(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 number includes the singular.

(b) As used in this code, the following words have the following meanings, unless otherwise apparent from the context:

Terms Used In California Code of Civil Procedure 17

  • Codicil: An addition, change, or supplement to a will executed with the same formalities required for the will itself.
  • Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
  • County: includes "city and county. See California Code of Civil Procedure 17
  • Month: means a calendar month, unless otherwise expressed. See California Code of Civil Procedure 17
  • Oath: includes an affirmation or declaration. See California Code of Civil Procedure 17
  • Oath: A promise to tell the truth.
  • Person: includes a corporation as well as a natural person. See California Code of Civil Procedure 17
  • Process: signifies a writ or summons issued in the course of a judicial proceeding. See California Code of Civil Procedure 17
  • Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
  • Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
  • Summons: Another word for subpoena used by the criminal justice system.
  • Writing: includes printing and typewriting. See California Code of Civil Procedure 17

(1) “Affinity” signifies the connection existing in consequence of marriage, between each of the married persons and the blood relatives of the other when applied to the marriage relation.

(2) “County” includes “city and county.”

(3) “Electronic signature” means an electronic sound, symbol, or process attached to or logically associated with an electronic record and executed or adopted by a person with the intent to sign the electronic record.

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

(5) “Oath” includes an affirmation or declaration.

(A) “Depose” includes any written statement made under oath or affirmation.

(B) “Testify” includes any mode of oral statement made under oath or affirmation.

(6) “Person” includes a corporation as well as a natural person.

(7) “Process” signifies a writ or summons issued in the course of a judicial proceeding.

(8) “Property” includes both personal and real property.

(A) “Personal property” includes money, goods, chattels, things in action, and evidences of debt.

(B) “Real property” is coextensive with lands, tenements, and hereditaments.

(9) “Section” refers to a section of this code, unless some other code or statute is expressly mentioned.

(10) “Sheriff” includes marshal.

(11) “Signature” or “subscription” includes a mark of a person’s name, if the person cannot write, with his or her name being written near it by a person who writes his or her own name as a witness. In order that a mark may be acknowledged or serve as the signature to any sworn statement, it shall be witnessed by two persons who shall subscribe their own names as witnesses thereto.

(12) “Spouse” includes “registered domestic partner,” as required by § 297.5 of the Family Code.

(13) “State” includes the District of Columbia and the territories when applied to the different parts of the United States, and the words “United States” may include the district and territories.

(14) “Will” includes codicil.

(15) “Writ” means an order or precept in writing, issued in the name of the people, or of a court or judicial officer.

(16) “Writing” includes printing and typewriting.

(Amended by Stats. 2016, Ch. 50, Sec. 13. (SB 1005) Effective January 1, 2017.)