Chapter 1.01 — RULES OF CONSTRUCTION

Section

• 1.01.001 How code designated and cited
• 1.01.002 Definitions and rules of construction
• 1.01.003 Effect of repeal of ordinances
• 1.01.004 Catchlines of sections
• 1.01.005 Provisions considered as continuations of existing ordinances
• 1.01.006 Severability of parts of code
• 1.01.007 General penalty; continuing violations
• 1.01.008 Authority to require prisoners to labor on public works and the like
• Statutory reference:
• Authority of counties to enforce regulations not in conflict with the general law, see Constitution Art. XI, § 11

The ordinances embraced in the following chapters and sections shall constitute and be designated “The Code of San Benito County, California”, and may be so cited. It may also be cited as the “San Benito County Code”. (1966 Code, § 1-1) (Ord. 1073, § 3 (part), 2024)

For the purposes of this code, the following words and phrases shall have the meanings respectively ascribed to them by this section. BOARD OF SUPERVISORS. The Board of Supervisors of San Benito County. CODE. The Code of San Benito County, California. 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 day, unless the last day is a holiday and then it is also excluded. COUNTY. The County of San Benito. DAY. A period of time between any midnight and the midnight following. DAYTIME, NIGHTTIME. DAYTIME is the period of time between sunrise and sunset. NIGHTTIME is the period of time between sunset and sunrise. GENDER. The masculine gender includes the feminine and neuter. HIGHWAYS. The whole of all public ways, roads, alleys, courts and streets and sidewalks between the property lines forming the exterior lateral boundaries thereof, and those parts of public squares and places which form traveled parts of highways. IN THE COUNTY. All territory over which the county now has, or shall hereafter acquire, jurisdiction for the exercise of its police powers or other regulatory powers. JOINT AUTHORITY. All words giving a joint authority to three or more public officers or other persons shall be construed as giving such authority to a majority of them, unless it is otherwise expressed in the act giving the authority. MONTH. A calendar month, unless otherwise expressed. NUMBER. The singular number includes the plural, and the plural, the singular. OATH. Affirmation. OFFICERS, DEPARTMENTS AND THE LIKE. Officers, departments, boards, commissions and employees referred to shall mean officers, departments, boards, commissions and employees of the County of San Benito unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. OFFICIAL TIME. Whenever certain hours are named herein, they shall mean Pacific Standard Time or Daylight Saving Time as may be in current use in the county. OWNER. Applied to a building or land, shall include any part owner, joint owner, tenant in common, tenant in partnership, joint or tenant by the entirety of the whole or a part of the building or land. PERSON. Any person, firm, association, organization, partnership, limited liability company, business trust, corporation, or company. PERSONAL PROPERTY. Every species of property, except real property, as herein defined. PRECEDING, FOLLOWING. Next before and next after, respectively. PROCESS. Includes a writ or summons issued in the course of judicial proceedings of either a civil or criminal nature. PROPERTY. Real and personal property. REAL PROPERTY. Lands, tenements and hereditaments. SHALL, MAY. SHALL is mandatory and MAY is permissive. SIGNATURE or SUBSCRIPTION BY MARK. Includes a mark when the signer or subscriber cannot write, such signer’s or subscriber’s name being written near the mark by a witness who writes his or her 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. The State of California. TENANT or OCCUPANT. Applied to a building or land, shall include any person holding a written or an oral lease of or who occupies, the whole or a part of the building or land, either alone or with others. 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. Any form of recorded message capable of comprehension by ordinary visual means. Whenever any notice, report, statement or record is required or authorized by this code, it shall be made in writing in the English language unless it is expressly provided otherwise. YEAR. 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. (1966 Code, § 1-2) (Ord. 1073, § 3 (part), 2024) Statutory reference: “Computation of time”, see Cal. Gov’t Code § 6800 “Day”, see Cal. Gov’t Code § 6806 “Daytime”, see Cal. Gov’t Code § 6807 “Gender”, see Cal. Gov’t Code § 12 “Joint authority”, see Cal. Civil Code § 12 “Month”, see Cal. Gov’t Code § 6804 “Number”, see Cal. Gov’t Code § 13 “Oath”, see Cal. Gov’t Code § 15 “Person”, see Cal. Gov’t Code § 17 “Personal property”, see Cal. Civil Code §§ 14, 663 “Process”, see Cal. Gov’t Code § 22 “Property”, see Cal. Civil Code § 14 “Real property”, see Cal. Civil Code §§ 14, 658 “Shall, may”, see Cal. Gov’t Code § 14 “Signature, subscription by mark”, see Cal. Gov’t Code § 16 “Tenses”, see Cal. Gov’t Code § 11 “Week”, see Cal. Gov’t Code § 6805 “Writing”, see Cal. Gov’t Code § 8 “Year”, see Cal. Gov’t Code § 6803

(A) The repeal of an ordinance shall not revive any ordinances in force before or at the time the ordinance repealed took effect. (B) The repeal of an ordinance shall not affect any punishment or penalty incurred before the repeal took effect, nor any suit, prosecution or proceeding pending at the time of the repeal, for any offense committed under the ordinance repealed. (1966 Code, § 1-3) (Ord. 1073, § 3 (part), 2024)

The catchlines of the several sections of this code are intended as mere catchwords to indicate the contents of the section and shall not be deemed, or taken to be, titles of the section, nor as any part of the section, nor, unless expressly so provided, shall they be so deemed when any of the sections, including the catchlines, are amended or re-enacted. (1966 Code, § 1-4) (Ord. 1073, § 3 (part), 2024)

The provisions appearing in this code, so far as they are in substance the same as those of ordinances existing at the time of the effective date of this code, shall be considered as continuations thereof and not as new enactments. (1966 Code, § 1-5) (Ord. 1073, § 3 (part), 2024)

It is hereby declared to be the intention of the Board of Supervisors that the sections, paragraphs, sentences, clauses and phrases of this code are severable, and if any phrase, clause, sentence, paragraph or section of this code shall be declared unconstitutional by the valid judgment or decree of a court of competent jurisdiction, the unconstitutionality shall not affect any of the remaining phrases, clauses, sentences, paragraphs and sections of this code. (1966 Code, § 1-6) (Ord. 1073, § 3 (part), 2024)

(A) Whenever in this code or in any other ordinance of the county or in any rule or regulation promulgated pursuant thereto, any act is prohibited or made or declared to be unlawful or an offense, or the doing of any act is required or the failure to do any act is declared to be unlawful or a misdemeanor, where no specific penalty is provided for, the violation of any such provision of this code or any other ordinance, rule or regulation of the county shall be punishable by a fine not exceeding $1,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months, or by both the fine and imprisonment or as otherwise established by Cal. Penal Code § 19 then in effect. (B) Every day any violation of this code or any other ordinance, rule or regulation of the county shall continue shall constitute a separate offense. (1966 Code, § 1-7) (Ord. 570, § 5; Ord. 1073, § 3 (part), 2024) Statutory reference: Establishing a penalty of a fine not exceeding $1,000, or six months’ imprisonment, or both for commission of a misdemeanor, see Cal. Penal Code § 19 Every person who maintains or commits any public nuisance, the punishment for which is not otherwise prescribed, or who willfully omits to perform any legal duty relating to the removal of a public nuisance, is guilty of a misdemeanor. (Cal. Penal Code § 372)

All persons confined in the county jail under judgment of conviction of misdemeanors may be required to work upon the public grounds and public property either of the county or of the cities within the county, or in such other places as may be deemed advisable. (1966 Code, § 1-8) (Ord. 4, § 1; Ord. 1073, § 3 (part), 2024) Statutory reference: Authority of county to provide for working of prisoners, see Cal. Gov’t Code § 25359 Working of prisoners confined in county jail, see Cal. Penal Code §§ 4017, 4018