CALIFORNIA LAW CALIFORNIA CODE OF CIVIL PROCEDURE Updated for 01.01.2016
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TITLE OF ACT
1. This act shall be known as the Code of Civil Procedure, and is divided into four parts, as follows:
Part I. Of Courts of Justice.
II. Of Civil Actions.
III. Of Special Proceedings of a Civil Nature.
IV. Miscellaneous Provisions.
(Amended by Stats. 1965, Ch. 299.)
THE CODE OF CIVIL PROCEDURE OF CALIFORNIA PRELIMINARY PROVISIONS
2. This Code takes effect at twelve o'clock noon, on the first day of January, eighteen hundred and seventy-three.
(Enacted 1872.)
3. No part of it is retroactive, unless expressly so declared.
(Enacted 1872.)
4. The rule of the common law, that statutes in derogation thereof are to be strictly construed, has no application to this Code. The Code establishes the law of this State respecting the subjects to which it relates, and its provisions and all proceedings under it are to be liberally construed, with a view to effect its objects and to promote justice.
(Enacted 1872.)
5. The provisions of this Code, so far as they are substantially the same as existing statutes, must be construed as continuations thereof, and not as new enactments.
(Enacted 1872.)
6. All persons who at the time this Code takes effect hold office under any of the Acts repealed, continue to hold the same according to the tenure thereof, except those offices which are not continued by one of the Codes adopted at this session of the Legislature.
(Enacted 1872.)
7. When any office is abolished by the repeal of any Act, and such Act is not in substance reënacted or continued in either of the Codes, such office ceases at the time the Codes take effect.
(Enacted 1872.)
8. No action or proceeding commenced before this Code takes effect, and no right accrued, is affected by its provisions, but the proceedings therein must conform to the requirements of this Code as far as applicable.
(Enacted 1872.)
[9.] Section Nine. When a limitation or period of time prescribed in any existing statute for acquiring a right or barring a remedy, or for any other purpose, has begun to run before this Code goes into effect, and the same or any limitation is prescribed in this Code, the time which has already run shall be deemed part of the time prescribed as such limitation by this Code.
(Amended by Code Amendments 1873-74, Ch. 383.)
10. Holidays within the meaning of this code are every Sunday and any other days that are specified or provided for as judicial holidays in Section 135.
(Amended by Stats. 2001, Ch. 542, Sec. 1. Effective January 1, 2002.)
11. Wherever any notice or other communication is required by this code to be mailed by registered mail by or to any person or corporation, the mailing of such notice or other communication by certified mail shall be deemed to be a sufficient compliance with the requirements of law.
(Added by Stats. 1959, Ch. 426.)
12. The time in which any act provided by law is to be done is computed by excluding the first day, and including the last, unless the last day is a holiday, and then it is also excluded.
(Enacted 1872.)
12a. (a) If the last day for the performance of any act provided or required by law to be performed within a specified period of time is a holiday, then that period is hereby extended to and including the next day that is not a holiday. For purposes of this section, “holiday” means all day on Saturdays, all holidays specified in Section 135 and, to the extent provided in Section 12b, all days that by terms of Section 12b are required to be considered as holidays.
(b) This section applies to Sections 659, 659a, and 921, and to all other provisions of law providing or requiring an act to be performed on a particular day or within a specified period of time, whether expressed in this or any other code or statute, ordinance, rule, or regulation.
(Amended by Stats. 2007, Ch. 263, Sec. 3. Effective January 1, 2008.)
12b. If any city, county, state, or public office, other than a branch office, is closed for the whole of any day, insofar as the business of that office is concerned, that day shall be considered as a holiday for the purposes of computing time under Sections 12 and 12a.
(Added by Stats. 1951, Ch. 655.)
12c. (a) Where any law requires an act to be performed no later than a specified number of days before a hearing date, the last day to perform that act shall be determined by counting backward from the hearing date, excluding the day of the hearing as provided by Section 12.
(b) Any additional days added to the specified number of days because of a particular method of service shall be computed by counting backward from the day determined in accordance with subdivision (a).
(Added by Stats. 2010, Ch. 41, Sec. 1. Effective January 1, 2011.)
13. Whenever any act of a secular nature, other than a work of necessity or mercy, is appointed by law or contract to be performed upon a particular day, which day falls upon a holiday, such act may be performed upon the next business day with the same effect as if it had been performed upon the day appointed.
(Enacted 1872.)
13a. Any act required by law to be performed on a particular day or within a specified period of time may be performed (but is not hereby required to be performed) on a special holiday as that term is used in Section 6705 of the Government Code, with like effect as if performed on a day which is not a holiday.
(Amended by Stats. 1959, Ch. 594.)
13b. Any act required by law to be performed on a particular day or within a specified period may be performed (but is not hereby required to be performed) on a Saturday, with like effect as if performed on a day which is not a holiday.
(Added by Stats. 1961, Ch. 1370.)
14. When the seal of a Court, public officer, or person is required by law to be affixed to any paper, the word “seal” includes an impression of such seal upon the paper alone as well as upon wax or a wafer affixed thereto.
(Enacted 1872.)
15. Words giving a joint authority to three or more public officers or other persons are construed as giving such authority to a majority of them, unless it is otherwise expressed in the Act giving the authority.
(Enacted 1872.)
16. Words and phrases are construed according to the context and the approved usage of the language; but technical words and phrases, and such others as have acquired a peculiar and appropriate meaning in law, or are defined in the succeeding section, are to be construed according to such peculiar and appropriate meaning or definition.
(Enacted 1872.)
17. (a) Words used in this code in the present tense include the future as well as the present. Words used in the masculine gender include the feminine and neuter. The singular number includes the plural and the plural number includes the singular.
(b) As used in this code,