California Law

The law of California consists of several levels, including constitutional, statutory, and regulatory law, as well as case law. The California Codes form the general statutory law.

When deciding a case, courts in California may rely on both primary and secondary sources of legal authority. Primary sources create the law directly by promulgating binding rules that must be followed in California. Secondary sources influence the law indirectly by analyzing or explaining primary sources in order to clarify the current state of California law. California are obligated to follow primary sources of law when deciding cases, but they are free to disregard secondary sources if they disagree with them.

The Constitution of California is the foremost source of state law. Legislation is enacted within the California Statutes, which in turn have been codified into the 29 California Codes. State agencies promulgate regulations with the California Regulatory Notice Register, which are in turn codified in the California Code of Regulations. California's legal system is based on common law, which is interpreted by case law through the decisions of the Supreme Court of California, California Courts of Appeal, and Appellate Divisions of the Superior Courts of California, and published in the California Reports, California Appellate Reports, and California Appellate Reports Supplement, respectively (among others). Counties and incorporated cities may promulgate local ordinances which are usually codified in county or city codes, respectively. In addition, there are also several sources of persuasive authority, which are not binding authority but are useful to lawyers and judges insofar as they help to clarify the state of the law.

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