Supreme Court of California

(1854):^[42] A case which held that Chinese persons may not testify against a white man, even if the white man is accused of murdering a Chinese person; effectively overturned by state law in 1873. The Hall case has been described as “containing some of the most offensive racial rhetoric to be found in the annals of California appellate jurisprudence” and “the worst statutory interpretation case in history.”^[43]

People v. Hall

Houston v. Williams (1859): A leading case on the separation of powers^[45] under the California Constitution.

[44]

(1944):^[46] Then-Associate Justice Roger Traynor suggested in a now-famous concurring opinion that the Court should dispose of legal fictions like warranties and impose strict liability for defective products as a matter of public policy.

Escola v. Coca-Cola Bottling Co.

(1948):^[47] The Court overturned the statutory ban on interracial marriage as unconstitutional. Perez directly influenced the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision on this issue, Loving v. Virginia (1967).

Perez v. Sharp

(1948):^[48] The Court shifted the burden to the defense to disprove causation when it was clear that one of two defendants must have caused the plaintiff's injury, but it was not clear which one.

Summers v. Tice

(1968):^[49] The Court radically expanded the tort of negligent infliction of emotional distress (NIED) beyond its traditional form, which historically had been limited to plaintiffs standing in the same "zone of danger" as a relative who was killed.

Dillon v. Legg

Pacific Gas & E. Co. v. G. W. Drayage & Rigging Co., Inc. (1968): The Court held that parol evidence could be conditionally received by a trial court to determine if a contract was ambiguous when not ambiguous on its face. This decision has not been followed by the courts of any other state.

[50]

(1968):^[51] The Court abolished the old distinctions between different types of persons entering land and imposed a general duty of care in the context of the tort of negligence.

Rowland v. Christian

People v. Belous (1969): The Court held the state's criminal statute prohibiting abortions to be unconstitutionally vague, in a 4-3 decision.

[52]

(1972):^[53] The Court relied upon the state constitutional clause prohibiting "cruel or unusual punishment" (note the difference from the federal Constitution's "cruel and unusual punishment" clause) to abolish capital punishment in California. The state electorate promptly overruled Anderson that same year with a popular initiative, Proposition 17, that kept the "cruel or unusual" clause but declared the death penalty to be neither cruel nor unusual.

People v. Anderson

(1974):^[54] The Court held that criminal defendants have a right to access the arresting officer's personnel file when the defendant alleges in an affidavit that the officer used excessive force or lied about the circumstances of the arrest.

Pitchess v. Superior Court

(1975):^[55] The Court embraced comparative negligence as part of California tort law and rejected strict contributory negligence.

Li v. Yellow Cab Co.

(1976):^[56] The Court held that mental health professionals have a duty to protect individuals who are being threatened with bodily harm by a patient. The original 1974 decision mandated warning the threatened individual, but a 1976 rehearing resulted in a decision calling for a "duty to protect" the intended victim, which did not necessarily require that a potential victim be informed of the threat.

Tarasoff v. Regents of the University of California

(1976):^[57] The Court ruled in favor of the enforceability of non-marital relationship contracts, express or implied, to the extent that they are not founded purely upon meretricious sexual services. In other words, even though California does not recognize common law marriage, persons who cohabit for long periods of time and commingle their assets are allowed to plead and prove marriage-like contracts for support and division of property.

Marvin v. Marvin

(1979):^[58] The Court found that the broad right to freedom of speech in the state constitution included an implied right to freedom of speech in private shopping centers. The U.S. Supreme Court in turn held that the state supreme court's decision did not amount to a "taking" of the shopping center under federal constitutional law.

Robins v. Pruneyard Shopping Center

(1980):^[59] The Court imposed market share liability on the makers of fungible hazardous products.

Sindell v. Abbott Laboratories

(1989):^[60] The Court withdrew from the expansive form of NIED set forth in Dillon and imposed a rigid bright-line test for recovery in bystander NIED cases. The Thing decision included extensive dicta hostile to plaintiffs which more generally limited the scope of recovery for both the tort of negligence and emotional distress damages in California.

Thing v. La Chusa

(1990):^[61] The Court held that patients do not have intellectual property rights in profits from medical discoveries made with their body parts.

Moore v. Regents of the University of California

(2001):^[62] The Court held that in the absence of a legally recognized method of determining who should make medical decisions on the behalf of an incompetent patient, the constitutional right to life and right to privacy granted special protection to the incompetent person.

Wendland v. Wendland

(2008):^[63] The Court held that a criminal conviction does not limit an individual's right to bring civil action for deprivation of rights in cases of excessive use of force.

Yount v. City of Sacramento

(2008):^[64] The Court held that sexual orientation is a protected class which requires strict scrutiny and under such scrutiny, laws prohibiting same-sex marriage are unconstitutional under the state constitution. The state electorate overturned the marriage portion of the decision that same year by enacting a popular initiative, Proposition 8, but left in place the discrimination protections.

In re Marriage Cases

(2008):^[65] The Court unanimously held in a Proposition 218 ("Right to Vote on Taxes Act") case that courts must exercise their independent judgment in reviewing local agency legislative decisions adopting special assessments. The highly deferential standard of review before Proposition 218 became law was grounded in separation of powers. Because the constitutional provisions of Proposition 218 were of equal dignity to the separation of powers doctrine, it no longer justified allowing a local agency to usurp the judicial function of interpreting and applying the constitutional provisions that governed assessments under Proposition 218.

Silicon Valley Taxpayers' Assn., Inc. v. Santa Clara County Open Space Authority

(2011):^[66] The Court held that the warrantless search of information in a cell phone was valid when incident to a lawful arrest. (The holding in Diaz was eventually repudiated by the United States Supreme Court in Riley v. California.)

People v. Diaz

Chief Justice (1850–1852) (First Chief Justice, founded UC Law SF)

Serranus Clinton Hastings

Associate Justice (1852–1857) (First Jewish justice to be elected by direct vote of the people)^[67]

Solomon Heydenfeldt

Chief Justice (1857–1859) (Killed while attempting to assassinate his successor, Stephen Field)

David S. Terry

Chief Justice (1859–1863) (Appointed by President Lincoln to the U.S. Supreme Court)

Stephen J. Field

Associate Justice (1872–1880)

Addison Niles

Chief Justice (1923–1924) (Appointed by President Coolidge as U.S. Secretary of the Navy)

Curtis D. Wilbur

Associate Justice (1962–1982)

Mathew Tobriner

Chief Justice (1964–1970), Associate Justice (1940–1964) (Well-respected legal scholar; generally regarded as the greatest justice in the history of the Court)

Roger J. Traynor

Associate Justice (1964–2001) (Longest serving justice)

Stanley Mosk

Associate Justice (1977–1981) (First African-American on the Court; well known for his pro bono work)

Wiley W. Manuel

Chief Justice (1977–1987) (First woman appointed to the Court; only Chief Justice ever not to be retained by the electorate)

Rose E. Bird

Associate Justice (1981–1985)

Otto Kaus

Associate Justice (1981–1991)

Allen Broussard

Associate Justice (1982–1987) (First Latino on the Court)

Cruz Reynoso

Associate Justice (1996–2005) (Appointed by President G.W. Bush to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit)

Janice Rogers Brown

Chief Justice (1996–2011), Associate Justice (1991–1996)

Ronald M. George

Chief Justice (2011-2023) (first Asian American chief justice)

Tani Cantil-Sakauye

Judiciary of California

Judicial Council of California

a historian of the Court

J. Edward Johnson

Impeachment in California

Supreme Court of California

California Supreme Court Historical Society

At the Lectern – California Supreme Court Practice Blog