Cal. EVID § 870
This is the official text of Cal. EVID § 870, part of California’s Evidence Code — sets the rules for what evidence is admissible in California courts.
Not legal advice. This page reproduces the official text of a government statute for reference only. Laws change, and how a statute applies depends on your specific facts. For advice about your situation, consult a licensed attorney in your state.
Official statutory text
A witness may state his opinion as to the sanity of a person when:
(a) The witness is an intimate acquaintance of the person whose sanity is in question;
(b) The witness was a subscribing witness to a writing, the validity of which is in dispute, signed by the person whose sanity is in question and the opinion relates to the sanity of such person at the time the writing was signed; or
(c) The witness is qualified under Section 800 or 801 to testify in the form of an opinion.
(a) The witness is an intimate acquaintance of the person whose sanity is in question;
(b) The witness was a subscribing witness to a writing, the validity of which is in dispute, signed by the person whose sanity is in question and the opinion relates to the sanity of such person at the time the writing was signed; or
(c) The witness is qualified under Section 800 or 801 to testify in the form of an opinion.
Status: in_force · Read it on the official government site
Need a lawyer in California?
Find a California lawyer
About this page: Statute text is reproduced from official government publishers via the
Open US Law dataset
(Vaquill AI, snapshot v2026.08, CC BY 4.0). Primary legislative text like this is public domain under the government-edicts doctrine
(Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). We link every section back to its official source so you can verify it independently.