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The
law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...
of
California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
consists of several levels, including
constitutional A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these princip ...
,
statutory A statute is a formal written enactment of a legislative authority that governs the legal entities of a city, state, or country by way of consent. Typically, statutes command or prohibit something, or declare policy. Statutes are rules made by le ...
, and
regulatory law Regulatory law refers to secondary legislation, including regulations, promulgated by an executive branch agency under a delegation from a legislature. It contrasts with statutory law promulgated by the legislative branch, and common law or case la ...
, as well as
case law Case law, also used interchangeably with common law, is law that is based on precedents, that is the judicial decisions from previous cases, rather than law based on constitutions, statutes, or regulations. Case law uses the detailed facts of a l ...
. The
California Codes The California Codes are 29 legal codes enacted by the California State Legislature, which together form the general statutory law of California. The official Codes are maintained by the California Office of Legislative Counsel for the Legislature ...
form the general statutory law, and most state agency regulations are available in the
California Code of Regulations The California Code of Regulations (CCR, Cal. Code Regs.) is the codification of the general and permanent rules and regulations (sometimes called administrative law) announced in the ''California Regulatory Notice Register'' by California state ...
.


Sources of law

The
Constitution of California The Constitution of California ( es, Constitución de California) is the primary organizing law for the U.S. state of California, describing the duties, powers, structures and functions of the government of California. California's original co ...
is the foremost source of state law. Legislation is enacted within the
California Statutes California Statutes (Cal. Stats., also cited as Stats. within the state) are the acts of the California State Legislature as approved according to the California Constitution and collated by the Secretary of State of California. A legislative bill ...
, which in turn have been codified into the 29
California Codes The California Codes are 29 legal codes enacted by the California State Legislature, which together form the general statutory law of California. The official Codes are maintained by the California Office of Legislative Counsel for the Legislature ...
. State agencies promulgate regulations with the
California Regulatory Notice Register The ''California Regulatory Notice Register'' (Notice Register or ''Z Register'') contains notices of proposed regulatory actions by California state agencies to adopt, amend, or repeal regulations contained in the ''California Code of Regulation ...
, which are in turn codified in the
California Code of Regulations The California Code of Regulations (CCR, Cal. Code Regs.) is the codification of the general and permanent rules and regulations (sometimes called administrative law) announced in the ''California Regulatory Notice Register'' by California state ...
. California's legal system is based on
common law In law, common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law created by judges and similar quasi-judicial tribunals by virtue of being stated in written opinions."The common law is not a brooding omnipresen ...
, which is interpreted by
case law Case law, also used interchangeably with common law, is law that is based on precedents, that is the judicial decisions from previous cases, rather than law based on constitutions, statutes, or regulations. Case law uses the detailed facts of a l ...
through the decisions of the
Supreme Court of California The Supreme Court of California is the highest and final court of appeals in the courts of the U.S. state of California. It is headquartered in San Francisco at the Earl Warren Building, but it regularly holds sessions in Los Angeles and Sacra ...
,
California Courts of Appeal The California Courts of Appeal are the state intermediate appellate courts in the U.S. state of California. The state is geographically divided along county lines into six appellate districts.
, and Appellate Divisions of the
Superior Courts of California Superior courts in California are the state trial courts with general jurisdiction to hear and decide any civil or criminal action which is not specially designated to be heard in some other court or before a governmental agency. As mandated by t ...
, and published in the ''
California Reports California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the mo ...
'', '' California Appellate Reports'', and ''California Appellate Reports Supplement'', respectively (among others). Counties and incorporated cities may promulgate
local ordinance A local ordinance is a law issued by a local government. such as a municipality, county, parish, prefecture, or the like. China In Hong Kong, all laws enacted by the territory's Legislative Council remain to be known as ''Ordinances'' () af ...
s which are usually codified in county or city codes, respectively. There are also several sources of persuasive authority, which are not binding authority but are useful to lawyers and judges insofar as they help to clarify the state of the law. These include opinions by federal courts on state law, and opinions of other state courts on relevant issues.


Primary sources


Constitutional law

The foremost source of state law is the
Constitution of California The Constitution of California ( es, Constitución de California) is the primary organizing law for the U.S. state of California, describing the duties, powers, structures and functions of the government of California. California's original co ...
, which like other state constitutions derives its power and legitimacy from the
sovereignty of the people Popular sovereignty is the principle that the authority of a state and its government are created and sustained by the consent of its people, who are the source of all political power. Popular sovereignty, being a principle, does not imply any ...
. The California Constitution in turn is subordinate to the
Constitution of the United States The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, in 1789. Originally comprising seven articles, it delineates the natio ...
, which is the supreme law of the land.


Legislation

Pursuant to the state constitution, the California State Legislature and the Governor have enacted the
California Statutes California Statutes (Cal. Stats., also cited as Stats. within the state) are the acts of the California State Legislature as approved according to the California Constitution and collated by the Secretary of State of California. A legislative bill ...
, which in turn have been codified into the 29
California Codes The California Codes are 29 legal codes enacted by the California State Legislature, which together form the general statutory law of California. The official Codes are maintained by the California Office of Legislative Counsel for the Legislature ...
. The first four codes, enacted in 1872, were the Civil Code, the Code of Civil Procedure, the Penal Code, and the Political Code (which much later would become the Elections Code). However, these did not constitute a complete codification, and statutes on subject matter inappropriate for the four codes were simply not codified. In 1929, the Legislature finally established the California Code Commission as a permanent government agency (it had previously existed only intermittently on an ''ad hoc'' temporary basis), and it spent the next thirty years slowly codifying the rest of the California Statutes. Upon completing this task in 1953, the Code Commission was replaced by the
California Law Revision Commission The California Law Revision Commission (CLRC) is an independent California state agency responsible for recommending reforms of state law. Duties The CLRC makes recommendations to the California State Legislature to correct defects in California ...
. Strangely, although there is a Code of Civil Procedure, there was never a Code of Criminal Procedure; California's law of criminal procedure is codified in Part 2 of the Penal Code. The newest code is the Family Code, which was split off from the Civil Code in 1994.


Regulations

Pursuant to certain broadly worded statutes, state agencies have promulgated an enormous body of regulations, which are codified in the
California Code of Regulations The California Code of Regulations (CCR, Cal. Code Regs.) is the codification of the general and permanent rules and regulations (sometimes called administrative law) announced in the ''California Regulatory Notice Register'' by California state ...
(CCR) and carry the force of law to the extent they do not conflict with any statutes or the state or federal Constitutions. Pursuant to the
California Administrative Procedure Act The California Administrative Procedure Act (APA) is a series of acts of the California Legislature first enacted 15 June 1945 that requires California state agencies to adopt regulations in accordance with its provisions. It predates the federal ...
, a "Notice of Proposed Action" is published in the
California Regulatory Notice Register The ''California Regulatory Notice Register'' (Notice Register or ''Z Register'') contains notices of proposed regulatory actions by California state agencies to adopt, amend, or repeal regulations contained in the ''California Code of Regulation ...
(Notice Register) and at least 45 days are required for public hearings and comment before being reviewed and approved by the
California Office of Administrative Law The California Office of Administrative Law (OAL) is the California agency responsible for carrying out the rulemaking part of the California Administrative Procedure Act. It is overseen by the California Government Operations Agency. The OAL is ...
(OAL) and codified in the CCR. The
Judicial Council of California The Judicial Council of California is the rule-making arm of the California court system. In accordance with the California Constitution and under the leadership of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of California, the council is responsible f ...
has also promulgated the
California Rules of Court California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the mo ...
, which includes such publications as the Standards of Judicial Administration and the Ethics Standards for Neutral Arbitrators in Contractual Arbitrations, under the authority of article VI, section 6, of the Constitution of California.


Local ordinances

California has several different types of local governments throughout the state. California is divided into 58
counties A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...
, including
San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
(a
consolidated city–county In United States local government, a consolidated city-county is formed when one or more cities and their surrounding county ( parish in Louisiana, borough in Alaska) merge into one unified jurisdiction. As such it has the governmental powers o ...
with the powers of both types of entities) and municipal areas incorporated as
cities A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...
. All of the state's territory is within one of the counties, but not all of it is within the boundaries of a city; the areas not under city control are called
unincorporated area An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...
s and are directly managed by county governments.
School district A school district is a special-purpose district that operates local public primary and secondary schools in various nations. North America United States In the U.S, most K–12 public schools function as units of local school districts, wh ...
s, which are independent of cities and counties, handle public education. Many other functions, especially in unincorporated areas, are handled by special districts, which include
municipal utility district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...
s,
transit district A transit district or transit authority is a government agency or a Statutory corporation, public-benefit corporation created for the purpose of providing public transportation within a specific region. A transit district may operate bus, Rail ...
s, vector control districts, and geologic hazard abatement districts. Counties and incorporated cities may promulgate
ordinance Ordinance may refer to: Law * Ordinance (Belgium), a law adopted by the Brussels Parliament or the Common Community Commission * Ordinance (India), a temporary law promulgated by the President of India on recommendation of the Union Cabinet * ...
s which are usually codified in county codes and city codes, respectively. Every act prohibited or declared unlawful, and every failure to perform an act required, by the ordinances are
misdemeanor A misdemeanor (American English, spelled misdemeanour elsewhere) is any "lesser" criminal act in some common law legal systems. Misdemeanors are generally punished less severely than more serious felonies, but theoretically more so than adm ...
crimes, unless otherwise specified as
infraction A summary offence or petty offence is a violation in some common law jurisdictions that can be proceeded against summarily, without the right to a jury trial and/or indictment (required for an indictable offence). Canada In Canada, summary offen ...
s.


Binding legal precedents

California's legal system is based on
common law In law, common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law created by judges and similar quasi-judicial tribunals by virtue of being stated in written opinions."The common law is not a brooding omnipresen ...
. Like all U.S. states except
Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...
, California has a
reception statute A reception statute is a statutory law adopted as a former British colony becomes independent by which the new nation adopts, or receives, the English common law before its independence to the extent not explicitly rejected by the legislative body ...
providing for the "reception" of
English law English law is the common law legal system of England and Wales, comprising mainly criminal law and civil law, each branch having its own courts and procedures. Principal elements of English law Although the common law has, historically, be ...

California Civil Code Section 22.2
is as follows: "The common law of England, so far as it is not repugnant to or inconsistent with the Constitution of the United States, or the Constitution or laws of this State, is the rule of decision in all the courts of this State." This statute was signed into law on April 13, 1850 after several months of debate over whether California should adopt common law, civil law, or a hybrid of both. Governor
Peter Hardeman Burnett Peter Hardeman Burnett (November 15, 1807May 17, 1895) was an American politician who served as the first elected Governor of California from December 20, 1849, to January 9, 1851. Burnett was elected Governor almost one year before California's ...
touched off the debate by recommending to California's first state legislature that the state should borrow
Louisiana's Civil Code The ''Louisiana Civil Code'' (LCC) constitutes the core of private law in the State of Louisiana. The Louisiana Civil Code is based on a more diverse set of sources than the laws of the other 49 states of the United States: substantive law between ...
and Code of Practice (that state's name for a code of civil procedure) and use the common law for everything else. A minority of lawyers led by
John W. Dwinelle John Whipple Dwinelle (September 9, 1816 – January 28, 1881) was an American lawyer and politician. He served in a number of political posts in California and played important roles in both the legal history of San Francisco and the establishm ...
wanted to adopt the civil law, but the majority of lawyers and Senate Judiciary Committee chair
Elisha Oscar Crosby Elisha Oscar Crosby (July 18, 1818 - June 25, 1895) was an American lawyer, politician and diplomat. He served as a member of the California State Senate from 1849 to 1852. As a state senator, he served as chair of the Judiciary Committee, and in ...
wanted to adopt the common law, and the latter position was duly adopted by the Judiciary Committee in its report to the Senate in February 1850. All statutes, regulations, and ordinances are subject to
judicial review Judicial review is a process under which executive, legislative and administrative actions are subject to review by the judiciary. A court with authority for judicial review may invalidate laws, acts and governmental actions that are incompat ...
. They can be overturned by any state court of record if they impermissibly amend an
initiative In political science, an initiative (also known as a popular initiative or citizens' initiative) is a means by which a petition signed by a certain number of registered voters can force a government to choose either to enact a law or hold a pu ...
statute, are unconstitutional under the
U.S. Constitution The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, in 1789. Originally comprising seven articles, it delineates the natio ...
or the California Constitution, or be overturned by a federal court if they are unconstitutional under the U.S. Constitution. Pursuant to
common law In law, common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law created by judges and similar quasi-judicial tribunals by virtue of being stated in written opinions."The common law is not a brooding omnipresen ...
tradition, the courts of California have developed a large body of
case law Case law, also used interchangeably with common law, is law that is based on precedents, that is the judicial decisions from previous cases, rather than law based on constitutions, statutes, or regulations. Case law uses the detailed facts of a l ...
through the decisions of the
Supreme Court of California The Supreme Court of California is the highest and final court of appeals in the courts of the U.S. state of California. It is headquartered in San Francisco at the Earl Warren Building, but it regularly holds sessions in Los Angeles and Sacra ...
and the
California Courts of Appeal The California Courts of Appeal are the state intermediate appellate courts in the U.S. state of California. The state is geographically divided along county lines into six appellate districts.
. The state supreme court's decisions are published in official
reporters A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...
known as ''
California Reports California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the mo ...
''. The decisions of the Courts of Appeal are published in the '' California Appellate Reports''. Both official reporters are now in their fourth series. The content of both reporters is compiled and edited by the
California Reporter of Decisions The California Reporter of Decisions is a reporter of decisions supervised by the Supreme Court of California responsible for editing and publishing the published opinions of the judiciary of California. The Supreme Court's decisions are published ...
. The Reporter maintains a contract with a private publisher (as allowed by Government Code Section 68903) who in turn is responsible for actually publishing and selling the official reporters. The current official publisher is
LexisNexis LexisNexis is a part of the RELX corporation that sells data analytics products and various databases that are accessed through online portals, including portals for computer-assisted legal research (CALR), newspaper search, and consumer informa ...
. In addition to the official reporters, published California cases are also printed in two
Thomson West Thomson may refer to: Names * Thomson (surname), a list of people with this name and a description of its origin * Thomson baronets, four baronetcies created for persons with the surname Thomson Businesses and organizations * SGS-Thomson Mic ...
unofficial reporters: the regional ''Pacific Reporter'' and the state-specific ''California Reporter'' (both now in their third series). All Supreme Court decisions are published, but less than 10% of Court of Appeal decisions are published. "Unpublished" decisions handed down after 1980 are generally available through the LexisNexis and
Westlaw Westlaw is an online legal research service and proprietary database for lawyers and legal professionals available in over 60 countries. Information resources on Westlaw include more than 40,000 databases of case law, state and federal statute ...
databases, but are useful only for academic researchers or as an aid in finding relevant published decisions. An unpublished decision in a criminal or civil action generally cannot be cited in any other action in any California court. Because the state supreme court was extremely overloaded with cases during its first half-century (resulting in the creation of the Courts of Appeal in 1904), a few hundred minor opinions that ''should'' have been published simply were not. In response, a small group of lawyers later undertook the tedious task of plowing through the state archives to recover and compile such opinions, which were published in a separate reporter called ''California Unreported Cases'' starting in 1913. Despite the reporter's name, those decisions are also citable as precedent, since they would have been published but for the court's severely disorganized condition at the time they were issued. The orders and decisions of the
Superior Courts of California Superior courts in California are the state trial courts with general jurisdiction to hear and decide any civil or criminal action which is not specially designated to be heard in some other court or before a governmental agency. As mandated by t ...
in their capacity as trial courts are never published. However, the appellate divisions of the superior courts (which hear appeals from infractions, misdemeanors, and "limited civil" cases) occasionally certify opinions for publication, which appear in a "Supplement" to the ''California Appellate Reports''. The
California Court Case Management System The California Court Case Management System (CCMS) is the court case management system intended for use by the several courts of the judiciary of California, which includes the Supreme Court, 6 Courts of Appeal, and 58 Superior Courts. Fees Pu ...
(CCMS) is the
court case A legal case is in a general sense a dispute between opposing parties which may be resolved by a court, or by some equivalent legal process. A legal case is typically based on either civil or criminal law. In most legal cases there are one or mor ...
management and
electronic court filing Electronic court filing (ECF), or e-filing, is the automated transmission of legal documents from an attorney, party, or self-represented litigant to a court, from a court to an attorney, and from an attorney or other user to another attorney or o ...
(e-filing) system intended for use by the several courts, though development has been stalled since 2012. Since then, all courts not yet on CCMS have resorted to a variety of alternative solutions.


Secondary sources


Non-binding legal precedents

Even when a prior legal decision does not create a binding precedent, the text of the court's opinion may still help lawyers and judges understand California law. Some types of prior decisions may be cited as non-binding authority in California courts, while others can only be consulted informally. The most powerful form of non-binding authority in California are the portions of appellate opinions known as
dicta In general usage, a dictum ( in Latin; plural dicta) is an authoritative or dogmatic statement. In some contexts, such as legal writing and church cantata librettos, ''dictum'' can have a specific meaning. Legal writing In United States legal term ...
, in which a court discusses legal issues that it is not obligated to decide in the case before it. Dicta from the California Supreme Court is entitled to great weight, and the Court of Appeal rarely exercises its power to disregard the high court's gratuitous statements about California law. Cases from other states are often cited in California appellate opinions, particularly when the out-of-state decisions disagree with one another. However, this occurs less in California than in smaller jurisdictions, because the state's tremendous size guarantees that most legal issues have already been decided by some prior California court. Decisions from federal courts are also frequently cited as a source of persuasive authority about California law, even by the California Supreme Court. Although California courts have no obligation to follow federal precedents about matters of state law, they generally follow federal decisions on issues of federal law, even though they are only required to do so when an issue has been settled by the United States Supreme Court. Unpublished decisions from California courts are also an important source of information about state law, even though they cannot be cited in future cases. Technically, the Court of Appeal is obligated to publish any opinion that materially contributes to the development of California caselaw, but this rule is not strictly followed, and the Court of Appeal often fails to publish opinions until a party submits a request to that effect.


Legal treatises

Legal treatises are one of the most important sources of secondary authority about California law. These texts are expressly recognized as a source of 'unwritten law' by California's Code of Civil Procedure. The two most influential treatises are published by The Witkin Legal Institute Summary of California Law and The
Rutter Group The Rutter Group, founded by William Rutter, is a business of Thomson Reuters that publishes materials for lawyers and judges in the United States, with a particular focus on California. The Rutter Group is well known for its ''Rutter Group Pract ...
. Both are divided into discrete volumes about specific areas of the law, and each of the volumes is authored by a panel of judges and lawyers with special expertise in the particular topic. Collectively, these volumes have been cited thousands of times in judicial opinions.


Unique features

Because California law is enormous, it is necessary to focus only on a few features which are unique to California law, when compared to the laws of its sister states as well as federal law.


Popular sovereignty

California has a powerful tradition of
popular sovereignty Popular sovereignty is the principle that the authority of a state and its government are created and sustained by the consent of its people, who are the source of all political power. Popular sovereignty, being a principle, does not imply any ...
, which is reflected in the frequent use of initiatives to amend the state constitution, as well as the former state constitutional requirement (repealed in 1966 and enacted as Government Code Section 100) that all government process shall be styled in the name of "the People of the State of California".. (Government Code Section 100 also expressly states that sovereignty resides in the people.) This means that all criminal prosecutions and all enacted laws are done in the name of "the People", rather than "the State" or "the Commonwealth" as in much of the United States. The preambles of the state's two open meeting laws, the
Brown Act The Ralph M. Brown Act is a California law that guarantees the public's right to attend and participate in meetings of local legislative bodies. Located at California Government Code 54950 ''et seq.'', it is an act of the California State Legislat ...
and the
Bagley-Keene Act The Bagley-Keene Act of 1967, officially known as the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act, implements a provision of the California Constitution which declares that "the meetings of public bodies and the writings of public officials and agencies shall be ...
, both contain the same sentence: "The people of this state do not yield their sovereignty to the agencies which serve them."


Statutory structure and citation

California is unusual in that like Texas and New York, and unlike 46 other states, it has separate subject-specific codes rather than a single code divided into numbered titles. (Louisiana is a hybrid that uses both.) During the state's first century, the California Legislature was rather sloppy in drafting statutes. This has resulted in two bizarre anomalies in California statutory law. First, some acts are designated as "Acts" and others are designated as "Laws", with no coherent distinction between the two. A typical example of this problem was in California consumer law, where an injured consumer previously could attempt to sue on behalf of all similarly injured consumers under the
Unfair Competition Law Anti-competitive practices are business or government practices that prevent or reduce Competition (economics), competition in a market. Antitrust laws differ among state and federal laws to ensure businesses do not engage in competitive practice ...
and the
Consumers Legal Remedies Act The California Consumers Legal Remedies Act ("CLRA") is the name for California Civil Code §§ 1750 et seq. The CLRA declare unlawful several "methods of competition and unfair or deceptive acts or practices undertaken by any person in a transacti ...
until 2004 when voters enacted Proposition 64 requiring the person filing suit to claim to be aggrieved by the alleged violation(s). The second oddity is that California is the only state that always precedes a citation to statute subsections with the word "subdivision" (abbreviated in some contexts to "subd."). The reason is that the Legislature often failed to leave gaps in the section numbering in the California codes for future expansion, and then occasionally resorted to the shortsighted technique of appending an alphabetical letter to a section number in order to insert a new section between two existing sections on similar subject matter. For example, the
summary judgment In law, a summary judgment (also judgment as a matter of law or summary disposition) is a judgment entered by a court A court is any person or institution, often as a government institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes ...
statute in California is Section 437c of the Code of Civil Procedure. But alphabetical letters are traditionally used in the U.S. to designate ''subsections'' of statutes. To avoid confusion as to whether one is citing section 437c (that is, the section with number 437c) or 437(c) (subsection (c) of the section numbered 437), the "subdivision" prefix must be used when citing any subsection of ''all'' California statutes. Similar to New York, but unlike most other states and the federal judiciary, nearly all of California
civil procedure Civil procedure is the body of law that sets out the rules and standards that courts follow when adjudicating civil lawsuits (as opposed to procedures in criminal law matters). These rules govern how a lawsuit or case may be commenced; what ki ...
law is located in the Code of Civil Procedure (a statute) rather than in the California Rules of Court (a set of regulations promulgated by the judiciary). Therefore, whenever the
Judicial Council of California The Judicial Council of California is the rule-making arm of the California court system. In accordance with the California Constitution and under the leadership of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of California, the council is responsible f ...
identifies a significant defect in California civil procedure, it must lobby the Legislature and the Governor to change the statutes, rather than merely promulgating a simple rule change. This can be problematic as even noncontroversial technical amendments may be stalled due to unrelated disputes between the Legislature and Governor. A recent example is the California Electronic Discovery Act, which was vetoed in October 2008 (along with many other bills) by Governor
Arnold Schwarzenegger Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger (born July 30, 1947) is an Austrian and American actor, film producer, businessman, retired professional bodybuilder and politician who served as the 38th governor of California between 2003 and 2011. ''Time'' ...
simply as his expression of disgust with the Legislature's inability to fix the state's dysfunctional budget, rather than because of any substantive defect in the bill itself. The Electronic Discovery Act had to be reintroduced in the next legislative session and was finally signed by the Governor on June 29, 2009.


Codification

Unlike the majority of states, contract law is fully codified in the Civil Code (which even includes details such as a definition of
consideration Consideration is a concept of English common law and is a necessity for simple contracts but not for special contracts (contracts by deed). The concept has been adopted by other common law jurisdictions. The court in ''Currie v Misa'' declared ...
). However, the Restatement of Contracts (Second) is also used by California courts.
Non-compete clause In contract law, a non-compete clause (often NCC), restrictive covenant, or covenant not to compete (CNC), is a clause under which one party (usually an employee) agrees not to enter into or start a similar profession or trade in competition agains ...
s are automatically void except for a small number of exceptions. Evidence privileges are fully codified in the
California Evidence Code The California Evidence Code (abbreviated to Evid. Code in the California Style Manual) is a California code that was enacted by the California State Legislature on May 18, 1965 to codify the formerly mostly common-law law of evidence. Section 351 ...
(meaning if it's not codified it doesn't exist), in contrast to the
Federal Rules of Evidence First adopted in 1975, the Federal Rules of Evidence codify the evidence law that applies in United States federal courts. In addition, many states in the United States have either adopted the Federal Rules of Evidence, with or without local v ...
, which has allowed a residual exception for continuous development of privileges under the common law.


Celebrity justice

The huge concentration of celebrities in
Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood, ...
has resulted in a large number of statutes custom-tailored to the needs of celebrities, such as the
California Celebrities Rights Act The Celebrities Rights Act or Celebrity Rights Act was passed in California in 1985, which enabled a celebrity's personality rights to survive his or her death. Previously, the 1979 ''Lugosi v. Universal Pictures'' decision by the California Suprem ...
, as well as the 1990 enactment of the first anti-
stalking Stalking is unwanted and/or repeated surveillance by an individual or group toward another person. Stalking behaviors are interrelated to harassment and intimidation and may include following the victim in person or monitoring them. The ter ...
law anywhere in the United States (which inspired the enactment of similar laws across the country). Celebrities' marital problems (and their ability to pay to litigate them thoroughly) have resulted in a very detailed Family Code, a rich corpus of family case law, and a large number of family law specialists officially certified by the State Bar of California.
Lee Marvin Lee Marvin (born Lamont Waltman Marvin Jr.; February 19, 1924August 29, 1987) was an American film and television actor. Known for his bass voice and premature white hair, he is best remembered for playing hardboiled "tough guy" characters. Alth ...
,
Barry Bonds Barry Lamar Bonds (born July 24, 1964) is an American former professional baseball left fielder who played 22 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB). Bonds was a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1986 to 1992 and the San Francisco Giants f ...
, and
Frankie Valli Francesco Stephen Castelluccio (born May 3, 1934), better known by his stage name Frankie Valli, is an American singer, known as the frontman of the Four Seasons beginning in 1960. He is known for his unusually powerful lead falsetto voice. ...
are among the celebrities whose marital disputes were litigated before the Supreme Court of California. Celebrities' spouses often attempt to establish California jurisdiction over marital disputes, since the state's community property system (under which a 50/50 split of marital assets is strictly mandated by statute) is more favorable to the noncelebrity spouse who earned less during the marriage than the celebrity spouse. The widespread distribution of
Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood, ...
motion picture A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...
s and
television show A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, or cable, excluding breaking news, advertisements, or trailers that are typically placed betw ...
s has given millions of media consumers worldwide some degree of superficial familiarity with California law. For example, the section numbers of the
California Penal Code The Penal Code of California forms the basis for the application of most criminal law, criminal procedure, penal institutions, and the execution of sentences, among other things, in the American state of California. It was originally enacted ...
have become familiar to viewers around the world. Section
187 (murder) Section 187 (often referred to in slang simply as 187) of the California Penal Code defines the crime of murder. The number is commonly pronounced by reading the digits separately as "one-eight-seven", or "one-eighty-seven", rather than "one hun ...
is probably the most well-known.


Powerful, innovative or controversial laws

The
Unruh Civil Rights Act The Unruh Civil Rights Act (colloquially the "Unruh Act") is an expansive 1959 California law that prohibits any business in California from engaging in unlawful discrimination against all persons (consumers) within California's jurisdiction, where ...
and the
California Fair Employment and Housing Act The California Fair Employment and Housing Act of 1959, codified as Government Code §§12900 - 12996, is a California statute used to fight sexual harassment and other forms of unlawful discrimination in employment and housing, which was passed on ...
are among the most powerful
civil rights Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life of ...
laws in the United States. Both offer much broader coverage and more generous remedies than their federal equivalents. California appellate courts were the first in the United States to begin carving out exceptions to
at-will employment In United States labor law, at-will employment is an employer's ability to dismiss an employee for any reason (that is, without having to establish " just cause" for termination), and without warning, as long as the reason is not illegal (e.g. fi ...
, in 1959. The
California Environmental Quality Act The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) is a California statute passed in 1970 and signed in to law by then-Governor Ronald Reagan, shortly after the United States federal government passed the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), t ...
(Public Resources Code Sec. 21000, ''et seq.'') (CEQA) has far more lenient
standing Standing, also referred to as orthostasis, is a position in which the body is held in an ''erect'' ("orthostatic") position and supported only by the feet. Although seemingly static, the body rocks slightly back and forth from the ankle in the s ...
requirements than the federal
National Environmental Policy Act The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) is a United States environmental law that promotes the enhancement of the environment and established the President's Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ). The law was enacted on January 1, 1970.Un ...
, with the result that it is much easier for California landowners to sue each other than comparable landowners in other states. California is renowned for its innovations in
tort A tort is a civil wrong that causes a claimant to suffer loss or harm, resulting in legal liability for the person who commits the tortious act. Tort law can be contrasted with criminal law, which deals with criminal wrongs that are punishable ...
law, including
strict liability In criminal and civil law, strict liability is a standard of liability under which a person is legally responsible for the consequences flowing from an activity even in the absence of fault or criminal intent on the part of the defendant. ...
for defective products,
insurance bad faith Insurance bad faith is a tort unique to the law of the United States (but with parallels elsewhere, particularly Canada) that an insurance company commits by violating the "implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing" which automatically exis ...
, market-share liability,
negligent infliction of emotional distress The tort of negligent infliction of emotional distress (NIED) is a controversial cause of action, which is available in nearly all U.S. states but is severely constrained and limited in the majority of them. The underlying concept is that one has ...
, and
wrongful life Wrongful life is the name given to a cause of action in which someone is sued by a severely disability, disabled child (through the child's legal guardian) for failing to prevent the child's birth. Typically, a child and the child's parents will s ...
. The California
three strikes law In the United States, habitual offender laws (commonly referred to as three-strikes laws) have been implemented since at least 1952, and are part of the United States Justice Department's Anti-Violence Strategy. These laws require a person who i ...
(codified in the Penal Code) has resulted in severe penalties in some cases and has been somewhat controversial in its application.
Proposition 13 Proposition 13 (officially named the People's Initiative to Limit Property Taxation) is an amendment of the Constitution of California enacted during 1978, by means of the initiative process. The initiative was approved by California voters on J ...
, passed by California voters in 1978, created one of the strongest limits on property tax in the country. The law limits a property's total tax rate for all local governments to 1% of "taxable value". Taxable value is defined as the most recent purchase price of the property, plus increases each year of 2% or the rate of inflation, whichever is lower.


See also

*
California State Legislature The California State Legislature is a bicameral state legislature consisting of a lower house, the California State Assembly, with 80 members; and an upper house, the California State Senate, with 40 members. Both houses of the Legisla ...
* Davis-Stirling Common Interest Development Act *
Van Camp accounting Van Camp accounting is one of the two methods California community property law uses to deal with community funds and/or labor used to enhance the value of separate property. The method is named after a 1921 divorce case, ''Van Camp v. Van Camp''. ...
, one of two methods for classifying community property in California * Pereira accounting, the other major method for classifying community property in California


References


External links


California Legislative Information
from the Office of Legislative Counsel of California
Local ordinance codes
from
Public.Resource.Org Public.Resource.Org (PRO) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation dedicated to publishing and sharing public domain materials in the United States and internationally. It was founded by Carl Malamud and is based in Sebastopol, California. Public.Re ...

California Legislative & Regulatory Sources
from the
University of California, Berkeley Library System Thirty-one constituent and affiliated libraries combine to make the library system of the University of California, Berkeley the seventh largest research library by number of volumes in the United States. As of 2021, Berkeley's library system ho ...

California Legal Materials
from the
Legal Information Institute The Legal Information Institute (LII) is a non-profit, public service of Cornell Law School that provides no-cost access to current American and international legal research sources online alaw.cornell.edu The organization is a pioneer in the del ...
* Case law: {{Laws of the United States by U.S. state
California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
Publications of the Government of California