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Pen. Code, § 496c · Chapter 5. Larceny

Pen. Code, § 496c

Verbatim from the official edition

Text — As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)

Any person who shall copy, transcribe, photograph or otherwise make a record or memorandum of the contents of any private and unpublished paper, book, record, map or file, containing information relating to the title to real property or containing information used in the business of examining, certifying or insuring titles to real property and belonging to any person, firm or corporation engaged in the business of examining, certifying, or insuring titles to real property, without the consent of the owner of such paper, book, record, map or file, and with the intent to use the same or the contents thereof, or to dispose of the same or the contents thereof to others for use, in the business of examining, certifying, or insuring titles to real property, shall be guilty of theft, and any person who shall induce another to violate the provisions of this section by giving, offering, or promising to such another any gift, gratuity, or thing of value or by doing or promising to do any act beneficial to such another, shall be guilty of theft; and any person who shall receive or acquire from another any copy, transcription, photograph or other record or memorandum of the contents of any private and unpublished paper, book, record, map or file containing information relating to the title to real property or containing information used in the business of examining, certifying or insuring titles to real property, with the knowledge that the same or the contents thereof has or have been acquired, prepared or compiled in violation of this section shall be guilty of theft. The contents of any such private and unpublished paper, book, record, map or file is hereby defined to be personal property, and in determining the value thereof for the purposes of this section the cost of acquiring and compiling the same shall be the test.

Notes and commentary — not statutory text

History

Added by Stats. 1931, Ch. 732.

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&sectionNum=496c.
Text hash
sha256 d9d5d83c73d4e8f9e4052b554eac87839f1595ab0cfc2e04cdef55a9d39a07e5
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

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.