HISTORY. 99 



" the laws in force in the said District of Louisiana at the 

 commencement of this act, and not inconsistent with any of 

 the provisions thereof, shall continue in force until altered, 

 modified, or repealed by the Governor and judges of the In- 

 diana territory as aforesaid." The laws in force at the date 

 of the act were those in force at the time of the cession, and 

 prior thereto, under the governments of France and Spain. 

 This was the body of law known as the civil law, — and the 

 District of Louisiana thus presented the anomaly in law of 

 the common law engrafted upon the civil. These laws, it is 

 believed, have not been repealed ; but, by the oversight, pro- 

 bably of the judges and advocates in the courts, no notice 

 has been taken of them, and they have fallen into oblivion, 

 and at tliis day would perhaps be considered as obsolete. 

 The whole of Upper Louisiana now stands in this singular 

 condition of a country, in which those laws that were not 

 only her birthright, but were expressly saved to her by statute 

 when the common law was added to her code, have become 

 obsolete and lost by the prevalence of the common law, under 

 the administration of judges and practice of courts that were 

 unacquainted with the civil law, and through inadvertence 

 did not consider the force of the statute by which the older 

 was retained. 



In 1809 a separate government w^as established over the 

 Territory, now State, of Illinois, consisting of a governor and 

 judges, who jointly exercised the legislative functions. At 

 that time it contained about 12,000 inhabitants. In 1812, it 

 was allowed a legislature and a delegate in Congress. In 

 1818 the State Constitution was adopted, and Illinois was 

 admitted into the Union. 



At the period of the hostilities between this country and 

 Great Britain, which began in the year 1812, our government 

 had estabUshed a military post, and erected a fort, at Chica- 



