California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from Oluwa, In re, 207 Cal.App.3d 439, 255 Cal.Rptr. 35 (Cal. App. 1989):
[207 Cal.App.3d 445] However, " '[i]t is a well established principle of statutory law that, where a statute adopts by specific reference the provisions of another statute, regulation, or ordinance, such provisions are incorporated in the form in which they exist at the time of the reference and not as subsequently modified,.... [Citations.] [p].... [p] ... [T]here is a cognate rule, recognized as applicable to many cases, to the effect that where the reference is general instead of specific, such as a reference to a system or body of laws or to the general law relating to the subject at hand, the referring statute takes the law or laws referred to not only in their contemporary form, but also as they may be changed from time to time, and ... as they may be subjected to elimination altogether by repeal. [Citations.]' " (Palermo v. Stockton Theatres, Inc. (1948) 32 Cal.2d 53, 58-59, 195 P.2d 1, italics added.)
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