Editing Louisiana (section)

===Civil law===
The Louisiana political and legal structure has maintained several elements from the times of French and Spanish governance. One is the use of the term "[[parish (Louisiana)|parish]]" (from the French: {{Lang|fr|paroisse}}) in place of "[[County (United States)|county]]" for administrative subdivision.<ref>{{cite web|title=Why parishes? The story behind Louisiana's unique map|url=https://www.nola.com/300/article_114112d3-89f7-5044-801b-b4a9fe981938.html|url-status=live|access-date=2021-08-10|website=NOLA.com|date=September 8, 2017 |language=en|archive-date=August 10, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210810175757/https://www.nola.com/300/article_114112d3-89f7-5044-801b-b4a9fe981938.html}}</ref> Another is the legal system of [[civil law (legal system)|civil law]] based on French, German, and Spanish [[legal code]]s and ultimately [[Roman law]], as opposed to English [[common law]].

Louisiana's civil law system is what the majority of [[sovereign state]]s in the world use, especially in Europe and its former colonies, excluding those that derive their legal systems from the [[British Empire]]. However, it is incorrect to equate the [[Louisiana Civil Code]] with the [[Napoleonic Code]]. Although the Napoleonic Code and Louisiana law draw from common legal roots, the Napoleonic Code was never in force in Louisiana, as it was enacted in 1804, after the United States had [[Louisiana Purchase|purchased]] and annexed Louisiana in 1803.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.louisiana.gov/about-louisiana/|title=About Louisiana|website=Louisiana.gov|access-date=2021-11-10|archive-date=November 11, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211111060352/https://www.louisiana.gov/about-louisiana/|url-status=live}}</ref>

The Louisiana Civil Code is the controlling authority on civil matters in the state and has been continuously revised and updated since its enactment in 1808. While some of the differences between the legal systems have been bridged due to the strong influence of common law tradition,<ref name="kinsellalaw">{{cite web|url=http://www.kinsellalaw.com/wp-content/uploads/publications/dictionary.pdf |title=A Civil Law to Common Law Dictionary |access-date=December 7, 2010 |last=Kinsella |first=Norman |year=1997 |website=KinsellaLaw.com |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101225105448/http://www.kinsellalaw.com/wp-content/uploads/publications/dictionary.pdf |archive-date=December 25, 2010 |url-status=dead }}</ref> the civil law tradition is still deeply rooted in most aspects of Louisiana private law.{{citation needed|date=January 2022}} Thus property, contractual, business entities structure, much of civil procedure, and family law, as well as some aspects of criminal law, are based mostly on traditional Roman legal thinking.{{citation needed|date=January 2022}}