Though all the 49 States of United States follow the prominent common law, the civil code followed in Louisiana is derived from that of a code developed by a French emperor in early 19th century. There is a strong reflection of ideas of Nepolean code in their civil law. Louisiana follows the civil law for private matters whereas for public issues they consider common law.
Civil Law vs common law:
Their civil law has many distinctive features like redhibition, voiding agreements, force heir ship and many. In the civil law, they follow what is explicitly written in the statutes of the state. In contrast, a common law is modified over time with that of rulings and past cases. The advantage of the civil law may be a legal statement and the rules one should follow are clear and do not change over time mostly. But if there arises any new situation that isn’t stated in the law, it would be very difficult to handle.
Common laws have an entirely different problem as what is right and legal cannot be defined clearly. It is likely to change depending on the situation. So, a deep analysis into the case and the law is needed to get to a solution.
Concepts differing from common law:
There are many distinctive concepts that differ from the common law followed by other states. Also, the Louisiana crimes penalties also have many unique concepts which are mostly derived from Nepolean’s code. Below are some highlights of the Louisiana’s civil law:
- Redhibition: The buyer has the provision to file a lawsuit if the product bought is defective.
- Usufruct: This lets the owner of any property to gift them to anyone of their wish. The common example is the property being passed to the children after both parents are deceased.
- Voiding an agreement: Once a person signs an agreement, the agreement can be considered void if the price seems to be higher than the market value.
Though Louisiana stands out in many other ways, the highlight among those is the law followed.
