Whenever the terms metioned in this section are employed in this chapter, they are employed in the sense hereafter affixed to them, to-wit:
Credit and Solvent Credits. The terms "credits" and "solvent credits" means those solvent debts, including contracts for the sale of personal property, where title is vested in the vendor until the payment of the purchase price specified in the contract, not secured by mortgage or trust deed owing to the person, firm, corporation or association assessed.
Debt. The term "debt" means those unsecured liabilities owning by the person, firm, corporation, or association assessed to a bona fide resident of the city, or firms, association, or corporations doing business therein; but credits, claims, debts, demands due, owing or accruing for or on account of money deposited with a savings and loan corporation or with a building and loan association, the principal place of business of which is located in the city, shall, for the purpose of taxation, be deemed, and treated as an interest in the property of such corporation and shall not be assessed to the creditor or owner thereof.
Improvements. The term "improvements" includes:
1. All buildings, structures, fixtures, fences and improvements erected upon or affixed to the land, except telephone and telegraph lines;
2. All fruit, nut bearing or ornamental trees and vines not of natural growth, except fruit trees, nut bearing trees and vines exempted from taxation under any law of the state of California.
Personal Property. The term "personal property" includes everything which is subject to ownership not included within the meaning of the terms "real estate" or "improvements."
Property. The term "property" includes money, notes, debentures, shares of capital stock, bonds, solvent credits, deeds of trust, mortgages and any legal or equitable interest therein, dues, franchises, and all other matters and things, real, personal and mixed, capable of private ownership.
Real Estate. The term "real estate" includes:
1. The possession of, claim to, ownership of, or right to the possession of land;
2. A mortgage, deed of trust, contract, or other obligation by which a debt is secured, when land in this state is pledged as security for the same and the discharge thereof, shall for the purpose of assessment and taxation, be deemed and treated as an interest in the land so pledged, and shall not be considered as property subject to taxation.
Situs. The term "situs" for notes, debentures, shares of capital stock, bonds and any legal or equitable interest therein, for the purpose of taxation under the provisions of this chapter, shall be the domicile of the owner or claimant thereof, regardless of the physical presence of instruments evidencing the same.
Value and Full Cash Value. The terms "value" and "full cash value" mean the amount of which the property would be taken in payment of a just debt from a solvent debtor. In determining "actual value" of notes, debentures, shares of capital stock, bonds, and any legal or equitable interest therein, the city assessor shall not take into account the existence of any custom or common method, if any, of assessing any other class or classes of property, at less than the full cash value thereof. (Prior code § 1561)