Pen. Code, § 196 · Chapter 1. Homicide
Pen. Code, § 196
Text — As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
Homicide is justifiable when committed by peace officers and those acting by their command in their aid and assistance, under either of the following circumstances:
(a) In obedience to any judgment of a competent court.
(b) When the homicide results from a peace officer’s use of force that is in compliance with Section 835a.
Notes and commentary — not statutory text
History
Amended by Stats. 2019, Ch. 170, Sec. 1. (AB 392) Effective January 1, 2020.
Source of truth
- Edition
- As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
- Official file
- https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=PEN§ionNum=196.
- Text hash
- sha256 ee4e44da97cb5a451dd99251234440298ba4754723176ee05c543f6bfe051a2b
- Composed by
- compose_ca.py 2026-10-22: the Legislative Counsel's CAML content files read by a tokenizer (caml_readers.reader_a); an independent xml.etree reading (caml_readers.reader_b) agrees on every section
This section cites
Provisions in this library that the text above cites, as it prints each citation. A range cited as “ss. 61.13-61.16” links its first and last provisions.
Penal Code
Cited by 1 provision
Provisions in this library whose text cites Pen. Code, § 196. Each shows the citation as that text prints it.
Procedural information only. Not legal advice and not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. Confirm the current text with the official publisher before relying on it.