SECTIONS 660-670 - California Statutes

EVIDENCE CODE

SECTION 660-670

660. The presumptions established by this article, and all other
rebuttable presumptions established by law that fall within the
criteria of Section 605, are presumptions affecting the burden of
proof.

662. The owner of the legal title to property is presumed to be the
owner of the full beneficial title. This presumption may be rebutted
only by clear and convincing proof.

663. A ceremonial marriage is presumed to be valid.

664. It is presumed that official duty has been regularly
performed. This presumption does not apply on an issue as to the
lawfulness of an arrest if it is found or otherwise established that
the arrest was made without a warrant.

665. A person is presumed to intend the ordinary consequences of
his voluntary act. This presumption is inapplicable in a criminal
action to establish the specific intent of the defendant where
specific intent is an element of the crime charged.

666. Any court of this state or the United States, or any court of
general jurisdiction in any other state or nation, or any judge of
such a court, acting as such, is presumed to have acted in the lawful
exercise of its jurisdiction. This presumption applies only when the
act of the court or judge is under collateral attack.

667. A person not heard from in five years is presumed to be dead.

668. An unlawful intent is presumed from the doing of an unlawful
act. This presumption is inapplicable in a criminal action to
establish the specific intent of the defendant where specific intent
is an element of the crime charged.

669. (a) The failure of a person to exercise due care is presumed
if:
(1) He violated a statute, ordinance, or regulation of a public
entity;
(2) The violation proximately caused death or injury to person or
property;
(3) The death or injury resulted from an occurrence of the nature
which the statute, ordinance, or regulation was designed to prevent;
and
(4) The person suffering the death or the injury to his person or
property was one of the class of persons for whose protection the
statute, ordinance, or regulation was adopted.
(b) This presumption may be rebutted by proof that:
(1) The person violating the statute, ordinance, or regulation did
what might reasonably be expected of a person of ordinary prudence,
acting under similar circumstances, who desired to comply with the
law; or
(2) The person violating the statute, ordinance, or regulation was
a child and exercised the degree of care ordinarily exercised by
persons of his maturity, intelligence, and capacity under similar
circumstances, but the presumption may not be rebutted by such proof
if the violation occurred in the course of an activity normally
engaged in only by adults and requiring adult qualifications.

669.1. A rule, policy, manual, or guideline of state or local
government setting forth standards of conduct or guidelines for its
employees in the conduct of their public employment shall not be
considered a statute, ordinance, or regulation of that public entity
within the meaning of Section 669, unless the rule, manual, policy,
or guideline has been formally adopted as a statute, as an ordinance
of a local governmental entity in this state empowered to adopt
ordinances, or as a regulation by an agency of the state pursuant to
the Administrative Procedure Act (Chapter 3.5 (commencing with
Section 11340) of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code), or
by an agency of the United States government pursuant to the federal
Administrative Procedure Act (Chapter 5 (commencing with Section
5001) of Title 5 of the United States Code). This section affects
only the presumption set forth in Section 669, and is not otherwise
intended to affect the admissibility or inadmissibility of the rule,
policy, manual, or guideline under other provisions of law.

669.5. (a) Any ordinance enacted by the governing body of a city,
county, or city and county which (1) directly limits, by number, the
building permits that may be issued for residential construction or
the buildable lots which may be developed for residential purposes,
or (2) changes the standards of residential development on vacant
land so that the governing body's zoning is rendered in violation of
Section 65913.1 of the Government Code is presumed to have an impact
on the supply of residential units available in an area which
includes territory outside the jurisdiction of the city, county, or
city and county.
(b) With respect to any action which challenges the validity of an
ordinance specified in subdivision (a) the city, county, or city and
county enacting the ordinance shall bear the burden of proof that
the ordinance is necessary for the protection of the public health,
safety, or welfare of the population of the city, county, or city and
county.
(c) This section does not apply to state and federal building code
requirements or local ordinances which (1) impose a moratorium, to
protect the public health and safety, on residential construction for
a specified period of time, if, under the terms of the ordinance,
the moratorium will cease when the public health or safety is no
longer jeopardized by the construction, (2) create agricultural
preserves under Chapter 7 (commencing with Section 51200) of Part 1
of Division 1 of Title 5 of the Government Code, or (3) restrict the
number of buildable parcels or designate lands within a zone for
nonresidential uses in order to protect agricultural uses as defined
in subdivision (b) of Section 51201 of the Government Code or
open-space land as defined in subdivision (b) of Section 65560 of the
Government Code.
(d) This section shall not apply to a voter approved ordinance
adopted by referendum or initiative prior to the effective date of
this section which (1) requires the city, county, or city and county
to establish a population growth limit which represents its fair
share of each year's statewide population growth, or (2) which sets a
growth rate of no more than the average population growth rate
experienced by the state as a whole. Paragraph (2) of subdivision (a)
does not apply to a voter-approved ordinance adopted by referendum
or initiative which exempts housing affordable to persons and
families of low or moderate income, as defined in Section 50093 of
the Health and Safety Code, or which otherwise provides low- and
moderate-income housing sites equivalent to such an exemption.

670. (a) In any dispute concerning payment by means of a check, a
copy of the check produced in accordance with Section 1550 of the
Evidence Code, together with the original bank statement that
reflects payment of the check by the bank on which it was drawn or a
copy thereof produced in the same manner, creates a presumption that
the check has been paid.
(b) As used in this section:
(1) "Bank" means any person engaged in the business of banking and
includes, in addition to a commercial bank, a savings and loan
association, savings bank, or credit union.
(2) "Check" means a draft, other than a documentary draft, payable
on demand and drawn on a bank, even though it is described by
another term, such as "share draft" or "negotiable order of
withdrawal."