1808 · Civil codes

Louisiana Digest of the Civil Laws

Louisiana (United States)

A civil code for the territory of Orleans, later Louisiana, drawing on French and Spanish law.

Why it matters

It is why Louisiana, uniquely among US states, has a civil-law tradition in private law.

Built on

1804

French Civil Code (Napoleonic Code)

France

drafters drew on French civil law, along with Spanish law

Went on to shape

No later text on this timeline is recorded as built on it.

Countries in the Legal Families Atlas

United States

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TheLawToKnow Tools’s timeline lists links of influence only where the borrowing is widely documented. Historians sometimes disagree about how much one text shaped another. It is an educational overview, not legal advice.