Enactment of the California Penal Code

The Penal Code was enacted by the California State Legislature in February 1872 as one of the original four California Codes. It was derived from a penal code proposed by the New York code commission in 1865, frequently called the Field Penal Code after David Dudley Field II. The code forms the basis for the application of most criminal law, criminal procedure, penal institutions, and the execution of sentences in California. The passages supply no specific effective date for the code's coming into force; the legacy row's 1 January 1873 date remains an unverified placeholder.