Orange County Municipal Code Art. 1 The Code

This Code shall be known as the "Codified Ordinances of the County of Orange." It shall be sufficient to refer to said Code as the "Codified Ordinance of the County of Orange" or the "Orange County Code" in any prosecution for the violation of any provision thereof; and it shall also be sufficient to designate any ordinance adding to, amending or repealing said Code as an addition to or amendment to or repeal of said "Codified Ordinances of the County of Orange." Unless specifically indicated otherwise, the word "Code" as used herein refers to the Codified Ordinances of the County of Orange.

(Code 1961, § 11.011)

This Code consisting of ordinances of the County of Orange is adopted pursuant to sections 25126 through 25130 of the Government Code of the State of California.

(Code 1961, § 11.012; Ord. No. 98-15, § 1, 12-8-98)

It is intended that all existing ordinances of the County of Orange are included in this Code except the following ordinances and their amendments: Grant of franchise; the Salary Ordinance of the County of Orange; interim reclassification of land use; call for an election; authorization for the levying and collection of taxes pursuant to an indebtedness; authorizing the execution of notes or bonds of indebtedness; action under Street Opening Act of 1903; action under Vehicle Parking District Law of 1943; all of or that portion of ordinances and amendments thereto adopting sectional district maps. Precise plan maps and oil field maps, whether adopted as amendments to sections of this Code or not, are not printed herein. The adoption of this Code shall not affect any ordinance the provisions of which are not included in this Code.

(Code 1961, § 11.013)

The provisions of this Code, insofar as they are substantially the same as provisions of existing ordinances relating to the same subject matter, shall be construed as restatements and continuations thereof and not as new enactments.

(Code 1961, § 11.014)

Neither the adoption of this Code nor the repeal hereby of any ordinances of the County of Orange shall in any manner affect the prosecution for violation of any ordinance, which violation was committed prior to the effective date hereof; nor be construed as a waiver of any permit, license fee, charge or penalty at said effective date required or due and unpaid under such ordinance; nor be construed as affecting any of the provisions of such ordinance relating to the collection of any such fee, charge or penalty or the penal provisions applicable to any violation thereof; nor as affecting the validity of any bond or cash deposit in lieu thereof, required to be posted, filed or deposited pursuant to any ordinance, and all rights and obligations thereunder appertaining shall continue in full force and effect.

(Code 1961, § 11.015)

No action or proceeding commenced before this Code takes effect, and no right accrued, is affected by the provisions of this Code; but all procedure thereafter taken therein shall conform to the provisions of this Code so far as possible.

(Code 1961, § 11.016)

No rights given by any license or certificate under any ordinance repealed by this Code are affected by the enactment of this Code or by such repeal, but such rights shall hereafter be exercised according to this Code.

(Code 1961, § 11.017)

The provisions of the Code shall not in any manner affect deposits or other matters of record which refer to or are otherwise connected with ordinances which are therein specifically designated by number or otherwise and which are included in this Code, but such references shall be construed to apply to the corresponding provisions contained within this Code.

(Code 1961, § 11.018)

Title, division, article, section and subsection headings contained in this Code shall not be deemed to govern, limit, modify or in any manner affect the scope, meaning or intent of the provisions of any title, division, article, section or subsection of this Code.

(Code 1961, § 11.019)

In reading section numbers from left to right, the first digit shall designate the title of this Code, the next digit or digits to the right of the first dash and to the left of the second dash shall designate the division of that title. The remaining digit or digits to the right of the second dash shall indicate the section number within the division. Example: The number 1-4-13 designated section 13 of division 4 of title 1.

(Code 1961, § 11.0110)

If any section, subsection, sentence, clause, phrase or portion of this Code is for any reason held to be invalid or unconstitutional by the decision of any court of competent jurisdiction, such decision shall not affect the validity of the remaining portions of this Code. The Board of Supervisors hereby declares that it would have adopted this Code and each section, subsection, sentence, clause, phrase or portion thereof, irrespective of the fact that any one (1) or more sections, subsections, sentences, clauses, phrases or portions be declared invalid or unconstitutional.

(Code 1961, § 11.0111)

Words and phrases are to be construed according to the context and the approved usage of the language; but technical words and phrases, and such other as may have acquired a peculiar and appropriate meaning in law, or are specifically defined in succeeding sections of this Code, are to be construed according to such peculiar and appropriate meaning or definition.

(Code 1961, § 11.0112)

Generally. When provisions conflict, the specific shall prevail over the general. All provisions shall be liberally construed so that the intent of the board of supervisors may be effectuated. Words and phrases shall be construed according to the common and approved usage of the language, but technical words, technical phrases and words and phrases that have acquired peculiar and appropriate meanings in law shall be construed according to such meanings.

The following terms as used in this Code shall, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise, have the following rules of construction applied and the respective meanings herein set forth:

Board of supervisors. "Board of supervisors" or "board" means the board of supervisors of Orange County, California.

Code. "Code" means the Codified Ordinances of the County of Orange, as provided in section 1-1-1.

Computation of time. 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.

County. "County" means the County of Orange, California.

Following. "Following" means next after.

Gender. Masculine gender includes the feminine and neuter.

Joint authority. Words giving a joint authority to three or more persons give such authority to a majority of such persons.

May; shall. "May" is permissive; "shall" is mandatory.

Month. "Month" means a calendar month.

Number. Words in the singular include the plural. Words in the plural include the singular.

Oath. "Oath" means and includes an affirmation.

Officers, departments, etc. References to officers, departments, board, commissions or employees are to county officers, county departments, county boards, county commissions and county employees.

Official time. References to a specific time of day are to Pacific Standard Time or Pacific Daylight Time, as appropriate.

Owner. "Owner," as applied to real property, includes any part owner, joint owner, tenant in common, tenant in partnership, joint tenant or tenant by the entirety of the whole or part of such property.

Person. "Person" includes any person, firm, association, organization, partnership, limited liability company, business trust, corporation, or company.

Personal property. "Personal property" means any property other than real property, and includes money, goods, chattels, things in action and evidences of debt.

Preceding. "Preceding" means next before.

Premises. "Premises," as applied to real property, includes land and structures.

Property. "Property" includes property real and personal.

Real property. "Real property," includes lands, tenements and hereditaments.

Shall. "Shall" is to be construed as being mandatory.

Sidewalk. "Sidewalk" means that portion of a street between the curb line, or the lateral lines of a roadway where there is no curb, and the adjacent property line, intended for the use of pedestrians. If there is no public area between the lateral lines of the roadway and the abutting property line, then the area immediately abutting the street line shall be construed as the sidewalk.

Signature or subscription by mark. "Signature" or "subscription" includes a mark when the signer or subscriber cannot write, such signer's or subscriber's mark being written near the mark by a witness who signs his own name near the signer's or subscriber's name; but a signature or subscription by mark can be acknowledged or can serve as a signature or subscription to a sworn statement only when two witnesses so sign their own names thereto.

State. "State" means the State of California.

Street. "Street" means any alley, avenue, boulevard, highway, road, lane, viaduct, bridge and the approach thereto, and any other public thoroughfare in the County. "Street" also means the entire width thereof between abutting property lines. "Street" includes a sidewalk or footpath.

Tenant, occupant. "Tenant" or "occupant," as applied to a building or land, includes:

(1) Any person holding either alone or with others a written or oral lease of such building or land.

(2) Any person who either alone or with others occupies such building or land.

Tenses. The present tense includes the past and future tenses, and the future includes the present.

Week. A week consists of seven consecutive days.

Writing. "Writing" includes any form of recorded message capable of comprehension by ordinary visual means. Whenever any notice, report, statement or record is authorized or required, it shall be made in writing in the English language unless it is expressly provided otherwise.

(Code 1961, § 11.0113; Ord. No. 98-15, § 2, 12-8-98)