PRELIMINARY PROVISIONS
Preliminary Provisions enacted 1872.
§§ 2–34 · 39 sections
- § 2 This Code takes effect at twelve o'clock noon, on the first day of January, eighteen hundred and seventy-three.
- § 3 No part of it is retroactive, unless expressly so declared.
- § 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…
- § 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…
- § 6 All persons who at the time this Code takes effect hold office under any of the Acts repealed, continue to hold the same according to the tenure thereof,…
- § 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…
- § 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…
- § 9 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…
- § 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.
- § 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…
- § 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…
- § 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…
- § 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…
- § 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…
- § 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…
- § 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)…
- § 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…
- § 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…
- § 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…
- § 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…
- § 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.…
- § 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…
- § 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…
- § 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…
- § 21 These remedies are divided into two classes: 1. Actions; and, 2. Special proceedings.
- § 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…
- § 23 Every other remedy is a special proceeding.
- § 24 Actions are of two kinds: 1. Civil; and, 2. Criminal.
- § 25 A civil action arises out of: 1. An obligation; 2. An injury.
- § 26 An obligation is a legal duty, by which one person is bound to do or not to do a certain thing, and arises from either of the following: (a) Contract. (b)…
- § 27 An injury is of two kinds: 1. To the person; and, 2. To property.
- § 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.
- § 29 Every other injury is an injury to the person.
- § 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.
- § 31 The Penal Code defines and provides for the prosecution of a criminal action.
- § 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.
- § 32.5 The “jurisdictional classification” of a case means its classification as a limited civil case or an unlimited civil case.
- § 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…
- § 34 An electronic signature, as defined in Section 17, by a court or judicial officer shall be as effective as an original signature.