There are a lot of things Louisiana is known for: its delicious food, the party atmosphere, its French influence, and oddly enough, its legal system. While every other state uses Common Law, derived from English law, Louisiana uses French Civil Law, which is derived from the Napoleonic Code.Legal theory and the role of legal precedentThe biggest difference between Louisiana civil law and common law in the other 49 states is in how the law is codified, interpreted, and put into practice. Specifically, these systems have distinct ways of interpreting legal precedent, or the results of previous court cases about the same legal questions.Common law relies heavily on precedent, which is also known as case law. Statutes under common law are not comprehensively codified in the text; instead, judicial decisions rely on the interpretation of the law as previously ruled by earlier judges. Judges in your case will have the discretion to determine what case law is relevant in your situation, and a...
