Georgia's law prohibits false statements about a bank's assets or liabilities or fibbing about its "solvency or ability to meet its obligations or as to its soundness." Likewise, the law bars verbal or written statements that incorrectly "cast suspicion upon its ... ability to meet its deposits."

"It's a very common law dating from the Depression," said Walt Moeling, an attorney with Atlanta law firm Powell Goldstein who represents the Georgia Bankers Association. "I don't think it's ever been used to prosecute somebody," he said of Georgia's law.

Last week, California mortgage lender IndyMac Bancorp was taken over by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., becoming one of the largest financial institution failures in U.S. history. Some people blamed Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) for precipitating the run on the institution by releasing a letter in which he had urged bank regulators to take steps to head off IndyMac's collapse. Schumer countered that the failure was caused by IndyMac's mounting loan losses and regulators' inaction, not by his words.

That dispute may be "testing these principles at the national level," Moeling said.

If a similar scenario occurred in Georgia, a court would have to sort out the truth. A person would only be liable if a court or jury determined that his or her statements were false.

"It's based on falsity," Moeling said. "It's like libel or slander. Truth is a defense."