When the magistrate or a Judge of the Court in which the action is pending is satisfied, by proof on oath, that there is reason to believe that any such witness will not appear and testify unless security is required, he may order the witness to enter into a written undertaking, with sureties, in such sum as he may deem proper, for his appearance as specified in the preceding section.
Cal. Penal Code § 879
Examination of the Case, and Discharge of the Defendant, or Holding Him to Answer
Applied in 5 court decisions — leading case 180 Cal. App. 2d 48 - People v. Terry (1960)
Most recently applied in 48 Cal. 4th 467 - People v. Cogswell (April 2010)
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.