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Cal. HNC § 815

This is the official text of Cal. HNC § 815, part of California’s Harbors and Navigation Code — regulates ports, harbors, and boating.

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

When a vessel, whether foreign or domestic, is seriously damaged, or the voyage is otherwise broken up beyond the possibility of pursuing it, the master, in case of necessity, may sell the vessel without instructions from the owners, unless by the earliest use of ordinary means of communication he can inform the owners and await their instructions.

Status: in_force · Read it on the official government site

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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.