California Codes

{{short description|Legal codes enacted by the California State Legislature}} {{California law}} The '''California Codes''' are 29 legal codes enacted by the California State Legislature, which, alongside uncodified acts, form the general statutory law of California. The official codes are maintained by the California Office of Legislative Counsel for the legislature. The Legislative Counsel also publishes the official text of the Codes publicly at [https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov leginfo.legislature.ca.gov].

==Codes currently in effect==  The 29 California Codes currently in effect are as follows: {| class="wikitable sortable" !Name of code !Date of adoption !Original source |- |Business and Professions Code |June 15, 1937 |[https://clerk.assembly.ca.gov/sites/clerk.assembly.ca.gov/files/archive/Statutes/1937/37vol1_Chapters.pdf#page=1232 Stats. 1937, Ch. 399], pp. 1229–1326 |- |Civil Code |March 21, 1872 |(Haymond 1872, [https://books.google.com/books?id=wsE3AAAAIAAJ&pg=PR1 vol. 1] and [https://books.google.com/books?id=7MQ3AAAAIAAJ&pg=PR1 vol. 2]) |- |Code of Civil Procedure |March 11, 1872 |(Haymond 1872, [https://books.google.com/books?id=4cU3AAAAIAAJ&pg=PR1 vol. 1] and [https://books.google.com/books?id=P8Y3AAAAIAAJ&pg=PR1 vol. 2]) |- |Commercial Code |June 8, 1963 |[https://clerk.assembly.ca.gov/sites/clerk.assembly.ca.gov/files/archive/Statutes/1963/63Vol1_63Chapters.pdf#page=1246 Stats. 1963, Ch. 819], pp. 1849–2015 |- |Corporations Code |July 1, 1947 |[https://clerk.assembly.ca.gov/sites/clerk.assembly.ca.gov/files/archive/Statutes/1947/47Vol1_Chapters.pdf#page=1836 Stats. 1947, Ch. 1038], pp. 2309–2441 |- |Education Code |April 7, 1943 |[https://clerk.assembly.ca.gov/sites/clerk.assembly.ca.gov/files/archive/Statutes/1943/43Vol1_Chapters.pdf#page=203 Stats. 1943, Ch. 71], pp. 310–792 |- |Elections Code |February 2, 1939 |[https://clerk.assembly.ca.gov/sites/clerk.assembly.ca.gov/files/archive/Statutes/1939/39Vol1_Chapters.pdf#page=50 Stats. 1939, Ch. 26], pp. 49–318 |- |Evidence Code |May 18, 1965 |[https://clerk.assembly.ca.gov/sites/clerk.assembly.ca.gov/files/archive/Statutes/1965/65Vol1_65Chapters.pdf#page=433 Stats. 1965, Ch. 299], pp. 1297–1370 |- |Family Code |July 13, 1992 |[https://clerk.assembly.ca.gov/sites/clerk.assembly.ca.gov/files/archive/Statutes/1992/92Vol1_Statutes.PDF#page=463 Stats. 1992, Ch. 162], pp. 463–722 |- |Financial Code |May 15, 1951 |[https://clerk.assembly.ca.gov/sites/clerk.assembly.ca.gov/files/archive/Statutes/1951/51Vol1_Chapters.pdf#page=710 Stats. 1951, Ch. 364], pp. 829–1158 |- |Fish and Game Code |May 21, 1957 |[https://clerk.assembly.ca.gov/sites/clerk.assembly.ca.gov/files/archive/Statutes/1957/57Vol1_57Chapters.pdf#page=765 Stats. 1957, Ch. 456], pp. 1308–1499 |- |Food and Agricultural Code |March 15, 1967 |[https://clerk.assembly.ca.gov/sites/clerk.assembly.ca.gov/files/archive/Statutes/1967/67Vol1_Chapters.pdf#page=44 Stats. 1967, Ch. 15], pp. 44–825 |- |Government Code |April 13, 1943 |[https://clerk.assembly.ca.gov/sites/clerk.assembly.ca.gov/files/archive/Statutes/1943/43Vol1_Chapters.pdf#page=789 Stats. 1943, Ch. 134], pp. 896–1032 |- |Harbors and Navigation Code |May 25, 1937 |[https://clerk.assembly.ca.gov/sites/clerk.assembly.ca.gov/files/archive/Statutes/1937/37vol1_Chapters.pdf#page=795 Stats. 1937, Ch. 368], pp. 792–1004 |- |Health and Safety Code |April 7, 1939 |[https://clerk.assembly.ca.gov/sites/clerk.assembly.ca.gov/files/archive/Statutes/1939/39Vol1_Chapters.pdf#page=483 Stats. 1939, Ch. 60], pp. 482–1003 |- |Insurance Code |May 7, 1935 |[https://clerk.assembly.ca.gov/sites/clerk.assembly.ca.gov/files/archive/Statutes/1935/35Vol1_Chapters.pdf#page=451 Stats. 1935, Ch. 145], pp. 496–780 |- |Labor Code |April 24, 1937 |[https://clerk.assembly.ca.gov/sites/clerk.assembly.ca.gov/files/archive/Statutes/1937/37vol1_Chapters.pdf#page=188 Stats. 1937, Ch. 90], pp. 185–329 |- |Military and Veterans Code |July 5, 1935 |[https://clerk.assembly.ca.gov/sites/clerk.assembly.ca.gov/files/archive/Statutes/1935/35Vol1_Chapters.pdf#page=1293 Stats. 1935, Ch. 389], pp. 1338–1418 |- |Penal Code |February 14, 1872 |(Haymond [https://books.google.com/books?id=zUQbAAAAYAAJ&pg=PR1 1874]) |- |Probate Code |May 11, 1931 |[https://clerk.assembly.ca.gov/sites/clerk.assembly.ca.gov/files/archive/Statutes/1931/31vol1_Chapters.pdf#page=588 Stats. 1931, Ch. 281], pp. 587–687 |- |Public Contract Code |September 21, 1981 |[https://clerk.assembly.ca.gov/sites/clerk.assembly.ca.gov/files/archive/Statutes/1981/81Vol1_Chapters.pdf#page=1434 Stats. 1981, Ch. 306], pp. 1434–1447 |- |Public Resources Code |April 26, 1939 |[https://clerk.assembly.ca.gov/sites/clerk.assembly.ca.gov/files/archive/Statutes/1939/39Vol1_Chapters.pdf#page=1068 Stats. 1939, Ch. 93], pp. 1067–1216 |- |Public Utilities Code |May 31, 1951 |[https://clerk.assembly.ca.gov/sites/clerk.assembly.ca.gov/files/archive/Statutes/1951/51Vol1_Chapters.pdf#page=1905 Stats. 1951, Ch. 764], pp. 2025–2258 |- |Revenue and Taxation Code |May 16, 1939 |[https://clerk.assembly.ca.gov/sites/clerk.assembly.ca.gov/files/archive/Statutes/1939/39Vol1_Chapters.pdf#page=1275 Stats. 1939, Ch. 154], pp. 1274–1377 |- |<span class="anchor" id="Streets and Highways Code"></span>Streets and Highways Code |March 27, 1935 |[https://clerk.assembly.ca.gov/sites/clerk.assembly.ca.gov/files/archive/Statutes/1935/35Vol1_Chapters.pdf#page=203 Stats. 1935, Ch. 29], pp. 248–353 |- |Unemployment Insurance Code |April 21, 1953 |[https://clerk.assembly.ca.gov/sites/clerk.assembly.ca.gov/files/archive/Statutes/1953/53Vol1_Chapters.pdf#page=852 Stats. 1953, Ch. 308], pp. 1457–1553 |- |<span class="anchor" id="Vehicle Code"></span>Vehicle Code |September 15, 1935 |[https://clerk.assembly.ca.gov/sites/clerk.assembly.ca.gov/files/archive/Statutes/1935/35Vol1_Chapters.pdf#page=48 Stats. 1935, Ch. 27], pp. 93–247 |- |Water Code |May 13, 1943 |[https://clerk.assembly.ca.gov/sites/clerk.assembly.ca.gov/files/archive/Statutes/1943/43Vol1_Chapters.pdf#page=1497 Stats. 1943, Ch. 368], pp. 1604–1896 |- |Welfare and Institutions Code |May 25, 1937 |[https://clerk.assembly.ca.gov/sites/clerk.assembly.ca.gov/files/archive/Statutes/1937/37vol1_Chapters.pdf#page=1008 Stats. 1937, Ch. 369], pp. 1005–1183 |}

==Repealed codes==

The following codes have been repealed: {| class="wikitable sortable" !Name of code !Date of adoption !Original source !Replaced by |- |Agricultural Code |February 7, 1933 |[https://clerk.assembly.ca.gov/sites/clerk.assembly.ca.gov/files/archive/Statutes/1933/33Vol1_Chapters.pdf#page=61 Stats. 1933, Ch. 25], pp. 60–298 |Food and Agricultural Code |- |Banking Code |June 24, 1949 |[https://clerk.assembly.ca.gov/sites/clerk.assembly.ca.gov/files/archive/Statutes/1949/49Vol1_Chapters.pdf#page=1375 Stats. 1949, Ch. 755], pp. 1376–1488 |Financial Code |- |Political Code |March 12, 1872 |(Haymond 1872, [https://books.google.com/books?id=WyJEAAAAYAAJ&pg=PR1 vol. 1] and [https://books.google.com/books?id=lcw3AAAAIAAJ&pg=PR1 vol. 2]) |Government Code |- |School Code |March 28, 1929 |[https://clerk.assembly.ca.gov/sites/clerk.assembly.ca.gov/files/archive/Statutes/1929/29Vol1_29Chapters.pdf#page=46 Stats. 1929, Ch. 23], p. 45 |Education Code |}

==Influence elsewhere==

The California Codes have been influential in a number of other U.S. jurisdictions, especially Puerto Rico. For example, on March 1, 1901, Puerto Rico enacted a Penal Code and Code of Criminal Procedure which were modeled after the California Penal Code,<ref name="pr1" /><ref name="pr2">See Special Provisions Under Former Section 1, History of the Penal Code of Puerto Rico, Title 32, ''Laws of Puerto Rico Annotated''.</ref> and on March 10, 1904, it enacted a Code of Civil Procedure modeled after the California Code of Civil Procedure.<ref name="pr3">See Special Provisions Under Former Section 1, History of the Code of Civil Procedure—Spanish Law, Title 33, ''Laws of Puerto Rico Annotated''.</ref> Thus, California case law interpreting those codes was treated as persuasive authority in Puerto Rico.<ref>''People v. Cirino'', 69 P.R.R. 488 (1949).</ref>

In 1941, the Puerto Rican Legislative Assembly joined the nationwide movement towards transferring civil procedure and evidentiary law into a system of rules promulgated by the courts, then abolished the judicial power to promulgate rules in 1946, then reinstated it in 1952 (subject to the right of the legislature to amend court rules before they went into effect).<ref name="pr3" /> Eventually, after much of its content was superseded by the Rules of Civil Procedure and the Rules of Evidence, most of the Code of Civil Procedure of Puerto Rico was rendered obsolete and was therefore repealed.<ref name="pr3" /> However, although the Penal Code of Puerto Rico underwent extensive recodification and renumbering in 1974,<ref name="pr2" /> many of its sections still bear a strong resemblance to their California relatives.<ref>Compare Cal. Pen. Code § 187(a) ("Murder is the unlawful killing of a human being, or a fetus, with malice aforethought") to 33 L.P.R.A. § 4001 ("Murder is the killing of a human being with malice aforethought").</ref>

The Code of Guam, implemented in 1933 by Governor George A. Alexander, was modeled after the California Codes.<ref>{{cite web|last=Saussotte |first=Marguerite |title=US Naval Era: Development of the Code of Guam |url=http://guampedia.com/us-naval-era-development-of-the-code-of-guam/ |work=Guampedia |publisher=University of Guam |access-date=11 May 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110726155048/http://guampedia.com/us-naval-era-development-of-the-code-of-guam/ |archive-date=26 July 2011 |url-status=live |location=Guam |date=12 August 2010}}</ref> Thus, Guam courts look to California case law to assist them with interpretation of the Code of Guam.<ref>''See Sumitomo Constr. Co., Ltd. v. Zhong Ye, Inc.'', 1997 Guam 8; 1997 WL 471506, at *2 (Guam 1997) ("[W]hen a legislature adopts a statute which is identical or similar to one in effect in another jurisdiction, it is presumed that the adopting jurisdiction applies the construction placed on the statute by the originating jurisdiction."); see also ''Fajardo v. Liberty House Guam'', 2000 Guam 4; 2000 WL 38719, at *4-5 (Guam 2000) (applying California case law where the Guam statute mirrored a California statute and "there is no compelling reason to deviate from [California's] interpretation of th[e] statute[ ].").</ref>

==History==

In 1868, the California Legislature authorized the first of many ''ad hoc'' Code Commissions to begin the process of codifying California law. Each Code Commission was a one- or two-year temporary agency which either closed at the end of the authorized period or was reauthorized and rolled over into the next period; thus, in some years there was no Code Commission.<ref name="Kleps">{{cite journal |last1=Kleps |first1=Ralph N. |title=The Revision and Codification of California Statutes 1849-1953 |journal=California Law Review |date=December 1954 |volume=42 |issue=5 |pages=766–802 |doi=10.2307/3477710 |url=https://lawcat.berkeley.edu/record/1109434/files/fulltext.pdf|jstor=3477710}}</ref> The first four codes enacted in 1872 were the Civil Code, the Code of Civil Procedure, the Penal Code, and the Political Code.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=CIV&sectionNum=23.|title=California Civil Code § 23|work=California Office of Legislative Counsel|access-date=February 12, 2019}}</ref><ref name="Martin">{{cite book|last1=Martin|first1=Daniel W.|title=Henke's California Law Guide|date=2006|publisher=Matthew Bender & Co.|location=Newark|isbn=08205-7595-X|pages=45–67|edition=8th}} Available through HeinOnline.</ref> Statutes that did not fit these categories were simply left uncodified in the California Statutes.

The four original California Codes were not drafted from scratch, but were mostly adapted by the Code Commission from codes prepared for the state of New York by the great law reformer David Dudley Field II.<ref name="Martin" /><ref name="Morriss">{{cite journal |last1=Morriss |first1=Andrew P. |title=Codification and Right Answers |journal=Chicago-Kent Law Review |date=April 1999 |volume=74 |issue=2 |pages=355–391 |url=https://scholarship.kentlaw.iit.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3270&context=cklawreview}}</ref> As a result of the Gold Rush, many New York lawyers had migrated to California, including Field's brother, Stephen Johnson Field, who would ultimately serve as California's fifth Chief Justice before being appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court. The strong New York influence on early California law started with the California Practice Act of 1851 (drafted with the help of Stephen Field), which was directly based upon the New York Code of Civil Procedure of 1850 (the Field Code). In turn, it was the California Practice Act that served as the foundation of the California Code of Civil Procedure. New York never enacted Field's proposed civil or political codes, and belatedly enacted his proposed penal and criminal procedure codes only after California, but they were the basis of the codes enacted by California in 1872.<ref name="Morriss" />

As noted above, the initial four codes were not fully comprehensive. As a result, California statutory law became disorganized as uncodified statutes continued to pile up in the California Statutes. After many years of on-and-off Code Commissions, the California Code Commission was finally established as a permanent government agency in 1929. In its first report, the Commission stated: "The California statutory law is in a deplorable condition ... law writers and publishers unite in considering it the worst statutory law in the country."<ref>Nathan M. Crystal, [https://digitalcommons.law.uw.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2228&context=wlr ''Codification and the Rise of the Restatement Movement''], 54 Wash. L. Rev. 239, 260 (1979).</ref> To staff the new permanent incarnation of the Code Commission, the state Legislature simply appointed the Legislative Counsel as the secretary of the Commission.<ref name="Kleps" /> Thus, as a practical matter, most of the real work was performed by the Legislative Counsel's deputies and then approved by the Code Commissioners.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kleps |first1=Ralph L. |title=The Function of the Legislative Counsel |journal=Appendix to the Journal of the Assembly, Legislature of the State of California, 1959 Regular Session |date=1959 |volume=3 |pages=48-56 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DD4evIVlyH0C&pg=RA10-PA56}} (At p. 56.)</ref>

The Commission spent the next 24 years analyzing the massive body of uncodified law in the California Statutes and drafting almost all the other codes. By 1953, when the Code Commission completed its assigned task and issued its final report on September 1 of that year, 25 Codes were then in existence.<ref name="Martin" /> That year, the legislature replaced the Code Commission with the California Law Revision Commission.<ref name="Kleps" /><ref name="Martin" /> Since then, the CLRC has been tasked with regularly reviewing the codes and proposing various amendments to the legislature.<ref name="Martin" /> Most of these are simple maintenance amendments to ensure that statutory cross-references are properly updated to add new laws or omit laws which no longer exist.

The newest code is the Family Code, which was split off from the Civil Code in 1994. Although there is a Code of Civil Procedure, there is no Code of Criminal Procedure.<ref name="pr1">See Paragraph 1, Annotations Under Former Section 10, Title 33, ''Laws of Puerto Rico Annotated''. This source notes that the Puerto Rico Penal Code and Code of Criminal Procedure as enacted in 1902 were directly drawn from the California Penal Code. But the Puerto Rico codification commission decided to part ways with California by splitting the procedural provisions into a separate Code of Criminal Procedure, since the population had been accustomed to having separate substantive and procedural criminal codes under the previous Spanish government.</ref> Instead, criminal procedure in California is codified in Part 2 of the Penal Code, while Part 1 is devoted to substantive criminal law.

==Interpretation==

The Codes contain, or are supposed to only contain ''general'' statutory law, with the emphasis on the word "general".<ref name="Martin" /> The legislature also regularly enacts a variety of other resolutions which are not laws of general application, such as annual budget bills, appropriation bills for specific periods of time, acts authorizing the purchase or disposition of land by the state government, and acts authorizing the issuance of bonds which terminate automatically upon repayment of the bonds.<ref name="Martin" /> The legislature also regularly approves resolutions honoring the accomplishments of various distinguished persons. Because of their limited application, all such matters are not incorporated into the Codes.

The Codes form an important part of California law. However, they must be read in combination with the federal and state constitutions, federal and state case law, and the California Code of Regulations, in order to understand how they are actually interpreted and enforced in court. The Civil Code is particularly difficult to understand since the Supreme Court of California has treated parts of the Code as a mere restatement of the common law. For example, in Li v. Yellow Cab Co., the Supreme Court acknowledged the Legislature's original intent in enacting Civil Code section 1714<ref>{{CalCiv|1714|}}</ref> to codify a contributory negligence scheme subject to the last clear chance doctrine, then held the legislature had not intended to freeze the common law in place and proceeded to judicially adopt comparative negligence. In contrast, other codes, such as the Probate Code and the Evidence Code, are considered to have fully displaced the common law, meaning that cases interpreting their provisions always try to give effect whenever possible to the Legislature's intent.

As noted above, the Legislative Counsel maintains an [http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes.xhtml online website] with the official text of the Codes.<ref name="Martin" /> The original four codes were printed as separate state documents in 1872 (but not as part of the ''California Statutes''), and were also published by commercial publishers in various versions, including as a set in 1872.<ref name="Martin" /> In lieu of an official set, unofficial annotated codes are widely available from private publishers.<ref name="Martin" /> West publishes ''West's Annotated California Codes'' and LexisNexis publishes ''Deering's California Codes Annotated''.<ref name="Martin" /> Although ''Deering's'' is much older,<ref name="Martin" /> ''West'' is the more popular of the two annotated codes. Libraries that lack sufficient shelf space to carry both codes—usually because they are small law libraries, public libraries serving the general public (as distinguished from public law libraries), or out-of-state libraries—usually carry only ''West'' and omit ''Deering's''.

There are also a handful of relatively minor statutes which were never codified and are not included in the Legislative Counsel's online copy, but probably ''should'' have been codified as they are laws of general application.<ref name="Martin" /> For example, certain initiative acts could not be codified by an act of the legislature because they were originally enacted by popular vote of the electorate.<ref name="Martin" /> The final Code Commission report of September 1, 1953 recommended that such statutes should be published in an appendix to whichever code they are most relevant and not grouped into a separate volume.<ref name="Martin" /> The unofficial annotated codes include those statutes either as appendixes to the codes in which they probably should have been codified, or within annotations to particular code sections; ''Deering's'' also prints the uncodified initiative acts in a separate volume.<ref name="Martin" />

==See also== * ''California Statutes'' * ''California Code of Regulations''

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== *[http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes.xhtml California Codes]

Category:California law Category:United States state legal codes Category:California law-related lists