Declarant, ___________________________________________ a natural born white Man, one of the People of the united States of America and of California, does Solemnly state that:

1. I had occasion in 1998 to inquire into the origin of The California Codes. I present my research results from the public record here:

2. From Statutes of California (1867-8), pp. 435-436:

CHAPTER CCCLXV [365].
An Act to provide for the revision and compilation of the laws of the State of California and the publication thereof.
[Approved March 28, 1868.]
The People of the State of California, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:

SECTION 1. J. B. Harmon, John Currey [Chief Justice, California Supreme Court immediately prior to "appointment"] and Henry P. Barber are hereby constituted and appointed a Commission, whose duty it shall be to meet in the City of San Francisco within three months after the approval of this Act and proceed to revise and compile all the laws of this State now in force or which may be passed at the seventeenth session of the Legislature.
Sec. 2. Said Commission shall continue its session from day to day and from time to time until a complete and thorough revision and compilation of said laws shall have been effected and a comprehensive and concise system prepared and arranged.
Sec. 3. In effecting the revision of the laws contemplated by this Act, the Commissioners shall omit from the system by them prepared all laws or parts of laws which in their judgment may be dispensed with without prejudice to the interest of the State or the people thereof, and shall supply such additional provisions as may be required for the public welfare. [Note: Three people, apparently not elected members of the Legislature, get to completely rewrite the whole body of law in Calfornia ?!]
Sec. 4. All the laws of a general nature shall be arranged in one compact body--the Revenue Laws to form one concise and comprehensive chapter. The local and special laws which it may be found necessary to retain shall be arranged in a separate part of the work, the entire work to be as brief as possible consistent with the proper protection of the right and well being of the people of the State.
Sec. 5. The work thus prepared shall be submitted by the Commissioners to the next session of the Legislature, and if ratified and adopted shall be published by the State Printer and the volumes furnished to the State and to private parties at the same ration of cost that other public printing is performed, adding any additional cost of binding, and the copyright shall belong to and remain in the State. [Note: One copyrights private works of literature.]
Sec. 6. Said Commissioners shall have power to employ a Clerk or Secretary at a salary not exceeding two hundred dollars per month for the time actually engaged, and rent an office at a cost not exceeding fifty dollars per month, and furnish such stationery as may be required for the use of the Commissioners.
Sec. 7. Said Commissioners shall receive for their services compensation at the rate of four hundred dollars per month for the time actually engaged in the revision and compilation of the laws as hereinbefore directed; provided, no compensation whatsoever shall be allowed to the Commissioners exceeding the sum of three thousand dollars each until the duties devolving upon them under the provisions of this Act shall have been fully performed and completed by them and reported to the Legislature.
Sec. 8. On the sworn certificate of all the Commissioners that the services have been performed, office rent or stationery furnished, the Controller is hereby directed to draw his warrant on the Treasurer at the end of each month for the amount of said certificate so appearing to be due to the parties as above provided, and the Treasurer is directed to pay the same out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated.
Sec. 9. The said work of revision and compilation shall be completed by said Commissioners prior to the first day of July, eighteen hundred and sixty-nine, and the Secretary shall deliver the manuscript copy to the State Printer as soon as practicable thereafter. The State Printer shall furnish and deliver four hundred and eighty copies thereof, in bill form, to the Secretary of State, and the Secretary of State shall be and is hereby required to forward one copy thereof to each member of the Senate holder over and each member elect of the Legislature, to each Justice of the Supreme Court, District Judge, County Judge and District Attorney of this State, prior to the first day of November, eighteen hundred and sixty-nine.
Sec. 10. This Act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage.

4. I reasonably infer from Stats.1869-70 that the first Commission did not perform very well. From the tone of Section 4 below, it appears that they failed to complete their job. So, in 1870, the Legislature tried again.

5. From Statutes of California (1869-70), pp. 774-776:

CHAPTER DXVI [516].
An Act establishing a Commission for the revision of the laws.
[Approved April 4, 1870.]
The People of the State of California, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:

SECTION 1. A Commission, consisting of three persons, members of the legal profession, is hereby created, for the purpose of revising and compiling the statutes of this State. The members of such Commission shall be appointed by the Governor [Note: not elected by the people], within a reasonable time after the passage of this Act, and within one month from such appointment they shall meet in the City of Sacramento and organize themselves into a Board, for the discharge of the duties hereinafter provided. The Commission shall, upon its organization, select a Secretary, who shall attend all the sittings thereof.
Sec. 2. Upon the organization thereof, such Commisssion shall proceed to revise all the statutes of this State, including those enacted at the present session of the Legislature, and correct verbal errors and omissions, and suggest such improvements as will introduce precision and clearness into the wording of the statutes, and by a supplementary report thereto to designate the Acts or parts of Acts which, in the opinion of the Commission, should be repealed, and prepare substitutes therefor when necessary; to recommend all such enactments as shall, in the judgment of the Commission, be necessary to supply the defects of and give completeness to the existing legislation of the State, and prepare and present the bills therefor; to examine all special Acts, and such as are confined in their operation to particular counties or cities, and to propose such measures as shall be necessary to give utility and uniformity thereto, and especially to propose, when possible, general Acts, which shall supersede the same; to arrange the statutes in the most systematic and convenient form, and furnish a complete and alphabetical list of the matters contained therein, which, in the future, may be made the basis of an index.
Sec. 3. The Commission provided for by this Act shall continue the labors of that appointed by the Act of March twenty-eighth, eighteen hundred and sixty-eight; provided, that while adopting and using the results of such labors, as far as shall be deemed expedient, the first mentioned Commission shall be at liberty to introduce into such results any changes it may regard as necessary. The Commissioners under the Act of eighteen hundred and sixty-eight, aforesaid, shall deliver all documents and books belonging to the State or said Commission to the Commissioners appointed under this Act.
Sec. 4. The Commission shall hold its sessions in a room to be provided by the Secretary of State, in the State Capitol, and shall enter upon the discharge of its duties immediately after its organization. It shall hold daily sessions of six hours each, on at least five days in every week. It shall in no case adjourn its sittings for a longer period than five days, and there shall be no more than one adjournment per month. No members shall absent himself from such sittings for a longer period than three days, except in case of sickness or unavoidable necessity.
Sec. 5. Such Commission shall complete its labors by or before the first day of November, eighteen hundred and seventy-one. It shall, upon completion, prepare and present to the next Legislature a full report of all its proceeding, in pursuance of this Act, which shall be accompanied by exhibits of the various changes, modifications, improvements, enactments, etc. proposed or prepared by it, with a full and accurate index thereto.
Sec. 6. The report and exhibit shall be printed by the State Printer, under the supervision of the Commission. The exhibits or proceedings shall be so printed as to show in the readiest manner the changes proposed by the Commission; and in those cases wherein it shall recommend the repeal of a law and propose a substitute therefor, such law and substitute shall be printed in the manner most convenient for comparison. The State Printer shall also, at any time during the progress of the revision, upon the requisition of the Commission, print any matter relating to the business thereof.
Sec. 7. The members of said Commission shall each receive for his services a compenation at the rate of six thousand dollars per annum for the time he shall be actually engaged in such revision, and in the preparation of their said report. Such compensation shall be paid at like times as the salaries of the District Judges of this State; provided, that no member shall receive a stated payment unless he shows by his own affidavit and the certificate of his associates on the Commission, that he has faithfully attended the sittings and promoted the labors of the Commission during the period for which payment is demanded. The Secretary of the Commission shall receive two hundred dollars per month for the time he shall be actually engaged in the performance of his duties. The Controller is hereby directed to draw his warrant on the Treasurer for the payment of said salaries when due and payable as herein provided; and the Treasurer is directed to pay the same out of any monies not otherwise appropriated.
Sec. 8. The Governor shall have power to fill vacancies in such Commission, caused by death or otherwise. He shall have power, also, to remove any member of said Commission for habitual neglect of the duties thereof; and any member who shall fail to attend the sittings of the Commission for the space of twenty days, unless in case of sickness, shall thereby cease to be a member of such Commission, and the Governor shall proceed at once to fill such vacancy.
Sec. 9. All Acts in conflict herewith are hereby repealed.
Sec. 10. This Act shall take effect immediately.

7.a. I believe there may be some problems with The California Codes, so I looked into them in further detail. These are my verbatim transcriptions from the first few [un-numbered] pages in the respective volumes.

7.b. From THE POLITICAL CODE (1872), Volume 1, [unnumbered pages]:

OFFICE REVISION COMMISSION, STATE OF CALIFORNIA,
SACRAMENTO, August 31st, 1872.

We, the undersigned Commissioners to Revise the Laws of the State of California, and authorized by an Act entitled "An Act to put into effect certain parts of the Codes and to provide for their publication," approved March twelfth, eighteen hundred and seventy-two, to "furnish the State Printer with full copies of * * * such Codes, all fully arranged for publication" (see Section 13, Subdivision 5, of said Act), and to "read all proofs, and see that the printed copies agree with the originals" (see Subdivision 8 of said section), do hereby certify that Volumes 1 and 2, entitled "THE POLITICAL CODE," is a full, true, and correct copy of the Act entitled "An Act to establish a Political Code," approved March twelfth, eighteen hundred and seventy-two, and contain full, true, and correct copies of all Acts supplementary and amendatory thereof properly inserted, together with the Federal and State Constitutions, and the laws of the United States relating to naturalization and the authentication of writings, properly head-noted.
In testimony whereof we have hereunto set our hands, at office in the City of Sacramento, this thirty-first day of August, A.D. eighteen hundred and seventy-two.

CREED HAYMOND, Chairman,
JOHN C. BURCH,
JOHN H. McKUNE, Commissioners.

Attest: CAMERON H. KING,
WILL J. BEATTY, Secretaries.

CALIFORNIA CODE COMMISSION.
CREED HAYMOND, Ch'rm.
JOHN C. BURCH.
JOHN H. McKUNE [Note: California 6th District judge 1864-1868].

ADVISORY COMMITTEE.

Hon. CHARLES A. TUTTLE [Note: Reporter of California supreme court 1871-1878].
Hon. SIDNEY L. JOHNSON.

CAMERON H. KING.
SECRETARIES: WILL J. BEATTY.
CURTIS H. LINDLEY.

LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEE ON THE POLITICAL CODE.

SENATE.
Honorable WILLIAM IRWIN..............of Siskiyou, Chairman.
Honorable M. P. O'CONNOR.........................of Nevada.
Honorable GEORGE OULTON ..................of San Francisco.
Honorable GEORGE PERKINS..........................of Butte.
Honorable S. C. HUTCHINS ..........................of Yuba.

ASSEMBLY.
Honorable W. R. WHEATON...........of San Francisco, Chairman.
Honorable E. B. MOTT...........................of Sacramento.
Honorable J. K. LUTTRELL ........................of Siskiyou.
Honorable JOHN EAGAN .............................of Amador.
Honorable W. N. DE HAVEN ..........................of Butte.

THE
POLITICAL CODE
OF THE
STATE OF CALIFORNIA.

AN ACT
TO ESTABLISH A POLITICAL CODE.
[Approved March 12, 1872.]

The People of the State of California, represented in
Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:

TITLE OF THE ACT.
1. This Act shall be known as THE POLITICAL CODE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA, and is divided into five Parts, as follows;
PART I.-OF THE SOVEREIGNTY AND PEOPLE OF THE STATE, AND
OF THE POLITICAL RIGHTS AND DUTIES OF ALL PERSONS
SUBJECT TO ITS JURISDICTION.
II.-OF THE CHIEF POLITICAL DIVISIONS, SEAT OF GOVERN-
MENT, AND LEGAL DISTANCES OF THE STATE.
III.-OF THE GOVERNMENT OF THE STATE.
IV.-OF THE GOVERNMENT OF COUNTIES, CITIES, AND TOWNS.
V.-OF THE DEFINITION AND SOURCES OF LAW; THE COM-
MON LAW; THE PUBLICATION AND EFFECT OF THE
CODES; AND THE EXPRESS REPEAL OF STATUTES.

4505 [Note: the last section of the Political Code]. The express repeal of statutes will be provided for by a separate statute, and such statute, after its passage, must be construed in the same manner, and must have like effect as if it were part of this Code.

Approved March 12th, 1872.
NEWTON BOOTH,
Governor.

STATUTES REPEALED BY THE CODES.

Section 4505 of the Political Code states that "the express repeal of statutes will be provided for by a separate statute." The bill contemplated by this statement (Senate Bill No. 519, session 1871-2) failed of passage in the Assembly, because of an objection made to its being taken up out of order. A list of the statutes enumerated in this bill, and hence intended to be expressly repealed, is here given for the purpose of indicating what statutes, according to the Code Commissioners, were superseded by the Codes.

7.f.1. From THE POLITICAL CODE (1872), Vol. 2, p. 193:

4494. The Codes passed at this session of the Legislature must not be published as part of the statutes passed at this session, but provision must be made by law for their publication.

7.g. From THE POLITICAL CODE (1872), v. 2, p. 192:

4479. If the provisions of any law passed at the present session of the Legislature contravene or are inconsistent with the provisions of either of the four Codes, the provisions of such law must prevail.

OFFICE REVISION COMMISSION, STATE OF CALIFORNIA,
SACRAMENTO, October 5th, 1872.

We, the undersigned Commissioners to Revise the Laws of the State of California, and authorized by an Act entitle "An Act to put into effect certain parts of the Codes and to provide for their publication," approved March twelfth, eighteen hundred and seventy-two, to "furnish the State Printer with full copies of * * * such Codes, all fully arranged for publication" (see Section 13, Subdivision 5, of said Act), and to "read all proofs, and see that the printed copies agree with the originals" (see Subdivision 8 of said section), do hereby certify that this volume entitled "PENAL CODE" is a full, true, and correct copy of the Act entitled "An Act to establish a Penal Code," approved February fourteenth, eighteen hundred and seventy-two, and contains full, true, and correct copies of all Acts amendatory thereof properly inserted.
In testimony whereof we have hereunto set our hands, at office in the City of Sacramento, this fifth day of October, A.D. eighteen hundred and seventy-two.

CREED HAYMOND, Chairman,
JOHN C. BURCH,
JOHN H. McKUNE, Commissioners.

Attest: CAMERON H. KING,
WILL J. BEATTY, Secretaries.

CALIFORNIA CODE COMMISSION.
CREED HAYMOND, Ch'rm.
JOHN C. BURCH.
JOHN H. McKUNE.

ADVISORY COMMITTEE.

Hon. CHARLES A. TUTTLE.
Hon. SIDNEY L. JOHNSON.

CAMERON H. KING.
SECRETARIES: WILL J. BEATTY.
CURTIS H. LINDLEY.

LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEE.

JOINT COMMITTEE

SENATE. ASSEMBLY.
W. W. PENDEGAST, Ch'rm. C. G. FRENCH, Ch'rm.
JAMES VAN NESS, F. E. SPENCER,
A. COMTE, Jr., A. D. SPLIVALO.
JAMES T. FARLEY.

THE
PENAL CODE
OF
CALIFORNIA.

AN ACT
TO ESTABLISH A PENAL CODE.
[Approved February 14th, 1872.]

The People of the State of California, represented in
Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:

TITLE OF THE ACT.
1. This Act shall be known as THE PENAL CODE OF CALIFORNIA, and is divided into Three Parts, as follows;
I.-OF CRIMES AND PUNISHMENTS.
II.-OF CRIMINAL PROCEDURE.
III.-OF THE STATE PRISON AND COUNTY JAILS.

OFFICE REVISION COMMISSION, STATE OF CALIFORNIA,
SACRAMENTO, August 15th, 1872.

We, the undersigned Commissioners to Revise the Laws of the State of California, and authorized by an Act entitle "An Act to put into effect certain parts of the Codes and to provide for their publication," approved March twelfth, eighteen hundred and seventy-two, to "furnish the State Printer with full copies of * * * such Codes, all fully arranged for publication" (see Section 13, Subdivision 5, of said Act), and to "read all proofs, and see that the printed copies agree with the originals" (see Subdivision 8 of said section), do hereby certify that this volume, entitled "CIVIL CODE," is a full, true, and correct copy of the Act entitled "An Act to establish a Civil Code," approved March twenty-first, eighteen hundred and seventy-two, and contains full, true, and correct copies of all Acts amendatory thereof properly inserted.
In testimony whereof we have hereunto set our hands, at office in the City of Sacramento, this fifteenth day of August, A.D. eighteen hundred and seventy-two.

CREED HAYMOND, Chairman,
JOHN C. BURCH,
JOHN H. McKUNE, Commissioners.

Attest: CAMERON H. KING,
WILL J. BEATTY, Secretaries.

CALIFORNIA CODE COMMISSION.
CREED HAYMOND, Ch'rm.
JOHN C. BURCH.
JOHN H. McKUNE.

ADVISORY COMMITTEE.

Hon. CHARLES A. TUTTLE.
Hon. SIDNEY L. JOHNSON.

CAMERON H. KING.
SECRETARIES: WILL J. BEATTY.
CURTIS H. LINDLEY.

THE
CIVIL CODE
OF THE
STATE OF CALIFORNIA.

AN ACT
TO
ESTABLISH A CIVIL CODE.
[Approved March 21st, 1872.]

The People of the State of California, represented in
Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:

TITLE OF THE ACT.
1. This Act shall be known as THE CIVIL CODE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA, and is in Four Divisions, as follows;
I.-THE FIRST RELATING TO PERSONS.
II.-THE SECOND TO PROPERTY.
III.-THE THIRD TO OBLIGATIONS.
IV.-THE FOURTH CONTAINS GENERAL PROVISIONS
RELATING TO THE THREE PRECEDING DIVISIONS.

OFFICE REVISION COMMISSION, STATE OF CALIFORNIA,
SACRAMENTO, November 1st, 1872.

We, the undersigned Commissioners to Revise the Laws of the State of California, and authorized by an Act entitled "An Act to put into effect certain parts of the Codes and to provide for their publication," approved March twelfth, eighteen hundred and seventy-two, to "furnish the State Printer with full copies of * * * such Codes, all fully arranged for publication" (see Section 13, Subdivision 5, of said Act), and to "read all proofs, and see that the printed copies agree with the originals" (see Subdivision 8 of said section), do hereby certify this volume, entitled "CODE OF CIVIL PROCEDURE," is a full, true, and correct copy of the Act entitled "An Act to establish a Code of Civil Procedure," approved March eleventh, eighteen hundred and seventy-two, and contains full, true, and correct copies of all Acts amendatory thereof, properly inserted.
In testimony whereof we have hereunto set our hands, at office in the City of Sacramento, this first day of November, A.D. eighteen hundred and seventy-two.

CREED HAYMOND, Chairman,
JOHN C. BURCH,
JOHN H. McKUNE, Commissioners.

Attest: CAMERON H. KING,
WILL J. BEATTY, Secretaries.

THE
CODE OF CIVIL PROCEDURE
OF THE
STATE OF CALIFORNIA.

AN ACT
TO ESTABLISH A CODE OF CIVIL PROCEDURE.
[Note: The Approval Date is not printed; maybe it was not "Approved".]

The People of the State of California, represented in
Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:

TITLE OF ACT.
1. This Act shall be known as THE CODE OF CIVIL PROCEDURE OF CALIFORNIA, and is divided into Four Parts, as follows;
PART I. OF COURTS OF JUSTICE.
II. OF CIVIL ACTIONS.
III. OF SPECIAL PROCEEDINGS OF A CIVIL NATURE.
IV. OF EVIDENCE.

PREFACE.
By the provisions of an Act to put into effect certain parts of the Codes and provide for their publication, the Commissioners were required, in addition to superintending the publication of the Codes, to compile, for publication, all general statutes continued in force by either of the Codes. Among these general laws not affected by the Codes were the Acts funding the State debt; Acts regulating and in relation to rodeos; Acts in relation to Judges of the plains; Acts in relation to lawful fences, estrays, and the trespassing of animals on private property; the fee and salary bills of the various counties of the State, beside other laws specially mentioned and recognized as continuing in force by the Codes. The corporation laws of the State existing prior to the adoption of the Codes were continued in force for certain purposes, and the existence of corporations which had been formed before twelve o'clock, noon, of the first day of January, eighteen hundred and seventy-three, were not affected by the Code, unless such corporation elected to continue its existence under it, but the laws under which such corporation was formed continued applicable to all such corporations. (See Civil Code, Secs. 287 and 288.) The corporation laws of this State, as they existed before the adoption of the Code, are therefore collected and published in this volume. Wherever the Codes make provisions concerning certain subjects in such cases, all laws relating to the same subject matter which were theretofore in force in this State, whether consistent or not with the provisions of the Codes, are repealed. In this volume the Commissioners have given a brief history of legislation which has been had upon various subjects, and where the Code has made provision concerning such subjects, reference thereto is made, the sections of the Codes relating to the subject, and superseding the prior law, being cited. It was deemed advisable also to make brief mention of the special Acts passed, and which affect only certain portions of the State, so that this volume, when taken in connection with the Codes, might form a complete and harmonious whole, and the reader may be able at a glance to inform himself concerning any special, as well as any general law. The Commissioners have adopted the alphabetical arrangement, believing it will be the most useful and convenient form.

CREED HAYMOND, Chairman,
JOHN C. BURCH,
JOHN H. McKUNE, Commissioners.

CAMERON H. KING,
WILL J. BEATTY, Secretaries.