Law of Louisiana

The Louisiana Administrative Code (LAC) contains the compilation of rules and regulations (delegated legislation) adopted by state agencies.

[4] The Louisiana Register is the monthly published official journal which provides access to the certified regulations and legal notices issued by the executive branch of the state government.

[5] Since 1972,[citation needed] there is no longer an official case reporter and courts themselves decide which decisions are published.

[7] The Louisiana Revised Statutes provide that the maximum penalty for the violation of a parish ordinance is a fine of $500 and imprisonment for 30 days in the parish jail,[9] and that the maximum penalty for the violation of an ordinance of a municipality organized under the mayor and board of aldermen form of government is a fine of $500 and imprisonment for 60 days.

[16] This provoked a legislative response by the General Assembly who tasked Justice Derbigny and attorneys Moreau-Lislet and Livingston with drafting a new, fuller code written in French and English and which formally repealed prior existing law.

For many years legal practitioners in the state made great effort to ensure that both versions agreed.

Due to modern legislative enactments which repeal and reenact Louisiana's civil code articles as any other collection of statutes, the differences between the original French and the English translation are now primarily of historical interest.

"[23] Moreover, Louisiana Courts of Appeals have explicitly noted that jurisprudence constante is merely a secondary source of law, which cannot be authoritative and does not rise to the level of stare decisis.

[24] Property, contractual, business entities structure, much of civil procedure, and family law are still strongly influenced by traditional Roman legal thinking.

Additionally, appellate courts have a much broader discretion to review findings of fact by juries in civil cases.

Louisiana enacted most provisions of the UCC, except for Articles 2 and 2A,[26] which are inconsistent with civil law traditions governing the sale and lease of goods.