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Cal. PEN § 704

This is the official text of Cal. PEN § 704, part of California’s Penal Code — defines crimes and sets criminal procedure in California.

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 the person informed against is brought before the magistrate, if the charge be controverted, the magistrate shall take testimony in relation thereto. The evidence shall be reduced to writing and subscribed by the witnesses. The magistrate may, in his or her discretion, order the testimony and proceedings to be taken down in shorthand, and for that purpose he or she may appoint a shorthand reporter. The deposition or testimony of the witnesses shall be authenticated in the form prescribed in Section 869.

Status: in_force · Read it on the official government site

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.