Skip to main content
Banner Image

Guide to Louisiana Law: Home

Welcome

It seems that nearly everyone knows that Louisiana is somehow different from the other states, even if they can't exactly say how. Many believe, thanks to Stanley Kawolski, that Louisiana adopted the Napoleonic Code (it didn't). Others know that there are links to Spain, but are not sure how that translates into the legal system. Louisiana has a common law system for criminal law. However, Louisiana has a hybrid civil law system, unlike the other states, which are common law systems. Our legal traditions are rooted in Roman law, via the works of both Spanish and French scholars who had studied and used it as a source for their own written codes. To this are added English influences, such as Blackstone’s Commentaries Upon the laws of England.

"

Photograph by Charles L. Franck. - Photograph by Charles L. Franck. From Civil District Court #138342, John A. Wogan vs New Orleans Railway & Light Co., et al. Via

Subject Guide

Francis Norton
Contact:
Law Library of Louisiana
400 Royal Street
2nd Floor
New Orleans, Louisiana 70130
504-310-2405

Subject Guide

Sara Pic
Contact:
Law Library of Louisiana
400 Royal Street
2nd Floor
New Orleans, Louisiana 70130
504-310-2412 or 504-310-2407

Subscribe to Our Mailing List

Subscribe to the Law Library of Louisiana's low-volume e-mail list to get our newsletter and information on upcoming events.

* indicates required