No part of it is retroactive, unless expressly so declared.
Cal. Penal Code § 3
THE ACT
Known as the The Penal Code
The act spans §§ 1–24 (34 sections).
Applied in 68 court decisions — leading case 63 Cal. 2d 740 - In Re Estrada (1965)
Most recently applied in 13 Cal. 5th 152 - People v. Padilla (May 2022)
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.