Pen. Code, § 240 · Chapter 9. Assault and Battery
Pen. Code, § 240
Verbatim from the official edition
Text — As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
An assault is an unlawful attempt, coupled with a present ability, to commit a violent injury on the person of another.
Notes and commentary — not statutory text
History
Enacted 1872.
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=240.
- Text hash
- sha256 3fde415874126a8148743b2f83c1c45927a8668872f21300bab3e0488af9e159
- 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
Cited by 9 provisions
Provisions in this library whose text cites Pen. Code, § 240. Each shows the citation as that text prints it.
Education Code
Health and Safety Code
Penal Code
- Pen. Code, § 273.7Printed as Sections 240, 242, 243.4, 261, 261.5, 264.1, 266, 266a, 266b, 266c, 266f, 273.5, 273.6, 285, 288, and 289
- Pen. Code, § 490.8Printed as Section 240, 242, or 245
- Pen. Code, § 868.5Printed as Section 211, 215, 220, 236.1, 240, 242, 243.4, 245, 261, 266, 266a, 266b, 266c, 266d, 266e, 266f, 266g, 266h, 266i, 266j, 266k, 267, 269, 273a, 273d, 273.5, 273.6, 278, 278.5, 285, 286, 287, 288, 288.
- Pen. Code, § 29805Printed as Section 171d, 186.28, 240, 241, 242, 243, 243.4, 244.5, 245, 245.5, 246.3, 247, 273.5, 273.6, 417, 417.6, 422, 422.6, 626.9, 646.9, 830.95, 17500, 17510, 25300, 25800, 30315, or 32625
Welfare and Institutions Code
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.