(a) All judgments signed on verdicts rendered at the same term of court shall be considered, held, and taken to be of equal date.
§ 9-12-87.Judgments from same term considered of equal date
Chapter 12. Verdict and Judgment · Article 4. Judgment Liens · Last amended 1933 · Last verified July 17, 2026
In one sentenceO.C.G.A. § 9-12-87 treats every judgment signed on a verdict rendered during the same term of court as dating equally, so that no execution gains priority over another merely by reaching the levying officer first.
Full Text of § 9-12-87
(b) In the case of judgments signed on verdicts rendered at the same term of the court, no execution shall be entitled to any preference by reason of being first placed in the hands of the levying officer.
Plain-English Summary
A single term of court can produce more than one verdict and judgment against the same defendant, or against different defendants whose executions might end up competing for the same limited pool of property. Subsection (a) resolves any ambiguity about ranking those judgments by date: all judgments signed on verdicts from the same term are considered, held, and taken to be of equal date, regardless of the exact day each one was signed.
Subsection (b) closes off a possible workaround. If judgments from the same term were merely equal in date but the officer charged with levying execution still gave preference to whichever execution physically arrived first, creditors could effectively out-race each other to establish priority. This section forecloses that: no execution from a same-term judgment gets preference merely because it reached the levying officer ahead of another.
This rule works alongside the equal-dignity principle of the article's opening section, but it addresses a narrower, more concrete problem — what happens when a batch of judgments from one term of court would otherwise compete for priority based on the accident of exact signing dates or docket timing.
Frequently Asked Questions
What judgments does this section treat as being of equal date?
All judgments signed on verdicts rendered at the same term of court, regardless of the precise day within that term each judgment was signed.
Can a creditor gain priority by rushing the execution to the sheriff first?
No. Subsection (b) specifically prevents an execution from getting preference just because it was placed in the levying officer's hands before another execution from a same-term judgment.
Why might multiple judgments arise against overlapping parties within a single term of court?
Courts routinely resolve several cases within one term, and a defendant may face more than one judgment during that period; this section addresses how those judgments rank against each other for lien purposes.
How does this section relate to the general rule that judgments bind property from their date?
It refines that general rule for a specific situation — judgments from the same term — by fixing their dates as equal to one another rather than letting small differences in signing dates create an artificial priority.
Does this section rank judgments from different terms of court as equal?
No. It applies specifically to judgments signed on verdicts rendered at the same term; judgments from different terms are ranked under the article's other rules.
Amendment History
Laws 1822, Cobb’s 1851 Digest, p. 497.; Code 1863, § 3497; Code 1868, § 3520; Code 1873, § 3578; Code 1882, § 3578; Civil Code 1895, § 5349; Civil Code 1910, § 5944; Code 1933, §§ 39-112, 110-505.
Source & verification. Section text and amendment history are
reproduced verbatim from the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, published by the
Official Code of Georgia Annotated, Georgia Code Revision Commission / LexisNexis. Last verified July 17, 2026.
· Official source
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