Section 15-1-8. When judge or judicial officer disqualified

   (a) No judge or Justice of any court, magistrate, nor presiding officer of any inferior judicature or commission shall:

   (1) Sit in any case or proceeding in which he is pecuniarily interested;

   (2) Preside, act, or serve in any case or matter when such judge is related by consanguinity or affinity within the sixth degree as computed according to the civil law to any party interested in the result of the case or matter; or

   (3) Sit in any case or proceeding in which he has been of counsel, nor in which he has presided in any inferior judicature, when his ruling or decision is the subject of review, without the consent of all parties in interest. In all cases in which the presiding judge of the superior court was employed as counsel before his appointment as judge, he shall preside in such cases if the opposite party or counsel agree in writing that he may preside, unless he declines to do so.

(b) No judge or Justice of any court, magistrate, nor presiding officer of any inferior judicature or commission shall be disqualified from sitting in any case or proceeding because of the fact that he is a policyholder or is related to a policyholder of any mutual insurance company which has no capital stock.

(c) Nothing in this Code section shall be construed as applying to the qualifications of trial jurors.

(d) In all cases in which a part-time judge has a conflict because such judge or his or her partner or associate represents a governmental agency or entity, a subdivision of government, or any other client, the judge will recuse himself or herself or, with the permission of the parties, transfer the case to the state or superior court, but such judge will not otherwise be disqualified or prohibited from serving as attorney for such governmental entities.

Laws 1801, Cobb's 1851 Digest, p. 460; Code 1863, § 199; Ga. L. 1868, p. 129, § 2; Code 1868, § 193; Code 1873, § 205; Ga. L. 1880-81, p. 58, § 1; Code 1882, § 205; Civil Code 1895, § 4045; Civil Code 1910, § 4642; Code 1933, § 24-102; Ga. L. 1935, p. 396, § 1; Ga. L. 1943, p. 322, §§ 1, 2; Ga. L. 1983, p. 884, § 4-1; Ga. L. 1984, p. 22, § 15; Ga. L. 1993, p. 981, § 1.