Article by Shael Herman
Since the founding of the Republic, the American polity has been characterized by a refined balance between impulses of uniformity and pluralism, often evoked in the familiar slogan e pluribus unum. A national commitment to pluralism has permitted the individual states of the union to become laboratories of experimentation in formulating their laws, but these state laws, despite important differences, must conform with certain national norms (e.g., due process, equal protection) embodied in the United States Constitution. Louisiana lawmakers seem to have taken the goal of pluralism to an extreme: during nearly two centuries, the state has continuously had a European-style civil code. A blueprint of social and economic relationships among citizens, this code distinguishes Louisiana from her forty-nine counterparts, and puts the state in a third family of legal systems known as mixed jurisdictions. A fascinating interaction between uniformity and pluralism, which also plays itself out in a blend of common law and civil law traditions, may be witnessed in several Louisiana security devices. These devices have been shaped by French law, Spanish law, American commercial law, and the United States Constitution.
About the Author
Shael Herman. John Minor Wisdom Professor of Civil Law, Tulane University School of Law.
Citation
78 Tul. L. Rev. 457 (2003)