Finding California Statutes

California Statutes are state laws, also known as codes, and they are published in twenty-nine titles. Statutes differ from regulations in that statutes are voted into law by the legislature, and regulations are signed in to law by the governor. The titles for the California Code are:

Business and Professions Code

Civil Code

Code of Civil Procedure

Commercial Code

Corporations Code

Education Code

Elections Code

Evidence Code

Family Code

Financial Code

Fish and Game Code

Food and Agriculture Code

Government Code

Harbors and Navigation Code

Health and Safety Code

Insurance Code

Labor Code

Military and Veterans Code

Penal Code

Probate Code

Public Contracts Code

Revenue and Taxation Code

Streets and Highway Code

Unemployment Insurance Code

Vehicle Code

Water Code

Welfare and Institutions Code

To view a free version of the California Codes, you can visit the website for California Legislative Information. This page provides the language of each statute. Note that the search page will tell you the date that the codes are current through. This website is a great resource if you need the language of a statute. It is not the best site if you are trying to understand the meaning of the statute. For that, there are other sources that are much more helpful.

First, take a look at the print version of the California Codes. The California Codes are published in print by Thomson-West under the title West's Annotated California Codes and by Lexis Nexis under the title Deering's California Codes Annotated. Both of these sets contain the same exact statutory language, but may refer you to different secondary sources or cases. These books are available at public law libraries or law school libraries. There are several reasons that you should consult these printed versions.

When you locate your statute in the book, scan down to the bottom of the entry. Here the publisher has collected research references and case decisions to help you. These may include cross-references to related statutes, historical notes, journal articles, and library references. The library references are especially helpful, because they are the sources you need that will discuss or interpret the meaning of the statute. Finally, take a look at the section called Notes on Decisions. This is a list of court decisions that have been made in which your statute was a major point of law. Sometimes the notes are divided into topics, since that section can be lengthy.

Books are expensive to publish, so they are only republished every so many years. To keep the set current, a pocket part is issued each year, with materials that have not yet been incorporated into the current edition. This can be found in the back of the book. Always check the pocket part. If new laws are made during the year, those will be issued in a pamphlet. The pamphlet is a soft bound volume that is usually placed at the end of the entire set with the index.

Several finding aids are built into the print California Codes to help you. If you don't know what statute you want, and you want to search by topic, you can do that. Each title has an index. For example, you can go to the last volume titled Public Utilities and find the index. This index is to Public Utilities only. There is a master index at the end of the entire set, and that is the index to all of the titles. This is updated annually.

A final source to find California Statutes is Westlaw or Lexis Nexis. These are costly research databases, but they can often be accessed for free at a public law library. The information in the database is the same as that in the printed books, with some additional features added in. Ask a law librarian for help getting your search started.

I hope that this guide has helped you to find and understand California Codes.