Court Opinion

ID: 9583515
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 22:39:27.788602+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:39:03.447992
License: Public Domain

Evans, Judge,
concurring specially. I concur specially in the majority opinion which holds that "the jurisdiction of the juvenile court extends only to those minors who are residents of the county in which the court is located.” I do so because I feel bound under the rule of stare decisis by previous rulings of this court, including one in which the writer joined Judge Whitman’s dissent (see Allstate Ins. Co. v. Anderson, 121 Ga. App. 582 (174 SE2d 591)). However, were I not bound by. earlier decisions of this court, I would hold that the jurisdiction of the juvenile court extends not only to children living within the county but also to those who are found within the county, provided their "environment or associations are such as to injure or endanger . . . morals and general welfare. . .” See §9, Juvenile Court Act, as amended, Ga. L. 1951, pp. 291, 297; 1953, Nov. Sess., pp. 87, 89; 1955, p. 610; 1956, p. 603; 1968, pp. 1013, 1019 (Code Ann. § 24-2408).
In the case sub judice the investigating agent reported to the Juvenile Court of Fulton County that Floyd G. Goode does not feel that Mrs. Lucas "should have legal custody because she and her husband sell liquor and have gambling parties and he does not feel that this is a good environment for rearing children.” *703This would seem to bring these children squarely within the jurisdiction of the Juvenile Court of Fulton County.
I am authorized to state that Presiding Judge Jordan also concurs in this special concurrence.