Every person who maliciously and without probable cause procures a search warrant or warrant of arrest to be issued and executed, is guilty of a misdemeanor.
Cal. Penal Code § 170
Other Offenses Against Public Justice
Applied in 5 court decisions — leading case Mapp v. Ohio (1961)
Most recently applied in Barnett v. State Farm General Insurance (October 2011)
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.