What is the history of California vehicle code section 4000a?

Answer 1

California Vehicle Code section 4000(a) is the law the requires registration of Motor Vehicles. The history of this section can be dated back to the Statutes of 1913 Chapter 326. The Department of Motor Vehicles own website refers to this statute as being the first one to require licensing and registration of Motor Vehicles. Upon careful analysis however this law applied in a very limited fashion based on how the term "person" was defined under section (17) of the act. According to this section the registration and licensing requirements only applied to juristic "persons" meaning other than a natural person or chauffeurs (people who are compensated for transporting person for hire or compensation). During this time it was well recognized by courts all over the country that the citizen had a right to use the highways in the ordinary course of life and to use the ordinary conveyance of the day which at this time included an automobile. This was so well established it was published in the legal encyclopedia 11 AmJur 1st Section 329:

"Personal liberty largely consists of the Right of locomotion -- to go where and when one pleases -- only so far restrained as the Rights of others may make it necessary for the welfare of all other citizens. The Right of the Citizen to travel upon the public highways and to transport his property thereon, by horse drawn carriage, wagon, or automobile, is not a mere privilege which may be permitted or prohibited at will, but the common Right which he has under his Right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Under this Constitutional guarantee one may, therefore, under normal conditions, travel at his inclination along the public highways or in public places, and while conducting himself in an orderly and decent manner, neither interfering with nor disturbing another's Rights, he will be protected, not only in his person, but in his safe conduct."

The Statute of 1913 was amended by Statute 1915 Ch. 188. This new statute retained the basic limitations on the registration requirements to only juristic persons. It was amended by statutes of 1917, ch 218 and Statute 1919, ch 147. These amendments were merely refinements and did not make substantive changes.

The major changes began in 1923 with the Statutes of 1923 ch. 266. This time it defines the word "operator" and gave it much more general application by including "natural persons" in the law. However 2 week later in the same session of the legislature the Statutes of 1923 ch. 211 was passed providing a more constitutionally correct definition of "operator" and restricted the licensing and registration requirements once more to only juristic persons. Furthermore section 12 of this statute puts it in clear focus. "All acts and parts of acts in conflict herewith are hereby repealed..."

Since the earlier act was in conflict with the later act it repeals the earlier one puts the registration and licensing provisions back in the limited nature of only applying to juristic persons once again. This continued until the very first vehicle code was enacted by the Statutes 1935 Ch. 27. This was the act that established the Vehicle Code. Section 2 of this act makes it clear that the Vehicle Code is not to be construed as a new body of law but as a consolidation and continuation of already existing law. In order to understand what statutes were consolidated into the code you have to look at Section 802 which repealed certain acts and statutes 1923 ch. 266 was one of those statutes that was repealed. Furthermore section 803(c) declared that "Except as provided in Section 802, this code does not repeal any existing statute, nor any sentence or clause thereof."

From the very beginning of the code, it is clear that there is no express or even implied repeal of the exemption for the private, non-commercial use of an automobile. With this historical context in mind we can now evaluate and explain how this historical analysis relates to the modern vehicle code section 4000(a).

It's helpful to look at the follow sections in the current version of the vehicle code to fully grasp the history of section of 4000(a) and how it's suppose to be applied today. These sections are Section 2, 4, 260(a)and(b), 415(a) and 15210(p)(7).

Section 2 confirms that the code is simply a continuation of existing law and not to be construed as a new enactment.

Section 4 secures rights that have already been established and reiterates that rights are not effected by the provisions of the code.

Section 260(a) defines a commercial vehicle as a vehicle required to be registered under the code and section

260(b) tells us that a passenger vehicle is not a commercial vehicle and is therefore not required to be registered under the code.

Section 15210 (p)(7) is a little hidden section in the code that reads "Absent any federal definition the definitions of this code shall apply."

Section 415(a) defines a motor vehicle as "any vehicle which is self propelled" However this section does not apply since there is a federal definition of motor vehicle in Title 18 USC section 31 where it defines a motor vehicle as "every description of carriage or other contrivance propelled or drawn by mechanical power and used for commercial purposes on the highways in the transportation of passengers, passengers and property, or property or cargo".

Conclusion is that 4000(a) is a law that requires registration of vehicles that are used for transporting persons and property for hire, because the vehicle code is nothing more than a consolidation of laws that regulated the commercial activity of people who use the highways as a place of business which constitutes the privilege that we hear so much about. Everyone else is simply exercising their right to use the highways in the ordinary course of life and is not subject to section 4000(a) as they are considered passenger vehicles per vehicle code section 260(b).