TITLE 1. OF THE GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF EVIDENCE [1855. - 1866.]

Cal. Code of Civil Procedure - CCP 1.

in effect

Cal. Code of Civil Procedure - CCP § 1855. Section 1855.

When any map which has been recorded in the office of the recorder of any county is injured, destroyed, lost, or stolen, any person interested may file in the superior court of the county in which the map was originally filed or recorded a verified petition in writing alleging that the map has been injured, destroyed, lost, or stolen without fault of the person making the application, and that the petitioner has a true and correct copy of the original map which he or she offers for record in the place of the original map. The petition shall be accompanied by a copy of the true copy offered for recording. Upon the filing of the petition the clerk shall set it for hearing by the court, and give notice of the hearing by causing notice of the time and place of the hearing to be posted at the courthouse in the county where the court is held at least 10 days prior to the hearing. A copy of the petition and a copy of the true copy offered for record shall be served upon the recorder of the county in which the proceedings are brought at least 10 days prior to the hearing. The court may order any further notice to be given as it deems proper. At the time set for the hearing the court shall take evidence for and against the petition, and if it appears to the court from the evidence presented that the copy of the map submitted is a true copy of the original map, it shall decree that the copy is a true copy of the original map, and order the copy placed of record in the office of the recorder in the place of the original map. A certified copy of the decree shall accompany the true copy of the map for record. When presented to the county recorder for record, he or she shall place of record the copy of the map in the place of the original map. When placed of record the copy shall have the same effect as the original map, and conveyances of property referring to the original map shall have the same effect as though the original map had not been injured, destroyed, lost, or stolen, and conveyances thereafter made referring to the copy of the original map shall be deemed to refer also to the original map.

Cal. Code of Civil Procedure - CCP § 1856. Section 1856.

(a) Terms set forth in a writing intended by the parties as a final expression of their agreement with respect to the terms included therein may not be contradicted by evidence of a prior agreement or of a contemporaneous oral agreement. (b) The terms set forth in a writing described in subdivision (a) may be explained or supplemented by evidence of consistent additional terms unless the writing is intended also as a complete and exclusive statement of the terms of the agreement. (c) The terms set forth in a writing described in subdivision (a) may be explained or supplemented by course of dealing or usage of trade or by course of performance. (d) The court shall determine whether the writing is intended by the parties as a final expression of their agreement with respect to the terms included therein and whether the writing is intended also as a complete and exclusive statement of the terms of the agreement. (e) Where a mistake or imperfection of the writing is put in issue by the pleadings, this section does not exclude evidence relevant to that issue. (f) Where the validity of the agreement is the fact in dispute, this section does not exclude evidence relevant to that issue. (g) This section does not exclude other evidence of the circumstances under which the agreement was made or to which it relates, as defined in Section 1860, or to explain an extrinsic ambiguity or otherwise interpret the terms of the agreement, or to establish illegality or fraud. (h) As used in this section, “agreement” includes trust instruments, deeds, wills, and contracts between parties.

Cal. Code of Civil Procedure - CCP § 1857. Section 1857.

The language of a writing is to be interpreted according to the meaning it bears in the place of its execution, unless the parties have reference to a different place.

Cal. Code of Civil Procedure - CCP § 1858. Section 1858.

In the construction of a statute or instrument, the office of the Judge is simply to ascertain and declare what is in terms or in substance contained therein, not to insert what has been omitted, or to omit what has been inserted; and where there are several provisions or particulars, such a construction is, if possible, to be adopted as will give effect to all.

Cal. Code of Civil Procedure - CCP § 1859. Section 1859.

In the construction of a statute the intention of the Legislature, and in the construction of the instrument the intention of the parties, is to be pursued, if possible; and when a general and particular provision are inconsistent, the latter is paramount to the former. So a particular intent will control a general one that is inconsistent with it.

Cal. Code of Civil Procedure - CCP § 1860. Section 1860.

For the proper construction of an instrument, the circumstances under which it was made, including the situation of the subject of the instrument, and of the parties to it, may also be shown, so that the Judge be placed in the position of those whose language he is to interpret.

Cal. Code of Civil Procedure - CCP § 1861. Section 1861.

The terms of a writing are presumed to have been used in their primary and general acceptation, but evidence is nevertheless admissible that they have a local, technical, or otherwise peculiar signification, and were so used and understood in the particular instance, in which case the agreement must be construed accordingly.

Cal. Code of Civil Procedure - CCP § 1862. Section 1862.

When an instrument consists partly of written words and partly of a printed form, and the two are inconsistent, the former controls the latter.

Cal. Code of Civil Procedure - CCP § 1864. Section 1864.

When the terms of an agreement have been intended in a different sense by the different parties to it, that sense is to prevail against either party in which he supposed the other understood it, and when different constructions of a provision are otherwise equally proper, that is to be taken which is most favorable to the party in whose favor the provision was made.

Cal. Code of Civil Procedure - CCP § 1865. Section 1865.

A written notice, as well as every other writing, is to be construed according to the ordinary acceptation of its terms. Thus a notice to the drawers or indorsers of a bill of exchange or promissory note, that it has been protested for want of acceptance or payment, must be held to import that the same has been duly presented for acceptance or payment and the same refused, and that the holder looks for payment to the person to whom the notice is given.

Cal. Code of Civil Procedure - CCP § 1866. Section 1866.

When a statute or instrument is equally susceptible of two interpretations, one in favor of natural right, and the other against it, the former is to be adopted.

Source: CA Legislative Counsel Bulk DataURL: https://downloads.leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/pubinfo_2025.zipFetched: 6/27/2026