Well, Stanley was right. Our system of law in Louisiana has its origins with a short French emperor. To give Bonaparte the credit he deserves, he was not only a brilliant general, he was a brilliant administrator. To be able to govern an empire, he understood a uniform system of law had to be in place. He therefore took existing law, which was largely based on ancient Roman law, and codified it. That is, he put all the law into writing so it could be understood by everyone. So how are the other forty-nine states different?
They all have laws based on English common law. The common law is a system of law that is based on court precedent. In theory, the primary differences between civil and common law lie in the implementation and interpretation of the law. Civil law is more codified, relying on direct interpretation of the law or legistlation applicable to the specific legal situation. Fair question. The most notable differences are found in nomenclature and procedure. It means that certain legal concepts and laws that are called one thing in the rest of the country, get called something else in Louisiana.
For example, statute of limitations is a statute instating a period of restrictions for bringing certain kinds of legal action, as in personal injury cases. In Louisiana we call it prescription, but it means the same thing. The most notable difference in procedure comes in the sphere of trust and estates law, real estate law, and inheritance. On the other hand, Common law legal systems are greatly based on precedent.
The common law tradition emerged in England during the Middle Ages and was applied within British colonies. The Common law is generally not codified meaning there is no thorough compilation of legal rules and statutes. While Common law jurisdictions rely on some scattered statutes, which are legislative decisions, it is largely based on precedent, meaning the judicial decisions that have already been made in similar cases.
These precedents are maintained over time in court records and documented in collections of case law known as yearbooks and reports. The precedents to be applied in the decision of each new case are determined by the presiding judge.
As a result, judges have an enormous role in shaping American and British law. Louisiana is the only Civil law jurisdiction in the United States. Louisiana gets its Civil law legal system from its colonial past as a possession of two Civil law countries, Spain and France. It may be better to think of Louisiana's legal system as a hybrid consisting of both Civil and Common law influences. Specifically, Louisiana's private law or substantive law between private parties, principally contracts and torts is based on French and Spanish Civil law as well as Roman law with some Common law influences.
Louisiana's criminal law is directly based on United States' Common law. Louisiana's administrative law is influenced by the administrative law of the United States' federal government.
Private law is the basic law of France. It is carried out by the judicial courts. There are two judicial avenues: 1 those dealing with civil litigation; and 2 those dealing with criminal litigation. Civil litigation regarding private individuals is administered by a local court called the Tribunal d'Instance, or by a regional or departmental court called the Tribunal de Grande Instance depending on the importance of the case.
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