Whenever in any action or special proceeding, civil or criminal, in any court of this State any record is lost, injured, or destroyed by reason of conflagration or other public calamity, and a certified copy of the original cannot be supplied, any person interested therein may make written application to the court, verified by affidavit, showing such loss, injury, or destruction, and that a certified copy of the record cannot be obtained by the person making the application, and that such loss, injury, or destruction occurred by conflagration, or other calamity, without the fault or neglect of the person making the application, and that such loss, injury, or destruction, unless supplied or remedied may result in damage to the person making the application. Thereupon the court shall cause notice of the application to be given pursuant to Sections 1010 to 1020, inclusive, of this code.
§ 1953.03.Application to supply record; notices
Title 2. Of the Kinds and Degrees of Evidence · Chapter 3. Writings · Article 4. Records Destroyed in Fire or Calamity · Enacted 1953 · no amendments on record · Last verified July 29, 2026
In one sentenceSection 1953.03 provides a fallback procedure for when a record was lost, injured, or destroyed by conflagration or calamity and no certified copy can be found, letting an interested person submit a sworn written application detailing the loss and the resulting risk of harm, triggering notice of the application.
Full Text of § 1953.03
Plain-English Summary
Section 1953.01's fix only works if a certified copy exists somewhere. This section covers the harder case, where none can be found. An interested person can still apply to the court, this time by a sworn affidavit rather than a plain verified petition, laying out the loss, injury, or destruction in detail.
The affidavit has to do real work: it must show that no certified copy of the record can be obtained, that the loss, injury, or destruction happened by conflagration or other calamity without any fault or neglect on the applicant's part, and that the harm, if not fixed, could damage the applicant. Once that application is filed, the court sets the same notice machinery in motion, under Sections 1010 through 1020, so interested parties learn the reconstruction process has begun.
Frequently Asked Questions
When does this section apply instead of Section 1953.01?
When no certified copy of the lost, injured, or destroyed record can be obtained.
What must the applicant's affidavit show?
That a certified copy can't be obtained, that the loss happened by conflagration or other calamity without the applicant's fault or neglect, and that unremedied loss could cause the applicant damage.
What happens after the application is filed?
The court causes notice of the application to be given under Sections 1010 through 1020 of this code.
Amendment History
(Added by Stats.1953, c. 52, p. 713, § 14.)
Source & verification. Section text is reproduced verbatim from
the West's Annotated California Codes / Thomson Reuters. Enacted by the California Legislature.
Last verified July 29, 2026.
· Official source
Also known as: reconstructing destroyed record without certified copyaffidavit lost court record calamity