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A Closer Look: A Symposium Among Legal Historians And Law Librarians To Uncover The Spanish Roots Of Louisiana Civil Law, Vicenç Feliú, Dennis Kim-Prieto, Teresa Miguel

Vicenç Feliú

The debate regarding whether the origin of Louisiana civil law is based in the Spanish or in the French legal tradition has been ongoing since that state’s incorporation into the United States as a result of the Louisiana Purchase. Distinguished legal scholars have argued in favor of one tradition being dominant over the other, and each has been staunch in support of that view. This article proposes and demonstrates that the Spanish, not French, civil law had an enormous influence on the creation and evolution of Louisiana civil law, and that this legacy resonates today.

The article begins with a …

The English Fox In The Louisiana Civil Law Chausse-Trappe: Civil Law Concepts In The English Language; Comparativists Beware!, Alain Levasseur, Vicenc Feliu

Vicenç Feliú

The Avant-Projet of the French Law Obligations and the French Law of Prescriptions, which we will cite as the Projet-Catala, is a monumental undertaking to modernize Parts III and IV of Book Three of the French Civil Code, “Obligations,” and to continue the work of Jean Carbonnier who demonstrated “in transfiguring the first Book” that it was possible to “rehabilitate” the Code of 1804 “without damaging its structure or form.” “The program mobilized thirty-four persons” under the sponsorship of the Association Henri Capitant and was presented in the form of a “Rapport à Monsieur le Garde des Sceaux” in September …