One who appears to be a principal, whether by the terms of a written instrument or otherwise, may show that he is in fact a surety, except as against persons who have acted on the faith of his apparent character of principal. It is not necessary for him to show that the creditor accepted him as surety.
Cal. Civ. Code § 2832
Position of Sureties
Applied in 8 court decisions — leading case 20 Cal. 3d 694 - Caito v. United California Bank (1978)
Most recently applied in In Re Chemtura Corp. (April 2011)
Amended by Stats. 1939, Ch. 453.
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.