In every crime or public offense there must exist a union, or joint operation of act and intent, or criminal negligence.
Cal. Penal Code § 20
THE ACT
Known as the The Penal Code
The act spans §§ 1–24 (34 sections).
Applied in 122 court decisions — leading case 35 Cal. 3d 547 - People v. Beeman (1984)
Most recently applied in 250 Cal. Rptr. 3d 572 - People v. A.L. (In re A.L.) (July 2019)
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.