As a code, the Coutume de Paris is deficient in arrangement, but far from being contemptible, considering the age in which it originated. The parliament of Paris, as a court of judicature on points of doubtful construction, or in cases where no positive provision existed, was governed in its decisions by the maxims. of the Roman law, which, even in those provinces where it was without legislative authority, still maintained its influence, and may be considered as the common law of France, when the Coutumes were silent.

The want of a uniform system of laws was long felt and deplored by the ablest jurists and statesmen before the Revolution, and many partial efforts were made to reform the existing legislation. The illustrious D'Aguesseau contributed three important ordinances; that of Donations, in 1731; of Testaments, in 1735; and that of Substitutions, in 1747. But these attempts to introduce the Roman law, or rather to reconcile it with the discordant customs of different provinces and towns, still left a singular medley of feudal custom and Roman jurisprudence. The laws of many of the provinces were as different from those of the capital, although resting on a common basis, as their native Patois from the chaste and polished dialect of the Court. The Revolution prostrated all these institutions. Out of their ruins, however, under the guidance of the master genius of the age, arose a system of laws, composed indeed of discordant elements, but admirably combined and adjusted; the result of a great compromise between the adherents of customary and Roman jurisprudence. A code adapted to the complicated wants and engagements of an intelligent and active age; a little selected from one custom, and a little from another, but cemented together by elements drawn from the inexhaustible quarry of Roman wisdom; rejecting the subtleties of the ancient schools; revealing in simple language the simple principles of right, the Tribonians of modern France, after consulting all parties; collating, weighing, and deliberating, as if they were legislating for a world and not a kingdom, produced that most splendid and durable monument of the age; almost the only enduring conquest of the Revolution, and inscribed it with the name of that extraordinary man, under whose auspices, and with whose personal co-operation, it had been accomplished. The jealousy of the restored dynasty has blotted from the title-page of the code the name of Napoleon; but if we might be permitted to anticipate the verdict of history, we would confidently predict, that this system of uniform and equitable laws will mark the epoch which gave it birth. The butcheries of the revolution; the rapid conquests of the republic; the mad scenes of the national convention; the frenzy which marked the first burst of liberty in France, will be regarded hereafter as wonders, momentary in their effects on the condi

tion of man. The glories of Austerlitz and Jena are already becoming dim, and the fragments of the Simplon may be hereafter sought for, as the ruins of the Appian way now are, a puzzle to antiquarians; but the Code Napoleon is destined to survive them all; to confer the most lasting and substantial blessings upon France, and to redeem the character of an era stained with so many crimes of political fanaticism and mad ambition.

Louisiana, though ceded to Spain by the treaty of 1762, continued under the actual government of France, until 1769, when possession was taken by Don Alexandro O'Reilly, who was invested with extraordinary powers by the court of Madrid. His entrance into the province was marked by the execution of some of its first citizens, while others were sent prisoners to the Moro Castle, in the island of Cuba. A total change of its political organization and system of jurisprudence soon followed. The proclamation of O'Reilly, which announced these changes, bears date the 25th November, 1769. After alleging the countenance of the council in the popular insurrection, in opposition to the change of government, the proclamation goes on to say: "For these reasons, and in order to prevent a recurrence of evils of such magnitude, it is indispensable to abolish the council, and to establish in its stead that form of political government, and administration of justice, prescribed by our wise laws, and by which all the dependencies of his Majesty in America have been maintained in perfect tranquillity and subordination." This proclamation was accompanied by a set of instructions upon the modes of proceedings according to the Spanish law, drawn up by Don Manuel de Urustia, extremely imperfect, but intended as introductory to the body of the Spanish laws, which were from that period considered as having superseded the authority of French jurisprudence. The archives of Louisiana furnish no evidence of the extent of powers conferred by the court of Madrid on O'Reilly; but it has been admitted on all hands, that from the date of his proclamation, the laws of Spain became the sole guide of the tribunals in their decisions. But the transition was hardly perceptible. The two systems were very similar in their general features, and sprang from a common origin.

In giving an historical sketch of the Spanish laws, we must necessarily be very succinct; and it does not enter into our plan to give an analysis of the various and voluminous codes and compilations which have appeared from time to time, and which form a vastly complicated system. The Fuero Viejo, the Fuero Juzgo, and the Fuero Real, were successively adopted in the earlier periods of Spanish history. Alphonso X., commonly called the wise, or the astronomer, felt the necessity of embodying in the form of a code those general maxims of equity, and rules of positive law, which were looked for in vain in the pre

ceding codes. He sat about compiling from the writings of the fathers, and of the ancient sages, and from existing customs, a complete system. Under his auspices, the great body of Spanish law, entitled the Siete Partidas, was completed as early as 1263. This work may be regarded as the Pandects of Spain; not less curious as a literary monument, than remarkable for the wisdom of many of its provisions, and infinitely superior to the cotemporary legislation of Europe. It must be remembered that the Roman law was not extensively taught at that period, and that Spain had been for centuries engaged in a struggle against the Moors, who had overrun the Peninsula. Alphonso was one of the first and most distinguished elèves of the University of Salamanca, which had been endowed and established by his father, and where he imbibed no contemptible tincture of the physical sciences, for which Spain was indebted to her Arabic conquerors. He was the author of the Alphonsine tables of Astronomy; and indeed such was his reputation as a philosopher and a monarch, that, although Spain was at that time unconnected with the politics of the continent, he was invited to become Emperor of Germany, at the time the choice fell upon Rodolph of Hapsburg. The Partidas were not formally and by royal authority promulgated, until 1386, by Alphonso XI., the great grandson of the legislator, as appears by an ordinance of Ferdinand and Juana, in 1505, in which is set forth the tenor of the ordinance of Alphonso XI., of the above date. The Partidas, as a code, are defective in the arrangement of matters, but are divided, as its title imports, into seven parts, and each part subdivided into titles and laws. It would be difficult to say, from a perusal of the work, why it was divided into seven parts, in preference to any other number. Such a division is not suggested by any natural division of the subject matter, and appears altogether arbitrary. Some have supposed that it derived that name from the number of years devoted to its composition; but it is more probable, and more consistent with the spirit of the age, to conjecture, that Alphonso, as well as Justinian, retained a certain respect for the particular number, seven; the latter having divided the fifty Books of the Pandects into seven parts, composed of unequal numbers of books, not arbitrarily, as he asserts in his preface, but with a reference to the virtues of that number. "Non perperam neque sine ratione, sed ad numerorum naturam et harmoniam respicientes." But we look in vain for that natural and lucid arrangement of matter, suggested by the threefold objects of all municipal law, persons, things, and actions, which characterizes the institutes of Justinian.

Some regulations of practice in civil and criminal cases, called Del Estilo, had been established in 1310, and was followed by the Ordenamiento de Alcala, in the reign of Alphonso XI., which

introduced some new principles relative to testaments, and some contracts and modes of proceeding. The laws of Toro, eighty in number, were promulgated in 1505, by Ferdinand and Juana. They regulate, more particularly, the forms and solemnities of wills; prohibit wives from becoming security for their husbands; establish the quantum which a father may give to one of his children, over and above the others, or the mejora de tercio y quinto, and the rules of succession. These laws had been preceded by the Ordonamiento Real, which was subsequently incorporated in the great compilation of Spanish written law, in the reign of Philip II., entitled the Recopilacion de Castilla. This work was first published in 1567, and has been amended and enlarged at different periods. It was intended to clear up the confusion created by so many previous codes and ordinances; contains few new provisions of much importance; and leaves the authority of the Partidas generally unimpaired. It is divided into nine books, and subdivided into laws. The laws of Toro are embraced in it.

We do not pretend to have given a full history of the legislation of Spain; much less are we disposed to enter into a minute analysis of its provisions. The Recopilacion is first in authority, whenever its provisions are repugnant to former enactments. But the Partidas, which have alone been partially translated by authority of the state, are always referred to as embodying the common law of Spain, unless changed or abrogated by the Recopilacion. So conclusive was its authority, that at one period it was a capital crime in Spain to cite the Roman law.

The cession of Louisiana to the United States necessarily introduced the trial by jury, in a modified form, and the writ of habeas corpus, which were unknown to the pre-existing laws. The legislative council of the territory of Orleans borrowed largely from the common law, but principally those forms of proceedings necessary to confer on the courts, organized under the authority of the Union, efficient powers. But in the adjudications of suits between individuals, the Spanish jurisprudence was the sole guide, except in commercial questions. Those laws were all written in a foreign language, and buried under an immense mass of useless matter; and although they were illustrated by numerous and able commentators, it is not extraordinary that the highest tribunal should have rendered some judgments, which, by subsequent researches, when the laws came to be better understood, were supposed to be erroneous. Feeling the necessity of some compilation of the existing laws, in English and French, the prevailing languages of the country, the legislative council, as early as 1806, by joint resolution, appointed two able jurisconsults to compile and prepare a civil code for the use of

the territory. They were directed by the same resolution, "to make the civil laws, by which this territory is now governed, the ground-work of said code." With such ample and indefinite powers, the two jurisconsults prepared "the Digest of the Civil Laws now in force in the territory of Orleans, with alterations and amendments, adapted to the present system of government," and which is mentioned at the head of this article. It was reported to the legislature in 1808, and adopted. The Act by which the digest or code was established, contains the following repealing clause; "that whatever in the ancient civil laws of this territory, or in the territorial statutes, is contrary to the dispositions contained in said digest, or irreconcilable with them, is hereby repealed." In the body of the code are some express repeals; but the clause above recited was entirely nugatory; for by the most obvious rule of construction, if the dispositions of the new code were repugnant to the former law, it was tacitly repealed, and there was no necessity for such a declaration. It followed, therefore, that the code came to be considered principally as a declaratory law; and instead of introducing a new system to stand by itself, and to be construed by its own context, it was regarded as an imperfect index to the Spanish law; and the two were construed together as statutes in pari materiâ. Whenever the general principle, as applicable to a particular case, was the same in both systems, and the Spanish law recognised an exception not expressly retained by the code, nor even mentioned, the exception was considered as still existing. Prescriptions or limitations of actions not enumerated in the code, were declared still to exist by virtue of the ancient laws. The Spanish law was still considered the unwritten, as the code was the written law of Louisiana. The compilers adopted the arrangement of the Code Napoleon, and even copied entire titles, almost literally; but the rules of construction applicable to the two codes were entirely different. The Code Napoleon superseded all the pre-existing laws, ordinances, and customs, leaving none in operation, except certain local usages, which continued to be respected, as aiding in the construction of certain contracts; such, for example, as the notices to be given to lessees, &c. The clause of the ordinance by which the Code Napoleon was introduced, which contains the express repeal of the previous laws, is as follows: "Qu'à compter du jour où ces lois sont executoires, les lois Romaines, les ordonnances, les coutumes générales ou locales, les Statuts, les Réglements, cessent d'avoir force de loi générale ou particulière dans les matières qui sont l'objet des dites lois composant le present code." It became, therefore, a text entirely unique, to which the tribunals were bound to conform. And when it is considered that the whole code is composed of only two thousand two hundred and eighty-one articles,