General Provisions of California Financial Code

1.

This act is known and may be cited as the Financial Code.

2.

The provisions of this code insofar as they are substantially the same as existing statutory provisions relating to the same subject matter shall be construed as restatements and continuations, and not as new enactments.

3.

Any action or proceeding commenced before this code takes effect, or any right accrued, is not affected by this code, but all procedure taken shall conform to the provisions of this code as far as possible.

4.

Unless the context otherwise requires the general provisions hereinafter set forth govern the construction of this code.

5.

Division, part, chapter, article, and section headings do not in any manner affect the scope, meaning, or intent of the provisions of this code.

6.

Whenever a power is granted to, or a duty imposed on any person or board by any provision of this code, it may be exercised or performed by any deputy or person authorized by the person or board to whom the power is granted or on whom the duty is imposed, unless it is expressly provided that the power or duty shall be exercised or performed only by the person or board to whom the power is granted or on whom the duty is imposed.

7.

Whenever any reference is made to any portion of this code or of any other law, the reference applies to all amendments and additions thereto, now or hereafter made.

8.

"Writing" includes any form of recorded message capable of comprehension by ordinary visual means. Whenever any notice, report, petition, permit, statement, or record is required by this code, it shall be made in writing in the English language. Wherever any notice or other communication is required by this code to be mailed by registered mail by or to any person or corporation, the mailing of such notice or other communication by certified mail shall be deemed to be a sufficient compliance with the requirements of law.

9.

"Section" means a section of this code unless some other statute is specifically mentioned, and "subdivision" means a subdivision of the section in which the term occurs unless some other section is expressly mentioned.

10.

The present tense includes the past and future tenses; and the future, the present.

11.

The masculine gender includes the feminine and neuter.

12.

The singular number includes the plural and the plural the singular.

13.

"City" includes incorporated city, city and county, municipal corporation, municipality, town and incorporated town.

14.

"County" includes city and county.

15.

"Shall" is mandatory and "may" is permissive.

16.

"Oath" includes affirmation.

17.

"Signature" or "subscription" includes mark. The mark shall be made as required in the Civil Code.

18.

"Person" includes any person, firm, partnership, association, corporation, company, limited liability company, syndicate, estate, trust, business trust, or organization of any kind.

19.

If any provision of this code, or its application to any person or circumstance, is held invalid, the remainder of the code, or the application of the provision to other persons or circumstances is not affected.

20.

The existence of corporations formed or existing on the date this code takes effect is not affected by the enactment of this code nor by any change in the requirements for the formation of corporations, nor by the amendment or repeal of the laws under which they were formed or created.

21.

All persons who, at the time this code goes into effect, hold office under any of the acts repealed by this code, which offices are continued by this code, continue to hold them according to their former tenure.

22.

Notwithstanding any other provision of this code, Chapter 10 (commencing with Section 10000) of Division 2 shall be known and may be cited as the Vuich-Calderon Financial Institutions Act of 1986.