I’d say arguably the greatest Louisianan is not Louis Armstrong, but Edward Livingston (1764-1836). As noted by professor Yiannopoulos, in his great essay The Civil Codes of Louisiana:
The introduction of the common law system was opposed by the native population, but the leader of the opposition was Edward Livingston, a New York lawyer who immigrated to Louisiana in 1803. Livingston, the statesman and jurist, was a convert to the cause of the civil law. He studied Roman and Spanish law after his arrival in New Orleans and became convinced that the civil laws system was by far superior to the common law that prevailed in all other sister states. He devoted his time and energy, therefore, to the preservation of the civil law system in his new home state. In this he was successful, and, moreover, he contributed greatly to the formation of the Louisiana tradition of codified laws.
As a Louisianan and “civilian,” I’ve always admired Livingston. Incidentally, Yiannopolous himself, as well as Saúl Litvinoff, are among the greatest living jurists and civilians today.Coda: in response to some emails–no, I don’t necessarily favor civil law over common law. They are both outcomes of decentralized legal systems (civil law is a codified version of Roman law). There are aspects of civil law and civil codes that I find appealing–the concepts e.g. for property are cleaner and more streamlined; and not as mired in feudal terminology as is common law (e.g., “fee simple,” “estates,” etc. in the common law; for more differences, see my Civil Law to Common Law Dictionary). I discuss some aspects of civil codes in Legislation and the Discovery of Law in a Free Society,” 11 Journal of Libertarian Studies 132 (Summer 1995). N.B. re this article: I have since changed my mind on the some of the issues regarding the Hayekian “knowledge problem” and Leoni’s work in this regard, as I have noted
in subsequent articles, such as Knowledge, Calculation, Conflict, and Law, footnote 5. I should have heeded Jeff Herbener’s comments on an earlier manuscript, but I either got these comments too late, or did not fully appreciate them at the time. More information on the calculation debate.)
