The officer may break open any outer or inner door or window of a house, or any part of a house, or anything therein, to execute the warrant, if, after notice of his authority and purpose, he is refused admittance.
Cal. Penal Code § 1531
Of Search Warrants
Applied in 56 court decisions — leading case 68 Cal. 2d 299 - People v. Rosales (1968)
Most recently applied in 146 Cal. App. 4th 277 - People v. Galland (December 2006)
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.