Louisiana Law And Government

In 1849, the state moved the capital from New Orleans to Baton Rouge. Donaldsonville, Opelousas, and Shreveport have briefly served as the seat of Louisiana state government.

The current Louisiana governor is Kathleen Babineaux Blanco (Democrat), and its two U.S. senators are Mary Landrieu (Democrat) and David Vitter (Republican). Louisiana has seven Members of the House of Representatives: five Republicans and two Democrats.

The Louisiana political and legal structure has maintained several elements from the time of French governance. The first is the use of the term "parish" in place of "county" for an administrative subdivision. The second is the legal system. Louisiana is the only American state whose legal system is based on civil law, which is based on French and Spanish codes and ultimately Roman law, as opposed to English common law, which is based on precedent and custom. Louisiana thus follows the system of most non-Anglophone countries in the world. It is incorrect to equate the Louisiana Civil Code with the Napoleonic Code: although the Napoleonic Code strongly influenced Louisiana law, it was never in force in Louisiana, as it was enacted in 1804, after the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. While the Louisiana Civil Code of 1870 has been continuously revised and updated since its enactment, it is still considered the controlling authority in the state.

Great differences still exist between Louisianan civil law and the common law found in the other U.S. states. While some of these differences have been bridged due to the strong influence of common law in the United States,[5] it is important to note that the "civilian" tradition is still deeply rooted in most aspects of Louisiana private law. Thus property, contractual, business entities structure, much of civil procedure, and family law, as well as some aspects of criminal law, are still mostly based on traditional Roman legal thinking.

Louisiana is unique among U.S. states in its method for state, local, and congressional elections in using a system very similar to that of modern France. All candidates, regardless of party affiliation, run in a nonpartisan blanket primary on Election Day. If no candidate has more than 50% of the vote, the two candidates with the highest vote total compete in a runoff election approximately one month later. This runoff does not take into account party identification; therefore, it is not uncommon for a Democrat to be in a runoff with a fellow Democrat or a Republican to be in a runoff with a fellow Republican. All other states use single-party primaries followed by a general election between party candidates, each conducted by either a plurality voting system or runoff voting, to elect Senators, Representatives, and statewide officials.

Louisiana is one of only five states that elects its state officials in odd numbered years (The others are Kentucky, Mississippi, New Jersey, and Virginia). Louisiana holds elections for these offices every 4 years in the years preceding Presidential election years. Thus, the last year when Louisiana elected a Governor was 2003; the next gubernatorial election will occur in 2007, with future gubernatorial elections to take place in 2011, 2015, 2019, etc.

Louisiana is also one of 18 states which run separate elections for Governor and Lieutenant Governor, a process that has resulted in Governor-Lieutenant pairs from different parties and/or widely differing political ideologies. For example, current Governor Kathleen Blanco (a Democrat) previously served two terms as Lieutenant Governor under Mike Foster (a Republican).

Louisiana has a statewide police force, the Louisiana State Police. It began in 1922 and its motto is "courtesy, loyalty, service." Its troopers have statewide jurisdiction with power to enforce all laws of the state, including city and parish ordinances. Each year, they patrol over 12 million miles (20 million km) of roadway and arrest about 10,000 impaired drivers. Troopers are also responsible for investigating the casino and gaming industry, all hazardous material incidents, anti-terrorism training and general criminal, narcotics and insurance fraud investigations.

Each parish in Louisiana has an elected sheriff, with the exception of Orleans Parish. It has two elected sheriffs - one criminal and one civil. The sheriffs are responsible for general law enforcement in their respective parish. Orleans Parish is also an exception to this rule, as here the general law enforcement duties fall to the New Orleans Police Department. The sheriff also controls and manages the parish jail and/or correctional facility. The sheriff is also the tax collector for each parish. In 2006 a bill was passed which will consolidate the two sheriffs' departments into one in 2010.

Most parishes are governed by a Police Jury. Eighteen of the sixty-four parishes are governed under an alternative form of government under a Home Rule Charter. They oversee the parish budget and operate the parish maintenance services. This includes parish road maintenance and other rural services.