Pen. Code, § 491 · Chapter 5. Larceny
Pen. Code, § 491
Text — As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
(a) Companion animals are personal property, and their value is to be ascertained in the same manner as the value of other property.
(b) (1) For purposes of this section, “companion animal” means an animal, including, but not limited to, a dog or a cat that a person keeps and provides care for as a household pet or otherwise for the purpose of companionship, emotional support, service, or protection.
(2) For purposes of this section, “companion animal” excludes feral animals, including, but not limited to, feral cats as defined in Section 31752.5 of the Food and Agricultural Code.
Notes and commentary — not statutory text
History
Amended by Stats. 2022, Ch. 546, Sec. 3. (AB 1290) Effective January 1, 2023.
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=491.
- Text hash
- sha256 8bce243b216d2da1ce44d0b8a34d3195700460bb3b8581b14db1d449b4d23ba2
- 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
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Food and Agricultural 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.