Editing California (section)

====Judicial branch====
{{main|Judiciary of California}}
[[File:Supremecourtofcaliforniamaincourthouse (cropped).jpg|thumb|right|The [[Supreme Court of California]] primarily convenes at the [[Earl Warren Building]] in San Francisco (pictured), but also holds session in Sacramento and Los Angeles.]]
California's legal system is explicitly based upon English [[common law]]<ref name="Cal Civil Code 22.2">{{Cite web |title=California Civil Code § 22.2 |url=https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=CIV&sectionNum=22.2. |access-date=March 6, 2019 |website=[[California Office of Legislative Counsel]]}}</ref> but carries many features from Spanish [[Civil law (legal system)|civil law]], such as [[community property]]. California's prison population grew from 25,000 in 1980 to over 170,000 in 2007.<ref name="Thompson 2007">{{Cite news |last=Thompson |first=Don |date=December 8, 2007 |title=Calif. Struggles with sentencing reform |work=USA Today |url=https://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-12-08-2244622424_x.htm |access-date=January 29, 2010}}</ref> [[Capital punishment in California|Capital punishment]] is a legal form of punishment and the state has the largest "[[Death Row]]" population in the country (though Oklahoma and Texas are far more active in carrying out executions).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Death Row Inmates by State and Size of Death Row by Year {{!}} Death Penalty Information Center |url=https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/death-row-inmates-state-and-size-death-row-year |access-date=May 8, 2017 |website=deathpenaltyinfo.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=State Execution Rates {{!}} Death Penalty Information Center |url=https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/state-execution-rates |access-date=May 8, 2017 |website=deathpenaltyinfo.org}}</ref> California has performed [[List of people executed in California|13 executions]] since 1976, with the last being in 2006.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Inmates Executed 1978 to Present |url=https://www.cdcr.ca.gov/capital-punishment/inmates-executed-1978-to-present/ |access-date=May 7, 2022 |website=Capital Punishment |language=en-US}}</ref>

[[California's judiciary system]] is the largest in the United States with a total of 1,600 judges (the federal system has only about 840). At the apex is the seven-member Supreme Court of California, while the [[California Courts of Appeal]] serve as the primary [[appellate court]]s and the [[California Superior Courts]] serve as the primary [[trial court]]s. [[List of justices of the Supreme Court of California|Justices of the Supreme Court]] and Courts of Appeal are appointed by the governor, but are subject to retention by the electorate every 12 years.

The administration of the state's court system is controlled by the [[Judicial Council of California|Judicial Council]], composed of the chief justice of the California Supreme Court, 14 judicial officers, four representatives from the [[State Bar of California]], and one member from each house of the state legislature.

In fiscal year 2020–2021, the state judiciary's 2,000 judicial officers and 18,000 judicial branch employees processed approximately 4.4 million cases.<ref name="2022CourtStatisticsReport">{{cite book |last1=Judicial Council of California |title=2022 Court Statistics Report: Statewide Caseload Trends, 2011–12 Through 2020–21 |date=2022 |publisher=Judicial Council of California |location=San Francisco |page=1 |url=https://www.courts.ca.gov/documents/2022-Court-Statistics-Report.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220704050343/https://www.courts.ca.gov/documents/2022-Court-Statistics-Report.pdf |archive-date=July 4, 2022 |url-status=live |access-date=August 19, 2022}}</ref>