reversal or setting aside of conviction, 145 A.L.R. 493.    Propriety of disposition of pending action involving controversy within religious society or other nonprofit association, by ordering election, 158 A.L.R. 182.   Extraterritorial effect of valid award of custody of child of divorced parents, in absence of substantial change in circumstances, 35 A.L.R.3d 520.   Attorney's failure to attend court, or tardiness, as contempt, 13 A.L.R.4th 122.   Small claims: jurisdiction limits as binding on appellate court, 67 A.L.R.4th 1117.   Civil actions removable from state court to federal court under 28 USCA § 1443, 159 A.L.R. Fed. 377.   Who is "person acting under" officer of United States or any agency thereof for purposes of availability of right to remove state action to federal court under 28 U.S.C.A. § 1442(a)(1), 166 A.L.R. Fed. 297.