Court Opinion

ID: 9567196
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 19:50:19.065274+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T10:00:23.029518
License: Public Domain

Hawes, Justice,
concurring specially. The trial court, in rendering its judgment in the court below, relied on Rowell v. Harrell Realty Co., 25 Ga. App. 585 (103 SE 717), decided in 1920. This case has lain dormant for some 53 years. When it was resurrected in the present case, the majority saw fit not to follow it.
In my opinion, the judgment in the Rowell case should not become further imbedded in the case law of this State, for it did not represent the true spirit of the law which favors fair play, justice and abhors a forfeiture. This is the first opportunity this court has had to establish a uniform rule of law that gives the same construction to contractual limitation as now given to statutory limitations, thus avoiding the pitfall that occurred in this case. This court was justified when it seized, upon this its first opportunity, to put the State of Georgia under uniform rules of limitation as established in such jurisdictions as Tennessee, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, South Carolina, Massachussetts, California, Maryland, North Carolina, Kansas, New Mexico, Texas, etc., which seems to be the general rule followed.
For the reasons contained in the majority opinion and the additional reasons given above, I concur in the reversal.