Foreign Language Newspapers Qualify for Adjudication as Newspapers of General Circulation – Gov. Code 6001

However, Government Code 6001 does not mean that the newspaper must be in English. As the court in In re La Opinion (1970) 10 Cal.App.3d 1012, 1018 explained:

Government Code section 6000, as written and without additional judicially engrafted requirements, defines the qualifications of a newspaper of general circulation. A newspaper printed in a foreign language does not, for that reason alone, fail to meet the language of the statute so read. We are aware that most California statutes requiring publication of legal notices and legal advertising provide that the notice or advertisement shall be printed in English. Those statutory requirements go to the content of the notice or advertisement, however, and do not purport to restrict the nature of the newspaper in which the notice or ad appears.

As the leading secondary source on newspaper of general circulation laws in California explains: “A newspaper published in a foreign language may be considered to be a newspaper of general circulation.” 46 Cal. Jur. 3d Newspapers and Press Associations § 10 (citing In re La Opinion).