“Affinity” signifies the connection existing in consequence of marriage, between each of the married persons and the blood relatives of the other when applied to the marriage relation.
(2) “County” includes “city and county.”
(3) “Electronic signature” means an electronic sound, symbol, or process attached to or logically associated with an electronic record and executed or adopted by a person with the intent to sign the electronic record.
(4) “Month” means a calendar month, unless otherwise expressed.
(5) “Oath” includes an affirmation or declaration.
(A) “Depose” includes any written statement made under oath or affirmation.
(B) “Testify” includes any mode of oral statement made under oath or affirmation.
(6) “Person” includes a corporation as well as a natural person.
(7) “Process” signifies a writ or summons issued in the course of a judicial proceeding.
(8) “Property” includes both personal and real property.
(A) “Personal property” includes money, goods, chattels, things in action, and evidences of debt.
(B) “Real property” is coextensive with lands, tenements, and hereditaments.
(9) “Section” refers to a section of this code, unless some other code or statute is expressly mentioned.
(10) “Sheriff” includes marshal.
(11) “Signature” or “subscription” includes a mark of a person’s name, if the person cannot write, with his or her name being written near it by a person who writes his or her own name as a witness. In order that a mark may be acknowledged or serve as the signature to any sworn statement, it shall be witnessed by two persons who shall subscribe their own names as witnesses thereto.
(12) “State” includes the District of Columbia and the territories when applied to the different parts of the United States, and the words “United States” may include the district and territories.
(13) “Will” includes codicil.
(14) “Writ” means an order or precept in writing, issued in the name of the people, or of a court or judicial officer.
(15) “Writing” includes printing and typewriting.
(Amended by Stats. 2015, Ch. 32, Sec. 1. Effective January 1, 2016.)
18. No statute, law, or rule is continued in force because it is consistent with the provisions of this Code on the same subject; but in all cases provided for by this Code, all statutes, laws, and rules heretofore in force in this State, whether consistent or not with the provisions of this Code, unless expressly continued in force by it, are repealed and abrogated. This repeal or abrogation does not revive any former law heretofore repealed, nor does it affect any right already existing or accrued, or any action or proceeding already taken, except as in this Code provided; nor does it affect any private statute not expressly repealed.
(Enacted 1872.)
19. This Act, whenever cited, enumerated, referred to, or amended, may be designated simply as “The Code of Civil Procedure,” adding, when necessary, the number of the section.
(Enacted 1872.)
20. Judicial remedies are such as are administered by the Courts of justice, or by judicial officers empowered for that purpose by the Constitution and statutes of this State.
(Enacted 1872.)
21. These remedies are divided into two classes:
1. Actions; and,
2. Special proceedings.
(Enacted 1872.)
22. An action is an ordinary proceeding in a court of justice by which one party prosecutes another for the declaration, enforcement, or protection of a right, the redress or prevention of a wrong, or the punishment of a public offense.
(Amended by Stats. 1933, Ch. 742.)
23. Every other remedy is a special proceeding.
(Enacted 1872.)
24. Actions are of two kinds:
1. Civil; and,
2. Criminal.
(Enacted 1872.)
25. A civil action arises out of:
1. An obligation;
2. An injury.
(Enacted 1872.)
[26.] Section Twenty-six. An obligation is a legal duty, by which one person is bound to do or not to do a certain thing, and arises from:
One — Contract; or,
Two — Operation of law.
(Amended by Code Amendments 1873-74, Ch. 383.)
27. An injury is of two kinds:
1. To the person; and,
2. To property.
(Enacted 1872.)
28. An injury to property consists in depriving its owner of the benefit of it, which is done by taking, withholding, deteriorating, or destroying it.
(Enacted 1872.)
29. Every other injury is an injury to the person.
(Enacted 1872.)
30. A civil action is prosecuted by one party against another for the declaration, enforcement or protection of a right, or the redress or prevention of a wrong.
(Amended by Stats. 1933, Ch. 742.)
31. The Penal Code defines and provides for the prosecution of a criminal action.
(Enacted 1872.)
32. When the violation of a right admits of both a civil and criminal remedy, the right to prosecute the one is not merged in the other.
(Enacted 1872.)
32.5. The “jurisdictional classification” of a case means its classification as a limited civil case or an unlimited civil case.
(Amended by Stats. 2002, Ch. 784, Sec. 22. Effective January 1, 2003.)
33. A prosecuting attorney, in his or her discretion, may assist in the civil resolution of a violation of an offense described in Title 13 (commencing with Section 450) of Part 1 of the Penal Code in lieu of filing a criminal complaint.
(Added by Stats. 1982, Ch. 1518, Sec. 1.)
34. An electronic signature, as defined in Section 17, by a court or judicial officer shall be as effective as an original signature.
(Added by Stats. 2015, Ch. 32, Sec. 2. Effective January 1, 2016.)
PART 1. OF COURTS OF JUSTICE
TITLE 1. ORGANIZATION AND JURISDICTION
CHAPTER 1.
COURTS OF JUSTICE IN GENERAL
35. Proceedings in cases involving the registration or denial of registration of voters, the certification or denial of certification of candidates, the certification or denial of certification of ballot measures, and election contests shall be placed on the calendar in the order of their date of filing and shall be given precedence.
(Added by Stats. 1971, Ch. 980.)
36. (a) A party to a civil action who is over 70 years of age may petition the court for a preference, which the court shall grant if the court makes both of the following findings:
(1) The party has a substantial interest