Pen. Code, § 451 · Chapter 1. Arson
Pen. Code, § 451
Text — As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
A person is guilty of arson when he or she willfully and maliciously sets fire to or burns or causes to be burned or who aids, counsels, or procures the burning of, any structure, forest land, or property.
(a) Arson that causes great bodily injury is a felony punishable by imprisonment in the state prison for five, seven, or nine years.
(b) Arson that causes an inhabited structure or inhabited property to burn is a felony punishable by imprisonment in the state prison for three, five, or eight years.
(c) Arson of a structure or forest land is a felony punishable by imprisonment in the state prison for two, four, or six years.
(d) Arson of property is a felony punishable by imprisonment in the state prison for 16 months, two, or three years. For purposes of this paragraph, arson of property does not include one burning or causing to be burned his or her own personal property unless there is an intent to defraud or there is injury to another person or another person’s structure, forest land, or property.
(e) In the case of any person convicted of violating this section while confined in a state prison, prison road camp, prison forestry camp, or other prison camp or prison farm, or while confined in a county jail while serving a term of imprisonment for a felony or misdemeanor conviction, any sentence imposed shall be consecutive to the sentence for which the person was then confined.
Notes and commentary — not statutory text
History
Amended by Stats. 1994, Ch. 421, Sec. 1. Effective September 7, 1994.
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=451.
- Text hash
- sha256 d4ff016195b7bee48e6840745ae6e91c3e070bef90e3ff2a83f9f8092343cd7f
- 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 29 provisions
Provisions in this library whose text cites Pen. Code, § 451. Each shows the citation as that text prints it.
Civil Code
Government Code
Health and Safety Code
Penal Code
- Pen. Code, § 186.2Printed as Section 451
- Pen. Code, § 190.2Printed as Section 451
- Pen. Code, § 451.1Printed as Section 451 | Section 451 or 452
- Pen. Code, § 452.1Printed as Section 451 or 452
- Pen. Code, § 454Printed as Section 451 | Section 451 or 452
- Pen. Code, § 457.1Printed as Section 451, 451.5, or 453
- Pen. Code, § 653jPrinted as Section 187, 211, 215, 245, 246, 451, 459, or 520 of the Penal Code
- Pen. Code, § 667.5Printed as Section 451
- Pen. Code, § 999ePrinted as Section 451
- Pen. Code, § 1170.78Printed as Section 451
- Pen. Code, § 1170.8Printed as Section 451 or 453
- Pen. Code, § 1174.4Printed as Section 451
- Pen. Code, § 1203Printed as Section 451
- Pen. Code, § 1601Printed as Section 451
- Pen. Code, § 2962Printed as Section 451
- Pen. Code, § 3057Printed as Section 451
- Pen. Code, § 12022.7Printed as Section 451 or 452
- Pen. Code, § 13853Printed as Section 451 or 452
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.