California Codes

Cal. Civil Code § 14 (2026)

✓ current as of May 2026
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(a)Words used in this code in the present tense include the future as well as the present; words used in the masculine gender include the feminine and neuter; the singular number includes the plural, and the plural the singular; the word person includes a corporation as well as a natural person; county includes city and county; writing includes printing and typewriting; oath includes affirmation or declaration; and every mode of oral statement, under oath or affirmation, is embraced by the term “testify,” and every written one in the term “depose”; signature or subscription includes mark, when the person cannot write, his name being written near it, by a person who writes his own name as a witness; provided, that when a signature is by mark it must in order that the same may be acknowledged or may serve as the signature to any sworn statement be witnessed by two persons who must subscribe their own names as witnesses thereto.

(b)The following words have in this code the signification attached to them in this section, unless otherwise apparent from the context:

(1)The word “property” includes property real and personal.

(2)The words “real property” are coextensive with lands, tenements, and hereditaments.

(3)The words “personal property” include money, goods, chattels, things in action, and evidences of debt.

(4)The word “month” means a calendar month, unless otherwise expressed.

(5)The word “will” includes codicil.

(6)The word “section” whenever hereinafter employed refers to a section of this code, unless some other code or statute is expressly mentioned.

(7)The word “spouse” includes a registered domestic partner, as required by Section 297.5 of the Family Code.

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 59 cases (10 in the last 5 years), 1882–2026 · leading case: People v. Belton, 591 P.2d 485 (Cal. 1979).
People v. Belton, 591 P.2d 485 (Cal. 1979). · cites it 4× “The term "testify" is referred to in identical language in the Penal Code, the Code of Civil Procedure, and the Civil Code: ".”
Rappleyea v. Campbell, 884 P.2d 126 (Cal. 1994). · cites it 2× “Thus, to the extent the policy disfavoring equitable relief is based on an understandable distaste for the forfeiture of a judgment, which is vested personal property (Civ. Code, § 14, subd. 3; Anglo-California T.”
Satey v. JPMorgan Chase & Co., 521 F.3d 1087 (9th Cir. 2008). “2d 440, 446 (1956); see also Cal. Civ.Code § 14. (“Words used in this code in the present tense include the future as well as the present.”
Santa Clarita Org. for Plan. & the Env't v. Castaic Lake Water Agency, 1 Cal. App. 5th 1084 (Cal. Ct. App. 2016). “, Civ. Code, § 14; Evid. Code, § 175). However, the use of “company or corporation” in other contexts is beside the point.”
Lonberg v. City of Riverside, 300 F. Supp. 2d 942 (C.D. Cal. 2004). “” California Civil Code § 14 in turn, defines the word “person” as “includ[ing] a corporation as well as a natural person.”
Herbert v. Superior Court, 19 A.L.R. 4th 1276 (Cal. Ct. App. 1981). · cites it 2× “2d 485 ]; Civ. Code, § 14; Code Civ. Proc., § 17; Pen.”
People v. Superior Court, 246 Cal. Rptr. 3d 128 (Cal. Ct. App. 5th 2019). “173 , 176 ; Civ. Code, § 14, subd. 4 ), and a "preceding[ ]" period stated in months is determined by "counting backward" the requisite number of calendar months (see Scoville v.”
Hardin v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., 813 F. Supp. 2d 1167 (E.D. Cal. 2011). “” Cal. Civ.Code § 14. Plaintiffs allegations do not qualify as either.”
Brazier Forest Prods., Inc. v. N. Transp., Inc., 724 P.2d 970 (Wash. 1986). · cites it 2× “" The court relied partly on Cal. Civ. Code § 14 (Deering 1971), which provides, "the word person includes a corporation .”
Emerson Elec. Co. v. Superior Court, 946 P.2d 841 (Cal. 1997). · cites it 2× “[1] (Accord, Civ. Code, § 14 [same definition].) Section 1878 defines a deposition witness as a person who makes a "declaration," another *1116 term encompassing only a verbal response.”
Lathrop v. Healthcare Partners Med. Grp., 8 Cal. Rptr. 3d 668 (Cal. Ct. App. 2004). “” While a “person” includes a corporation as well as a natural person (Civ. Code, § 14), there is no clear indication that a “person” includes an unincorporated group or partnership.”
Vick v. DaCORSI, 2003 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 5968 (Cal. Ct. App. 2003). “2d 908 ]; Civ. Code, §§ 14, par. 3, 953.) 36 Family Code sections 751, 1101, subdivision (a).”
— Cal. Civil Code § 14(3) — 2 cases
Contreras v. Am. Fam. Mut. Ins., 135 F. Supp. 3d 1208 (D. Nev. 2015).
Tull v. United States, 848 F. Supp. 1466 (E.D. Cal. 1994).
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.