Pen. Code, § 459 · Chapter 2. Burglary
Pen. Code, § 459
Text — As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
(a) Every person who enters any house, room, apartment, tenement, shop, warehouse, store, mill, barn, stable, outhouse or other building, tent, vessel, as defined in Section 21 of the Harbors and Navigation Code, floating home, as defined in subdivision (d) of Section 18075.55 of the Health and Safety Code, railroad car, locked or sealed cargo container, whether or not mounted on a vehicle, trailer coach, as defined in Section 635 of the Vehicle Code, any house car, as defined in Section 362 of the Vehicle Code, inhabited camper, as defined in Section 243 of the Vehicle Code, vehicle as defined by the Vehicle Code, when the doors are locked, aircraft as defined by Section 21012 of the Public Utilities Code, or mine or any underground portion thereof, with intent to commit grand or petit larceny or any felony is guilty of burglary. As used in this chapter, “inhabited” means currently being used for dwelling purposes, whether occupied or not. A house, trailer, vessel designed for habitation, or portion of a building is currently being used for dwelling purposes if, at the time of the burglary, it was not occupied solely because a natural or other disaster caused the occupants to leave the premises.
(b) The fact that the structure entered has been damaged by a natural or other disaster, or the extent of that damage, does not preclude conviction.
Notes and commentary — not statutory text
History
Amended by Stats. 2025, Ch. 533, Sec. 1. (AB 468) Effective January 1, 2026.
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=459.
- Text hash
- sha256 f38a5761c1dbd5d59ab85a5b3c8d46902a0dc11431bfd99a9f49bc8cc72d8ba4
- 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.
Harbors and Navigation Code
Health and Safety Code
Public Utilities Code
Cited by 18 provisions
Provisions in this library whose text cites Pen. Code, § 459. Each shows the citation as that text prints it.
Government Code
Penal Code
- Pen. Code, § 186.22Printed as Section 459
- Pen. Code, § 459.5Printed as Section 459
- Pen. Code, § 462.5Printed as Section 459
- Pen. Code, § 463Printed as Section 459
- Pen. Code, § 465Printed as Section 459
- Pen. Code, § 466Printed as Section 459
- Pen. Code, § 602.5Printed as Section 459
- Pen. Code, § 653jPrinted as Section 187, 211, 215, 245, 246, 451, 459, or 520 of the Penal Code
- Pen. Code, § 666.1Printed as Section 459
- Pen. Code, § 667.61Printed as Section 459
- Pen. Code, § 667.9Printed as Section 459
- Pen. Code, § 1202.5Printed as Section 211, 215, 459, 470, 484, 487
- Pen. Code, § 1319.5Printed as Section 459
- Pen. Code, § 1601Printed as Section 459
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.