The code is made up of statutes which govern the general obligations and rights of persons within the jurisdiction of California.
[2] However, as completed in 1865, the substance of the Field civil code was "overwhelmingly, if not exclusively, that of the common and statutory law of New York in the 1860s".
Similarly, it codifies the mailbox rule that communication of acceptance is effective when dropped in the mail,[5][6] which is a feature unique to the common law.
Field, Jackson Temple, and John W. Dwinelle were appointed to a Board of Code Examiners to investigate such issues.
Although revolutionary for its time, the California Civil Code was actually the third successfully enacted codification of the substance of the common law.
[9] Then Dakota Territory beat California to the punch by becoming the first jurisdiction to enact Field's civil code in 1866.