Louisiana

Population.

The first U.S. census taken in Louisiana, in 181o, showed a population of 76,556. The population of the State at other selected census periods was as follows: 153,407 in 1820; 352,411 in 1840; 708,002 in 1860; 939,946 in 1880; 1,118,588 in 1890; 1,381,625 in 1900; 1,656,388 in 1910; 1,798,509 in 1920; and in 1930, an increase of 303,084 or 16.9% for the decade 1920-30. In population, Louisiana ranked twenty-second among the States of the Union in 1930. During 1920-30 the ne gro population increased from 700,257 to 776,326, which was a de cline from 38.9% to 36.9% of the total. The foreign-born popula tion in 1930 was 37,076 or 1.7% of the total. Most numerous among the foreign-born were : Italian (13,526), Germans (3,616), French (2,935), Mexicans (557), Irish (1,204) and Russians The density of population increased during the decade 192o-30 from 39.6% to 46.3% per square mile.

In 1930 there were eight cities with more than io,000 in habitants each. The population of these cities in 1930 was as fol lows : New Orleans (458,762) ; Shreveport ; Baton Rouge, the capital (30,729) ; Monroe (26,028) ; Alexandria (23,025); Lake Charles Lafayette ; and Bogalusa Government.—The "parishes" date from 1807; they were based on an earlier Spanish division for religious purposes— whence the names of saints in parish nomenclature. Since the admission of the State to the Union in 1812 there have been io State Constitutions; the present Constitution was adopted June 18, 1921. Under this organic act sessions of the legislature are biennial (meeting on the second Monday in May in even numbered years) and are limited to 6o days. The number of sena tors is fixed by the Constitution at 39; the number of representa tives is to be not more than ioi or less than loo. Members of the legislature are elected for f our years. Contingent appropriations are forbidden, and the Constitution contains a long list of subjects on which special laws may not be passed.

The executive department consists of a governor, lieutenant governor, auditor, treasurer, secretary of State, register of land office, commissioner of agriculture and immigration, and com missioner of conservation. The chief executive officers have four year terms, neither the governor nor the treasurer being eligible for immediate re-election. The attorney-general is elected by the voters of the State for a four-year term. The superintendent of public education is similarly elected by the voters of the State, and, also, has a four-year term. The governor's power of veto extends to all measures and to individual items in appropriation bills, and any measure so vetoed becomes a law only if passed by a two thirds vote in each house of the general assembly.

The judicial powers of the State are vested in a supreme court, courts of appeal, district courts, juvenile courts, justice of the peace court and certain special courts. The supreme court is composed of a chief justice and six associate justices, four of whom shall concur to render a judgment when the court is sitting en bane. They are elected for a term of 14 years and receive an

annual salary of $10,000. There are three courts of appeal each composed of three judges elected for a term of 12 years. These courts hold terms in Baton Rouge, Shreveport and New Orleans, respectively. The State, outside the parish of Orleans, is divided into 26 judicial districts, each having one or more judges elected for a term of six years. The district courts of the parish of Orleans have both civil and criminal divisions presided over by five judges each; their term of office is 12 years. The New Or leans city court has three judges elected for terms of eight years. The Constitution provides that each parish shall be divided in not less than three nor more than six justice of the peace wards.

Suffrage is granted to every citizen of the State and of the United States not less than 21 years of age, who possesses the following qualifications: (I) Residence in the State two years, in the parish one year and in the precinct three months next preceding the election at which he (or she) offers to vote; (2) legally enrolled as a registered voter on his own personal applica tion; (3) should be of good character, able to understand the duties of citizenship and able to read and write ; or if illiterate, of good character and able to interpret the Constitution of the State or Nation; (4) all persons less than 6o years of age shall have paid the required poll tax for two years next preceding the elec tion. A general primary election law for the selection by the voters of candidates for State office has been in effect since 1906.

Law.—Louisiana has been peculiar among the States of the Union in the history of the development of its legal system. In Louisiana alone (as the State is known to-day), out of all the ter ritory acquired from France as the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, was the civil law so established under French and Spanish rule that it persisted under American dominion. In all the other States formed from the purchase, the civil law, never existent practi tally, was early expressly abrogated, and the common law of England established in its place. After O'Reilly established his power in 1769 (see History, below), the Spanish law was supreme. All the old codes of the Peninsula, as well as the law of the Indies and special royal decrees and schedules, were in force in the colony. The United States left the task of altering the laws to the people, as far as there was no conflict between them and the Constitution of the United States and fundamental American legal customs. In its present form the law shows plainly the Latin and English elements. English law has largely moulded, for example, criminal and commercial law and the law of evidence; the development of the law of corporations, damages, prohibitions and such extraordinary remedies as the mandamus has been very similar to that in other States; while in the fusion of law and equity, and the law of successions, family relations, etc., the civil law of Spain and France has been unaffected.