User:SophiaLewman/sandbox

For decades after the Revolutionary War, Georgia was the only state without a Supreme Court. The Supreme Court of Georgia was authorized by a 1835 amendment to the constitution and a decade later it was founded by the General Assembly. The original court consisted of three justices: Joseph Henry Lumpkin, the presiding justice, Hiram Warner, and Eugenius A. Nisbet. Their salaries were $2,500 a year. The Supreme Court’s first session was held at Talbotton, Georgia, on January 26,1846 The Constitution was amended in 1896 to provide for the addition of three justices to the Court and to provide that justices and the chief justice would be elected by the people.

The hardships involved in riding the circuit lasted until shortly after the Civil War when the Constitution of 1865 provided that the Court would sit at the seat of government.

The Constitution was amended in 1896 to provide for the addition of three justices to the Court and to provide that justices and the chief justice would be elected by the people. A seventh justice was added by the Constitution of 1945 and since that time the composition of the Court has remained the same.