School of Law joins 200th year celebration of the French Civil Code
The School of Law, the Louisiana Supreme Court, and the French Ministry of Justice came together to celebrate the Bicentennial of the French Civil Code. On September 8, legal scholars and distinguished justices offered a day filled with exciting discussions, historical perceptions, and a tour of the newly restored Louisiana Supreme Court located in the French Quarter.
Among those who spoke at the event were (pictured above, far left) Professor of Law David Gruning; Guy Canivet, president of the Cour de Cassation, France's highest and most important appellate court for civil matters (fourth from left); and Judge Alain Lacabarats, president of the Paris Court of Appeal (third from right).At the podium is School of Law Dean Brian Bromberger. Seated is Louisiana Supreme Court Chief Justice Pascal Calogero, Jr., and University President Kevin Wm. Wildes, S.J., who welcomed everyone to the special seminar.
Other speakers include Professor of Law Mary Algero, Justice Bernette Johnson, and Jeffrey P. Victory from the Louisiana Supreme Court.
The relationship between France and Louisiana is significant. The first French Civil Code, adopted in 1804, is commonly referred to as the Code Napoleon. It was the first successful attempt to codify European Civil Law; that is, the private civil law of continental Europe derived in part from Roman law and the work of European scholars who rediscovered and elaborated on Roman law in the middle ages up until the French Revolution. The Code Napoleon was influential throughout Europe, Latin America, and Asia and many countries' private civil law have borrowed from it or been influenced by it.When Louisiana lawyers drafted the first civil code for Louisiana in 1808, they, too, borrowed heavily from the Code Napoleon and were influenced by it. Today, significant parts of Louisiana's current civil code are still closely modeled on, and in some case still almost identical to, the Code Napoleon.
As Assistant Professor of Law John Lovett explains, "Civilian legal systems, especially those with Civil Codes like France, tend to regard laws enacted by the legislature as the most important source of law. Common law systems, like England, and the rest of the United States, have laws made by legislatures, too, but also give great consideration to laws made by judgesthe common law. Louisiana today is a mixed jurisdiction.We have a strong civil code that, just as the Code Napoleon did, provides the most important source of law for subjects like family law, successions, private contracts, property, leases, sales, and mortgage, but we have also adopted laws and legal practices from our common law neighbors in the other 49 states."
