Harwell v. Georgia Power Co.

The Act of 1897 (Ga. L. 1897, p. 68; Code Ann. § 36-801) gave electric utilities the power to “condemn rights-of-way or other easements.” That act did not give electric utilities the power to condemn land in fee simple.1

The question here is whether the 1967 amendment (Ga. L. 1967, p. 825) authorizing “all other persons, firms and corporations possessing the right or power of eminent domain” to utilize the 1957 Special Master Act, Ga. L. 1957, p. 387; Code Ann. § 36-601a et seq., increased the power of all such persons, firms or corporations to condemn property in fee simple where they…