LOUISIANA STATE LOUISVILLE. 



569 



Donaldsonville (the seat of government), Nachito- 

 ches, Alexandria, Baton Rouge, Opelousas, Galvez- 

 town, &c. The constitution differs little from those 

 of the other states (see Constitutions); but the law is 

 not the common law which prevails in the rest of the 

 country, except so far as its provisions have been 

 introduced by statute. The civil law, which pre- 

 vailed under the French dominion, has been retained 

 in its principal features. (See, below, Louisiana, 

 Code of.) The present white inhabitants of Louis- 

 iana are descendants of the Spaniards, French, and 

 Anglo-Americans, or emigrants from the other states, 

 or from the Spanish colonies. The character of such 

 a mixed population, scattered over a great extent of 

 country, must, of course, be various. The English 

 language and the Anglo-American institutions are, 

 however, assuming the predominance. The early 

 history of the state will be found in the preceding 

 article. In 1812, the territory of Orleans, having 

 been found to contain the requisite number of inhabi- 

 tants, was admitted into the Union, under the name 

 of Louisiana. Jan. 8, 1815, the attack of the British 

 on New Orleans was repulsed by general Jackson. 

 See New Orleans, 



Louisiana, Code of. Most of the United States, 

 even those which were formerly colonies of France 

 and Spain, have adopted the common law of England, 

 as the basis of their municipal law. The state of 

 Louisiana, however, has steadily adhered to the civil 

 jurisprudence which it derived from the continent of 

 Europe, though, in criminal matters, the English 

 jurisprudence has been followed. The custom of 

 Paris, which the colonists brought with them, as the 

 law of the new colony, was first reduced to writing 

 in France in 1510, and enlarged and amended in 

 1580. The deficiencies of the customary law, both 

 in the mother country and the colony, were supplied 

 by reference to the Roman jurisprudence. Louisiana 

 was ceded by France to Spain in 1762, and was taken 

 possession of by this latter power in 1769, when the 

 Spanish law was introduced. The great body of this 

 law, called the Siete Parfidas, was compiled as early 

 as 1263. The Recopilacion de Castilla, published in 

 1567, was intended to clear up the confusion of the 

 jievious codes, but it leaves the authority of the 

 Partidas generally unimpaired. The cession of 

 Louisiana to the United States necessarily introduced 

 the trial by jury in a modified form, and the writ of 

 habeas corpus, which were unknown to the pre- 

 existing laws. The legislative council of the territory 

 of Orleans borrowed largely from the common law, 

 but principally those forms of proceedings necessary 

 to confer efficient powers on the courts organized 

 under the authority of the Union. But, in the ad- 

 judication of suits between individuals, the Spanish 

 jurisprudence was the sole guide, except in commer- 

 cial questions. In 1806, the legislative council 

 ordered two able jurists to prepare a civil code for the 

 use of the territory, on the groundwork of the civil 

 laws which governed the territory. It was reported 

 in 1808, and adopted, but was not allowed to super- 

 sede the previous laws, except as far as those laws 

 were inconsistent with its provisions.* The" Digest 

 of the Civil Code now in Force in the Territory of 

 Orleans," as it was called, though termed a code, is, 

 in fact, little more than a synopsis of the jurispru- 

 dence of Spain. It continued in operation for four- 

 teen years, without any material innovation. In 

 1822, Messrs Derbigny, Livingston, and Moreau 

 Lislet were selected by the legislature to revise and 

 amend the civil code, and to add to it such of the 



* In 1819, a law was passed to encourage and authorize the 

 translation of such parts of the Parlida* as were conceived to 

 have the force of law in the state, and such a translation was 

 made. 



laws still in force as were not included therein. 

 They were authorized to add a system of commercial 

 law, and a code of practice. The code which they 

 prepared, having been adopted, was promulgated in 

 1824, under the title of the " Civil Code of the State 

 of Louisiana;" and the legislature resolved, that, 

 " from and after the promulgation of this code, the 

 Spanish, Roman, and French laws, which were in 

 force when Louisiana was ceded to the United States, 

 and the acts of the legislative council of the legisla- 

 ture of the territory of Orleans, and of the legislature 

 of the state of Louisiana, be, and hereby are, repeal- 

 ed in every case for which it has been specially pro- 

 vided in this code." It would seem that where the 

 code is silent on any subject, any pre-existing law on 

 that subject, whether of French or Spanish origin, or 

 of native growth, would be considered as still in force. 

 The new code, independently of the great changes 

 which it has introduced, is much more full and ex- 

 plicit in the doctrinal parts than the former digest. 

 The theory of obligations, particularly, deserves to 

 be mentioned, as comprising, in a condensed and 

 even elegant form, the most satisfactory enunciation 

 of general principles. The jurisconsults appear to 

 have profited much by the great work of Toullier, 

 entitled Le Droit civil Franqais. The code contains 

 3552 articles, numbered from the beginning for con- 

 venience of reference. The most striking and mate- 

 rial changes introduced by the new code, relate to 

 the rules of succession, and the enlarged liberty of 

 disposing of property by last will, by curtailing the 

 portions which must be reserved for forced heirs. 

 The new order of succession conforms to that esta- 

 blished in France by the Code Napoleon, and will 

 be found to be copied almost precisely from the 118th 

 novel of Justinian, from which the Spanish rules of 

 descent had deviated in some essential particulars. 

 The legislature of Louisiana provided also for the 

 formation of a penal code, by an act passed in 1 820, and 

 intrusted the charge of preparing it to Mr Edward 

 Livingston. A plan of a penal code was accordingly 

 drawn up by him, and presented to the legislature in 

 1822. The manuscript copy of the part of the code 

 which had been prepared, was destroyed by fire in 

 1824, and Mr Livingston has been since engaged in 

 repairing the loss, and completing the code. 



LOUISVILLE ; a city of Kentucky, on the Ohio, 

 opposite to the rapids or falls of that river, on a plain 

 elevated about seventy feet above the level of the 

 river ; Ion. 85 30' W.; lat. 38 3' N. The soil is 

 rather sandy, with a substratum of rich clay, from 

 which very good bricks are made. The town is re- 

 gularly laid out : eight broad and straight streets, 

 parallel with the river, are intersected by eighteen 

 others, at right angles, running from the river 

 to the southern boundary of the city, which is about 

 three miles long, with an average width of upwards 

 of one mile. The population, by the census of 1830, 

 was estimated at about 10,500 : a most rapid increase 

 has since taken place. The public buildings in Louis- 

 ville are a court-house, jail, ten houses of public wor- 

 ship, a poor-house, city school and marine hospital, all 

 in good taste. The private buildings are mostly of 

 brick, without much ornament ; the warehouses, par- 

 ticularly those which have been erected within one 

 or two years, are very extensive. Louisville is the 

 most commercial city in the west, commanding the 

 commerce of a great extent of country. It exports 

 tobacco, whisky, cotton bagging and baling, hemp, 

 flour, pork, bacon, lard, and many other productions 

 of the country. Its imports are various and exten- 

 sive, the easy circumstances of the people whom it 

 supplies creating a large demand for foreign articles 

 of comfort and luxury. The commerce is carried on 

 by upwards of 300 steam-boats, measuring from 50 



