To look up a California statute, go to the state’s official Legislative Information site at leginfo.legislature.ca.gov and use the California Law tab to search any of the 29 codes by section number or keyword. A California code lookup on this site is free, shows the current text of the statute, and is maintained by the Office of Legislative Counsel, which is required by Government Code Section 10248 to publish the full text of the codes electronically at no charge.1California Legislative Information. California Code GOV 10248 – Public Computer Network; Required Legislative Information
Search by Section Number
If you already know the code and section, this is the fastest path. Open the California Law tab, pick the code from the dropdown (for example, CIV for the Civil Code), type the section number into the section field, and hit search. Entering 1714 under the Civil Code pulls up the statute on responsibility for negligent and intentional acts.2California Legislative Information. California Code CIV 1714 – Responsibility for Willful Acts and Negligence Use this approach any time you’ve seen a statute cited in a court document, a lease, or an article.
The page you land on shows the current text. The site also keeps records of how a statute read in prior years, so you can see when a law changed.
Search by Keyword
When you don’t have a section number, the keyword search scans every code for your term or phrase. You can search all 29 codes at once or narrow the search to one code. Results list every section where the keyword appears, and you can click into each one for the full text.
Legal drafters don’t always use everyday language, so your first phrasing may not hit. If “noise ordinance” turns up little, try “nuisance” or “disturbing the peace.” Running a couple of searches with different wording usually finds the statute you need.
Reading a California Code Citation
A citation has two parts: the code name, often abbreviated, and the section number. “Cal. Penal Code § 190.3” means Section 190.3 of the Penal Code. “Cal. Civ. Code § 1714” means Section 1714 of the Civil Code. Common abbreviations you’ll see include:
- CIV — Civil Code
- PEN — Penal Code
- VEH — Vehicle Code
- FAM — Family Code
- GOV — Government Code
- LAB — Labor Code
Translating any citation into a search is straightforward: pick the matching code from the dropdown and type the section number. Citations sometimes include subdivisions, written as lowercase letters or numbers in parentheses after the section. “Gov. Code § 10248(a)(9)” means subdivision (a), paragraph (9) of Government Code Section 10248. The website displays the whole section, so you can scroll to the exact paragraph once it loads.
How the 29 Codes Are Organized
California’s statutes are grouped by subject into 29 codes rather than listed in the order they passed.3California Legislative Information. California Codes The Penal Code covers crimes and criminal procedure. The Civil Code deals with private rights and obligations. The Vehicle Code governs driving and registration. The Family Code handles marriage and custody. All laws on a given subject sit together, even if they were enacted decades apart.
Within each code, the hierarchy runs from broad to narrow: divisions or parts, then titles, chapters, articles, and finally individual sections. The section number is the fundamental unit you’ll see cited. Because related provisions sit next to each other, browsing works. Find the right chapter and you can scroll through nearby sections to catch provisions you didn’t know existed.
Statutes vs. Regulations
The 29 codes on the legislative site are statutes passed by the legislature and signed by the governor. California also has a separate body of administrative rules, the California Code of Regulations (CCR), created by state agencies to carry out those statutes. Both carry legal weight, but they live in different places. A statute may say employers must provide safe working conditions; the regulation spells out the specific standards.
If your question involves a regulated area like environmental permits, workplace safety, or professional licensing, the legislative site alone may not be enough. The CCR is maintained by the Office of Administrative Law and published online through a free portal.4Office of Administrative Law. California Code of Regulations (CCR) The online version is updated weekly for newly adopted, amended, or repealed rules.
When to Use a Law Library or an Annotated Code
The text on the legislative website is unannotated. You get the law itself, plus history notes showing when it was enacted or amended, and nothing more. For a quick lookup, that’s usually enough.
Annotated codes go further. Found in county law libraries and on commercial databases like Westlaw and Lexis, they include summaries of court decisions interpreting the statute, references to related regulations, and citations to legal commentary. These matter when the plain text doesn’t answer your question. A statute saying a landlord “shall maintain” rental property doesn’t tell you what counts as adequate maintenance; the annotated version points you to cases that do.
Every California county has a law library governed by a board of trustees, and it’s open to the public.5California Legislative Information. California Code BPC 6300 – Boards of Law Library Trustees Under Business and Professions Code Section 6360, any county resident can walk in and examine the books at no charge.6California Legislative Information. California Code BPC 6360 – Use of Law Library Many libraries keep both annotated and unannotated bound editions of the codes, and staff can point you to the right volume. For a quick section lookup, start on the official website. For a dispute or a question about how courts have read a statute, the annotated version at a law library is worth the extra step.