Time

Court day

Though the term “court days” was added to Penal Code section 859b in 1970 (Stats.1970, ch. 1371, s 1, p. 2537), we find no legislative history or definition of the term, nor any apparent attempt by the Legislature to distinguish it from the term “judicial days”. The latter term is found in Penal Code section 825 and the phrase “nonjudicial days” is used in Welfare & Institutions Code section 631. However, the term “court days” is used in Welfare & Institutions Code sections 653 and 655. (People v. Pickens (1981) 124 Cal.App.3d 800, 803, fn. 1.)

Holidays

List of holidays

• Every Saturday is a judicial holiday. (Civ. Proc. §§ 12a; 135)
• Every Sunday is a holiday. (Gov. Code, §6700, subd. (a).)
• Special holidays declared by the county are not judicial holidays. (People v. Pickens (1981) 124 Cal.app.3d 800, 804.)

Code of Civil Procedure section 12

The time in which any act provided by law is to be done is computed by excluding the first day, and including the last, unless the last day is a holiday, and then it is also excluded.

Code of Civil Procedure section 12a

(a) If the last day for the performance of any act provided or required by law to be performed within a specified period of time is a holiday, then that period is hereby extended to and including the next day that is not a holiday. For purposes of this section, “holiday” means all day on Saturdays, all holidays specified in Section 135 and, to the extent provided in Section 12b, all days that by terms of Section 12b are required to be considered as holidays.

(b) This section applies to Sections 659, 659a, and 921, and to all other provisions of law providing or requiring an act to be performed on a particular day or within a specified period of time, whether expressed in this or any other code or statute, ordinance, rule, or regulation.

Code of Civil Procedure section 12b

If any city, county, state, or public office, other than a branch office, is closed for the whole of any day, insofar as the business of that office is concerned, that day shall be considered as a holiday for the purposes of computing time under Sections 12 and 12a.

Code of Civil Procedure section 134

(a) Except as provided in subdivision (c), the courts shall be closed for the transaction of judicial business on judicial holidays for all but the following purposes:

(1) To give, upon their request, instructions to a jury when deliberating on their verdict.

(2) To receive a verdict or discharge a jury.

(3) For the conduct of arraignments and the exercise of the powers of a magistrate in a criminal action, or in a proceeding of a criminal nature.

(4) For the conduct of Saturday small claims court sessions pursuant to the Small Claims Act set forth in Chapter 5.5 (commencing with Section 116.110).

(b) Injunctions and writs of prohibition may be issued and served on any day.

(c) In any superior court, one or more departments of the court may remain open and in session for the transaction of any business that may come before the department in the exercise of the civil or criminal jurisdiction of the court, or both, on a judicial holiday or at any hours of the day or night, or both, as the judges of the court prescribe.

(d) The fact that a court is open on a judicial holiday shall not make that day a nonholiday for purposes of computing the time required for the conduct of any proceeding nor for the performance of any act. Any paper lodged with the court at a time when the court is open pursuant to subdivision (c), shall be filed by the court on the next day that is not a judicial holiday, if the document meets appropriate criteria for filing.

Code of Civil Procedure section 135

Every full day designated as a holiday by Section 6700 of the Government Code, including that Thursday of November declared by the President to be Thanksgiving Day, is a judicial holiday, except September 9, known as “Admission Day,” and any other day appointed by the President, but not by the Governor, for a public fast, thanksgiving, or holiday. If a judicial holiday falls on a Saturday or a Sunday, the Judicial Council may designate an alternative day for observance of the holiday. Every Saturday and the day after Thanksgiving Day is a judicial holiday. Officers and employees of the courts shall observe only the judicial holidays established pursuant to this section.

Government Code section 6700

The holidays in this state are:

(a) Every Sunday.

(b) January 1st.

(c) The third Monday in January, known as “Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.”

(d) February 12th, known as “Lincoln Day.”

(e) The third Monday in February.

(f) March 31st known as “Cesar Chavez Day.”

(g) The last Monday in May.

(h) July 4th.

(i) The first Monday in September.

(j) September 9th, known as “Admission Day.”

(k) The second Monday in October, known as “Columbus Day.”

(l) November 11th, known as “Veterans Day.”

(m) December 25th.

(n) Good Friday from 12 noon until 3 p.m.

(o) Every day appointed by the President or Governor for a public fast, thanksgiving, or holiday.

Except for the Thursday in November appointed as Thanksgiving Day, this subdivision and subdivisions (c) and (f) shall not apply to a city, county, or district unless made applicable by charter, or by ordinance or resolution of the governing body thereof.

If the provisions of this section are in conflict with the provisions of a memorandum of understanding reached pursuant to Chapter 12 (commencing with Section 3560) of Division 4 of Title 1, the memorandum of understanding shall be controlling without further legislative action, except that if those provisions of a memorandum of understanding require the expenditure of funds, the provisions shall not become effective unless approved by the Legislature in the annual Budget Act.

Time lengths

Year

"“Year” means a period of 365 days; “half year,” 182 days; “quarter of a year,” 91 days. The added day of a leap year, and the day immediately preceding, if they occur in any such period, shall be reckoned together as one day." (Gov. Code, § 8603.)

Embezzlement occurred on October 21, 1930. Indictment filed on October 20, 1933. Despite leap year, that was within the three-year statute of limitations. (People v. Hill (1934) 2 Cal.App.2d 141, 146.) October 21, 1930 to October 20, 1933 is exactly 1,905 days or 3x365 days. However, since 1932 was a Leap Year, February 28, 1932 and February 29, 1932, are considered one day, so only 1,904 days, or one day short of the statute of limitations had legally passed.

Month

"“Month” means a calendar month, unless otherwise expressed." (Gov. Code, § 8604.)

In re McNamara's Estate, 181 Cal. 82, 183 P. 552, 7 A.L.R. 313 (1919) ("month," in a former statute relating to presumption of legitimacy of children born within 10 months after dissolution of marriage, meant a period of 30 days).

Week

"A week consists of seven consecutive days." (Gov. Code, § 8605.)

Day

"A day is the period of time between any midnight and the midnight following." (Gov. Code § 8606.)

Sanguinetti v. Sanguinetti, 9 Cal. 2d 95, 69 P.2d 845, 111 A.L.R. 342 (1937) (an appeal was dismissed where 60th day after entry of judgment fell on Saturday, March 21, 1936, and the notice of appeal was filed on Monday, March 23, 1936, despite the fact that the year was leap year

Code of Civil Procedure 12c

(a) Where any law requires an act to be performed no later than a specified number of days before a hearing date, the last day to perform that act shall be determined by counting backward from the hearing date, excluding the day of the hearing as provided by Section 12.

(b) Any additional days added to the specified number of days because of a particular method of service shall be computed by counting backward from the day determined in accordance with subdivision (a).