DIVISION 2. WORDS AND PHRASES DEFINED [100 - 260]
( Division 2 enacted by Stats. 1965, Ch. 299. )
Unless the provision or context otherwise requires, these definitions govern the construction of this code.
(Enacted by Stats. 1965, Ch. 299.)
“Action” includes a civil action and a criminal action.
(Enacted by Stats. 1965, Ch. 299.)
“Burden of producing evidence” means the obligation of a party to introduce evidence sufficient to avoid a ruling against him on the issue.
(Enacted by Stats. 1965, Ch. 299.)
“Burden of proof” means the obligation of a party to establish by evidence a requisite degree of belief concerning a fact in the mind of the trier of fact or the court. The burden of proof may require a party to raise a reasonable doubt concerning the existence or nonexistence of a fact or that he establish the existence or nonexistence of a fact by a preponderance of the evidence, by clear and convincing proof, or by proof beyond a reasonable doubt.
Except as otherwise provided by law, the burden of proof requires proof by a preponderance of the evidence.
(Enacted by Stats. 1965, Ch. 299.)
“Civil action” includes civil proceedings.
(Enacted by Stats. 1965, Ch. 299.)
“Conduct” includes all active and passive behavior, both verbal and nonverbal.
(Enacted by Stats. 1965, Ch. 299.)
“Criminal action” includes criminal proceedings.
(Enacted by Stats. 1965, Ch. 299.)
“Declarant” is a person who makes a statement.
(Enacted by Stats. 1965, Ch. 299.)
“Evidence” means testimony, writings, material objects, or other things presented to the senses that are offered to prove the existence or nonexistence of a fact.
(Enacted by Stats. 1965, Ch. 299.)
“The hearing” means the hearing at which a question under this code arises, and not some earlier or later hearing.
(Enacted by Stats. 1965, Ch. 299.)
“Hearsay evidence” is defined in Section 1200.
(Enacted by Stats. 1965, Ch. 299.)
“Law” includes constitutional, statutory, and decisional law.
(Enacted by Stats. 1965, Ch. 299.)
“Oath” includes affirmation or declaration under penalty of perjury.
(Enacted by Stats. 1965, Ch. 299.)
“Perceive” means to acquire knowledge through one’s senses.
(Enacted by Stats. 1965, Ch. 299.)
“Person” includes a natural person, firm, association, organization, partnership, business trust, corporation, limited liability company, or public entity.
(Amended by Stats. 1994, Ch. 1010, Sec. 103. Effective January 1, 1995.)
“Dependent person” means a person, regardless of whether the person lives independently, who has a physical or mental impairment that substantially restricts his or her ability to carry out normal activities or to protect his or her rights, including, but not limited to, persons who have physical or developmental disabilities or whose physical or mental abilities have significantly diminished because of age. “Dependent person” includes any person who is admitted as an inpatient to a 24-hour health facility, as defined in Sections 1250, 1250.2, and 1250.3 of the Health and Safety Code.
(Amended by Stats. 2018, Ch. 70, Sec. 1. (AB 1934) Effective January 1, 2019.)
“Personal property” includes money, goods, chattels, things in action, and evidences of debt.
(Enacted by Stats. 1965, Ch. 299.)
“Property” includes both real and personal property.
(Enacted by Stats. 1965, Ch. 299.)
“Proof” is the establishment by evidence of a requisite degree of belief concerning a fact in the mind of the trier of fact or the court.
(Enacted by Stats. 1965, Ch. 299.)
“Public employee” means an officer, agent, or employee of a public entity.
(Enacted by Stats. 1965, Ch. 299.)
“Public entity” includes a nation, state, county, city and county, city, district, public authority, public agency, or any other political subdivision or public corporation, whether foreign or domestic.
(Enacted by Stats. 1965, Ch. 299.)
“Real property” includes lands, tenements, and hereditaments.
(Enacted by Stats. 1965, Ch. 299.)
“Relevant evidence” means evidence, including evidence relevant to the credibility of a witness or hearsay declarant, having any tendency in reason to prove or disprove any disputed fact that is of consequence to the determination of the action.
(Enacted by Stats. 1965, Ch. 299.)
“Spouse” includes “registered domestic partner,” as required by Section 297.5 of the Family Code.
(Added by Stats. 2016, Ch. 50, Sec. 32. (SB 1005) Effective January 1, 2017.)
“State” means the State of California, unless applied to the different parts of the United States. In the latter case, it includes any state, district, commonwealth, territory, or insular possession of the United States.
(Enacted by Stats. 1965, Ch. 299.)
“Statement” means (a) oral or written verbal expression or (b) nonverbal conduct of a person intended by him as a substitute for oral or written verbal expression.
(Enacted by Stats. 1965, Ch. 299.)
“Statute” includes a treaty and a constitutional provision.
(Enacted by Stats. 1965, Ch. 299.)
“Trier of fact” includes (a) the jury and (b) the court when the court is trying an issue of fact other than one relating to the admissibility of evidence.
(Enacted by Stats. 1965, Ch. 299.)
(a) Except as otherwise provided in subdivision (b), “unavailable as a witness” means that the declarant is any of the following:
(1) Exempted or precluded on the ground of privilege from testifying concerning the matter to which his or her statement is relevant.
(2) Disqualified from testifying to the matter.
(3) Dead or unable to attend or to testify at the hearing because of then-existing physical or mental illness or infirmity.
(4) Absent from the hearing and the court is unable to compel
his or her attendance by its process.
(5) Absent from the hearing and the proponent of his or her statement has exercised reasonable diligence but has been unable to procure his or her attendance by the court’s process.
(6) Persistent in refusing to testify concerning the subject matter of the declarant’s statement despite having been found in contempt for refusal to testify.
(b) A declarant is not unavailable as a witness if the exemption, preclusion, disqualification, death, inability, or absence of the declarant was brought about by the procurement or wrongdoing of the proponent of his or her statement for the purpose of preventing the declarant from attending or testifying.
(c) Expert testimony that establishes that physical or mental trauma
resulting from an alleged crime has caused harm to a witness of sufficient severity that the witness is physically unable to testify or is unable to testify without suffering substantial trauma may constitute a sufficient showing of unavailability pursuant to paragraph (3) of subdivision (a). As used in this section, the term “expert” means a physician and surgeon, including a psychiatrist, or any person described by subdivision (b), (c), or (e) of Section 1010.
The introduction of evidence to establish the unavailability of a witness under this subdivision shall not be deemed procurement of unavailability, in absence of proof to the contrary.
(Amended by Stats. 2010, Ch. 537, Sec. 1. (AB 1723) Effective January 1, 2011.)
“Writing” means handwriting, typewriting, printing, photostating, photographing, photocopying, transmitting by electronic mail or facsimile, and every other means of recording upon any tangible thing, any form of communication or representation, including letters, words, pictures, sounds, or symbols, or combinations thereof, and any record thereby created, regardless of the manner in which the record has been stored.
(Amended by Stats. 2002, Ch. 945, Sec. 1. Effective January 1, 2003.)
“Original” means the writing itself or any counterpart intended to have the same effect by a person executing or issuing it. An “original” of a photograph includes the negative or any print therefrom. If data are stored in a computer or similar device, any printout or other output readable by sight, shown to reflect the data accurately, is an “original.”
(Added by Stats. 1977, Ch. 708.)
A “duplicate” is a counterpart produced by the same impression as the original, or from the same matrix, or by means of photography, including enlargements and miniatures, or by mechanical or electronic rerecording, or by chemical reproduction, or by other equivalent technique which accurately reproduces the original.
(Added by Stats. 1977, Ch. 708.)