Louisiana

The name of one of the the United States of America. in honor of Louis In 169$. a French settlement was begun at Biloxi by Lemoyne d’Iberville. Hie efforts wore followed up in 1712 by Anthony Crozat, a man of wealth, who upheld the trade of the country f^r several years. About 1717 all his Interest In the province was transferred to the “Western Company,” a chartered corporation, at the head of which was the celebrated John Law, whose speculations Involved the ruin of one-half of the French nobility. In 1732 the ’’Company” resigned all their rights to the crown, by whom the whole of Louisiana was ceded to Spain in 1762. By the treaty of St Ildefonso, signed October 1, 1800, Spain re-conveyed it to France, from whom It was purchased by the United States, April 30, 1803, for $15,000,000. Louisiana was admitted Into the Union by an act of congress, approved April 8, 1812. The first constitution was adopted January 22, 1812, and was substantially copied from that of Kentucky. This constitution was superseded by that of 1845, which was in its turn replaced by the one adopted July 11, 1852. Next in order came the constitution of 1864, which yielded to that of 1868, which In turn was succeeded by the constitution adopted July 21, 1879. A new constitution was adopted May 11, 1898, and promulgated by the convention without submission to the people, to go into effect May 12, 1898. The instrument Is very lengthy and contains a great deal of general legislation; It provides educational and property qualifications in the alternative for suffrage, and in addition the right of suffrage is specifically conferred upon every male person who was on Jan. 1, 1867, or at any date prior thereto, entitled to vote under the constitution or statutes of any state of the United States wherein he then resided, and also upon any son or grandson of such person not less than twenty-one years of age at the date of the adoption of the constitution; and It Is also provided that no person of foreign birth naturalized prior to Jan. 1, 1898, shall be denied the right to vote by reason of his failure to possess the educational qualifications prescribed, provided he shall have resided in the state five years next preceding the date of his application for registration. This exceptional right of suffrage can only be exercised by persons registered prior to September 1, 1898. There is an amendment extending the “grandfather” clause, allowing illiterate white men to vote if their father or grandfather could vote or had voted. System of Laws. Louisiana is governed by the civil law, unlike the other states of the Union (except, to a slight extent, the states that formed part of the Louisiana Purchase). The first body of civil laws '^as adopted in 1808, and was substantially the same as the Code Napoleon, with some modifications derived from the Spanish law. It was styled the ’’Digest of the Civil Law,” and has been afterwards frequently revised and enlarged to suit the numerous statutory changes in the law, and since 1825 has become known as the “Civil Code of Louisiana.” There is no criminal offence in this state but such as Is provided for by statute; the law does not define crimes, but prescribes their punishment by reference to their name; for definitions we turn to the common law of England. The civil code lays down the general leading principles of evidence^ and the courts refer to treatises on that branch of the law for the development of those principles in their application to particular cases, as they arise in practice. Most of these rules have been borrowed from the English law, as having a more solid foundation in reason and common sense. The usages of trade sanctioned by courts of different countries at different times, or the lex mercatoria, also exist entirely distinct and mdependent of the civil code, and are recognized and duly enforced. When Louisiana was ceded to the United States, some of the lawyers from the old states spared no efforts to introduce the laws with which they were familiar, and of which they sought to avail themselves, rather than undergo the toil of learning a new system in a forof the civil law. Succession of Franklin, 7 La. 895. The laws of the state on public and personal rights, criminal and commercial matters were as* slmllated to those of the other states; but In relation po real property and its tenures, the commop law or English equity system has never had a place in Louisiana.