Cal. Code of Civil Procedure - CCP § 1895. Section 1895.
Laws, whether organic or ordinary, are either written or unwritten.
ARTICLE 2. Public Writings [1895. - 1917.]
Cal. Code of Civil Procedure - CCP 2.
in effectCal. Code of Civil Procedure - CCP § 1896. Section 1896.
A written law is that which is promulgated in writing, and of which a record is in existence.
Cal. Code of Civil Procedure - CCP § 1897. Section 1897.
The organic law is the Constitution of Government, and is altogether written. Other written laws are denominated statutes. The written law of this State is therefore contained in its Constitution and statutes, and in the Constitution and statutes of the United States.
Cal. Code of Civil Procedure - CCP § 1898. Section 1898.
Statutes are public or private. A private statute is one which concerns only certain designated individuals, and affects only their private rights. All other statutes are public, in which are included statutes creating or affecting corporations.
Cal. Code of Civil Procedure - CCP § 1899. Section 1899.
Unwritten law is the law not promulgated and recorded, as mentioned in Section 1896, but which is, nevertheless, observed and administered in the Courts of the country. It has no certain repository, but is collected from the reports of the decisions of the Courts, and the treatises of learned men.
Cal. Code of Civil Procedure - CCP § 1904. Section 1904.
A judicial record is the record or official entry of the proceedings in a Court of justice, or of the official act of a judicial officer, in an action or special proceeding.
Cal. Code of Civil Procedure - CCP § 1908. Section 1908.
(a)
The effect of a judgment or final order in an action or special proceeding before a court or judge of this state, or of the United States, having jurisdiction to pronounce the judgment or order, is as follows:
(1)
In case of a judgment or order against a specific thing, or in respect to the probate of a will, or the administration of the estate of a decedent, or in respect to the personal, political, or legal condition or relation of a particular person, the judgment or order is conclusive upon the title to the thing, the will, or administration, or the condition or relation of the
person.
(2)
In other cases, the judgment or order is, in respect to the matter directly adjudged, conclusive between the parties and their successors in interest by title subsequent to the commencement of the action or special proceeding, litigating for the same thing under the same title and in the same capacity, provided they have notice, actual or constructive, of the pendency of the action or proceeding.
(b)
A person who is not a party but who controls an action, individually or in cooperation with others, is bound by the adjudications of litigated matters as if he were a party if he has a proprietary or financial interest in the judgment or in the determination of a question of fact or of a question of law with reference to the same subject matter or transaction; if the other party has notice of his participation, the other party is equally bound.
At any time prior to a final judgment, as defined in Section 577, a determination of whether the judgment, verdict upon which it was entered, or a finding upon which it was entered is to be binding upon a nonparty pursuant to this subdivision or whether such nonparty is entitled to the benefit of this subdivision may, on the noticed motion of any party or any nonparty that may be affected by this subdivision, be made in the court in which the action was tried or in which the action is pending on appeal. If no such motion is made before the judgment becomes final, the determination may be made in a separate action. If appropriate, a judgment may be entered or ordered to be entered pursuant to such determination.
Cal. Code of Civil Procedure - CCP § 1908.5. Section 1908.5.
When a judgment or order of a court is conclusive, the judgment or order must be alleged in the pleadings if there be an opportunity to do so; if there be no such opportunity, the judgment or order may be used as evidence.
Cal. Code of Civil Procedure - CCP § 1909. Section 1909.
Other judicial orders of a Court or Judge of this State, or of the United States, create a disputable presumption, according to the matter directly determined, between the same parties and their representatives and successors in interest by title subsequent to the commencement of the action or special proceeding, litigating for the same thing under the same title and in the same capacity.
Cal. Code of Civil Procedure - CCP § 1910. Section 1910.
The parties are deemed to be the same when those between whom the evidence is offered were on opposite sides in the former case, and a judgment or other determination could in that case have been made between them alone, though other parties were joined with both or either.
Cal. Code of Civil Procedure - CCP § 1911. Section 1911.
That only is deemed to have been adjudged in a former judgment which appears upon its face to have been so adjudged, or which was actually and necessarily included therein or necessary thereto.
Cal. Code of Civil Procedure - CCP § 1912. Section 1912.
Whenever, pursuant to the last four sections, a party is bound by a record, and such party stands in the relation of a surety for another, the latter is also bound from the time that he has notice of the action or proceeding, and an opportunity at the surety’s request to join in the defense.
Cal. Code of Civil Procedure - CCP § 1913. Section 1913.
(a)
Subject to subdivision (b), the effect of a judicial record of a sister state is the same in this state as in the state where it was made, except that it can only be enforced in this state by an action or special proceeding.
(b)
The authority of a guardian, conservator, or committee, or of a personal representative, does not extend
beyond the jurisdiction of the government under which that person was invested with authority, except to the extent expressly authorized by Article 4 (commencing with Section 2011) of Chapter 8 of Part 3 of Division 4 of the Probate Code or another statute.
Cal. Code of Civil Procedure - CCP § 1914. Section 1914.
The effect of the judicial record of a Court of admiralty of a foreign country is the same as if it were the record of a Court of admiralty of the United States.
Cal. Code of Civil Procedure - CCP § 1916. Section 1916.
Any judicial record may be impeached by evidence of a want of jurisdiction in the Court or judicial officer, of collusion between the parties, or of fraud in the party offering the record, in respect to the proceedings.
Cal. Code of Civil Procedure - CCP § 1917. Section 1917.
The jurisdiction sufficient to sustain a record is jurisdiction over the cause, over the parties, and over the thing, when a specific thing is the subject of the judgment.
Source: CA Legislative Counsel Bulk DataURL: https://downloads.leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/pubinfo_2025.zipFetched: 6/27/2026