The intentional destruction, cancellation, or material alteration of a written contract, by a party entitled to any benefit under it, or with his consent, extinguishes all the executory obligations of the contract in his favor, against parties who do not consent to the act.
Cal. Civ. Code § 1700
Modification and Cancellation
Applied in 15 court decisions — leading case 6 Cal. App. 3d 395 - Moving Picture MacHine Operators Union Local No. 162 v. Glasgow Theaters, Inc. (1970)
Most recently applied in 82 F. Supp. 2d 193 - Kirby v. Coastal Sales Ass'n, Inc. (January 2000)
Enacted 1872.
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
Official source: California Legislative Information. Reproduced from public-domain California statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.