THE CIVIL CODE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA. AN ACT TO ESTABLISH A CIVIL CODE. The People of the State of California, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows: GENERAL DEFINITIONS AND DIVISIONS. SECTION 1. Title of Code. 2. When to take effect. 3. Definition of law. 4. Action of sovereign power. 5. The common law the rule of decision. 6. Two kinds of common law. 7. No common law, where the law is declared by this Code. 8. Two kinds of civil rights. 9. Rights, how modified. 10. Divisions of this Code. SECTION 1. This Act shall be known as the CIVIL CODE Title of Code OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA. When to take effect. Definition of law. Action of sovereign power. The common law rule the rule of decision. of SEC. 2. This Code shall take effect on the day eighteen hundred and seventy-two, at twelve o'clock, noon. N. Y. C. C., Sec. 2034. SEC. 3. Law is a rule of property and of conduct, prescribed by the supreme power of the State. N. Y. C. C., Sec. 2. SEC. 4. The will of the sovereign power is expressed1. By the Constitution, which is the organic Act of the people. 2. By statutes, which are the Acts of the Legislature, or by the ordinances of other and subordinate legislative bodies. N. Y. C. C., Sec. 5." SEC. 5. The Common Law, as expressed in the decisions. of the English and American Courts, and shown in the records, reports and digests thereof, is the rule of decision in all the Courts of this State. NOTE.-Our Act, adopting the common law of England (Stats. 1850, 219), 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 the State of California, shall be the rule of decision in all the Courts of this State." A strict construction of the words "common law of England," would have required Courts to follow the English rule, when in conflict with the American; yet it is believed that the latter has had a greater influence in our jurisprudence than the former. The phrase "common law which is expressed in the decisions of the English and American tribunals," extends the latter so as to include the whole body of the common law, whether found in English or American decisions, and makes it conformable to the construction of that Act. Cool. Bl. Comm., I, 67, note 3, is as follows: "The common law includes those principles, usages and rules of action, applicable to the government and security of person and property, which do not rest for their authority upon any express and positive declaration of the will of the Legislature. (1 Kent, 468.) The common law of the American States consists of the common law of England, as modified by English statutes previous to the colonization of America, so far as it has been found adapted to our altered condition and circumstances. And those English statutes passed afterwards, at any time prior to the Revolution, which were practically accepted and adopted in America, became also a part of American common law. (See Van Ness vs. Packard, 2 Pet., 144; also, other authorities therein cited.)" SEC. 6. The Common Law is divided into- N. Y. C. C., Sec. 4. NOTE. Cool. Bl. Comm., I, 69, note 3, is as follows: Two kinds of common law SEC. 7. There is no Common Law in any case where No common the law is declared by this Code. N. Y. C. C., Sec. 6. SEC. 8. All original civil rights are either 1. Rights of person; or, 2. Rights of property. N. Y. C. C., Sec. 7. law, where the law is declared by this Code. Two kinds of civil rights. modified. SEC. 9. Rights of person and of property may be Rights, how waived, surrendered or lost by neglect, in the cases pro vided by law. N. Y. C. C., Sec. 8; Conkling vs. King, 10 N. Y., 440. SEC. 10. This Code has four general divisions: 1. The first relates to PERSONS. 2. The second, to PROPERTY. 3. The third, to OBLIGATIONS. 4. The fourth contains general provisions relating to PERSONS, PROPERTY and OBLIGATIONS. N. Y. C. C., Sec. 9. Divisions of this Code. |