LIBRARY OF THE LELAND STAMFORD IR. UNIVERSITY. A 28,703 Entered, according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1872, by HAYMOND & CO., In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. : DEDICATION. TO THE HON. DAVID DUDLEY FIELD, OF NEW YORK, As a testimonial of their appreciation of his eminent services in the work of law reform, this volume is respectfully inscribed by the CODE COMMISSIONERS OF CALIFORNIA. PREFACE. THE Governor of the State of California, acting under authority of law, appointed in May, eighteen hundred and seventy, three Commissioners to draft a complete system of laws, and to present the same to the Legislature next to convene. To this task the Commissioners applied themselves, and with painstaking care and great labor completed and presented a report in four volumes, respectively entitled the "POLITICAL," "CIVIL," "CIVIL PROCEDURE," and "PENAL" CODES. These were critically examined by an Advisory Committee, consisting of two eminent members of the legal profession-Messrs. Sidney L. Johnson and Charles A. Tuttle-and, after a careful review by the Legislative Committees, were enacted into laws. Each is to a great extent independent of the other. The POLITICAL CODE comprises those matters which pertain to the Government of the State, the powers and duties of its officers, and the nature and management of its public institutions. The CIVIL CODE embraces the rights of persons, their relations toward each other, and the rules applicable to and governing property; or, in other words, comprehends within its scope those divisions of the law which are defined by Blackstone as "The Rights of Persons" and "The Rights of Things." The CODE OF CIVIL PROCEDURE relates to Courts of justice and judicial officers, etc., and the means employed for the enforcement of rights and the remedies for their violation. The PENAL CODE consists of a systematic classification of public wrongs or offenses against the State, and laws for their prevention or for the punishment of those offending. |