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LOUISIANA.

Constitution adopted, 1845.-Square Miles, 46,431.-Population in 1850 500,762.

Exemptions.

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THE sheriff can not seize the linen and clothes belonging to the debtor or his wife, nor his bed, nor those of his family, nor his arms and military accoutrements, nor the tools and instruments necessary for the exercise of the trade or profession by which he gains a living. Nor can he seize the agricultural implements and working-cattle, separately from the land to which they are attached; nor the rights of personal servitude, of use and habitation; of usufruct to the estate of a minor child the income of dotal property.

Mechanics' Lien.

THE undertaker [contractor] has a privilege [lien] for the payment of his labor, on the building or other work which he may have constructed. Workmen employed immediately by the owner in the construction or repair of any building, have the same privilege. Workmen and persons furnishing materials, who have contracted with the undertaker, have no action against the owner who has paid him. If the undertaker be not paid, they may cause the moneys due him to be seized, and they are of right subrogated to his privilege.

The payments which the proprietor may have made in anticipation to the undertaker, are considered, with regard to workmen and to those who furnish materials, as not having been made, and do not prevent them from exercising the right granted them by the preceding article.

No agreement or undertaking for work exceeding five hundred dollars, which has not been reduced to writing, and registered with the recorder of mortgages, shall enjoy the privilege above granted. For those not amounting to five hundred dollars, this formality is dispensed with: but the privilege granted to them is limited to six months, reckoning from the day when the work is completed. Workmen employed in the construction or repair of ships or boats enjoy the privilege established above, without being bound to reduce their contracts to writing, whatever may be their amount; but this privilege ceases if they have allowed the ship or boat to depart without exercising their right.

Architects, contractors, masons, and other workmen; those who have supplied the owner with materials for the construction or repair of his buildings or other works; those who have contracted, in the manner provided by the police regulations, to make or put in repair the levees, bridges, canals, and roads, of a proprietor, preserve their privileges only in so far as they have recorded with the register of mortgages the act containing the bargains they have made, or the amount or acknowledgment of what is due to them, in all cases where the amount of the account or acknowledgment exceeds the sum of five hundred dollars.

Limitation of Actions.

IMMOVEABLES [real estate] are prescribed for by [limited to] ten years when the possessor has been in good faith, and held by a just title during that time. The same species of property is prescribed for by thirty years, without any title on the part of the possessor, or whether he be in good faith or not. The property of slaves is acquired in five years, where the possessor has a title, and holds in good faith. To acquire the property of immoveables and slaves, the following conditions must concur: 1. Good faith on the part of the possessor. 2. A title which shall be legal and sufficient to transfer the property. 3. Possession during the time required by law, which possession must be accompanied by the incidents hereafter required. 4. And finally, an object, which may be acquired by prescription.

If a person has possessed in good faith and by a just title, as proprietor, a moveable [perBonal] thing, during three successive years without interruption, he shall acquire the property of it by prescription, unless the thing were stolen or lost.

The actions of masters and instructors in the arts and sciences. for lessons which they give by the month; inn-keepers and such others, on account of lodging and board; retailers of provisions and liquors workmen, laborers, and servants, for the payment of their wages; for the payment of the freight of vessels, the wages of the officers, sailors, and others of the crew; for the supply of wood and other things necessary for the construction, equipment, and provisioning of vessels-are prescribed by one year.

The actions for injurious words, verbal or written; for damages caused by slaves or animals; that which a possessor may institute, to have himself maintained or restored to his possession, when he has been disturbed or evicted; for the delivery of merchandise or other effects shipped on board of vessels; for damage sustained by merchandise on board of ships, or which may have happened by ships running foul of each other-are prescribed by one year.

The action for arrearages of rent-charge, annuities, and alimony, or of the hire of moveables or immoveables; for the payment of money lent; for the salaries of overseers, clerks, secretaries, and teachers of the sciences, for lessons by the year or quarter; of physicians, surgeons, and apothecaries, for visits, operations, and medicines-are prescribed by three years.

years.

Actions on bills of exchange, notes payable to order or bearer, except bank-notes; those on all effects negotiable or transferable by endorsement or delivery-are prescribed by five All actions for immoveable property, or for an entire estate, as a succession, are prescribed by thirty years.

Collection of Debts.

ARREST.-Since March 28, 1840, no person can be arrested after judgment has been obtained, in order to compel payment thereof. But the debtor may be arrested before judg ment, upon an affidavit that he is about to leave the state permanently, without leaving in it sufficient property to satisfy the judgment which the creditor expects to obtain. Women, married or single, can not be arrested, nor can non-residents.

ATTACHMENT.-A creditor may obtain an attachment of the property of his debtor in the following cases: 1. Where such debtor is about leaving permanently the state, without there being a possibility of obtaining or executing judgment against him previous to his departure, or where such debtor has already left the state, never again to return. 2. When such debtor resides out of the state. 3. When he conceals himself, to avoid being cited. It may also be attached in the hands of third persons, in order to secure the payment of a debt, whether the amount be liquidated or not, provided the term of payment have arrived, and the creditor, his agent or attorney in fact, who prays for the attachment, state expressly and positively the amount which he claims. An obligation must be given in favor of the defendant for a sum exceeding one half that which he claimed, with the surety of one good and solvent person, residing within the jurisdiction of the court to which the petition is presented, as a security for the payment of such damages as such defendant may recover against him, in case it should be decided that the attachment was wrongfully obtained.

If a creditor know or suspect that a third person has in his possession property belonging to his debtor, or that he is indebted to such debtor, he may make such a person a party to the suit, by having him cited, to declare on oath what property belonging to the defendant he has in his possession, or in what sum he is indebted to such defendant, even when the term of payment has not yet arrived.

Deeds.

THESE may be recorded with a notary public, without any proof or authentication. They are termed acts of sale, and are of two kinds, private acts and authentic acts. Private acts are those merely under the hands of the parties. Authentic acts are those where the parties appear before a notary public, who reduces the contract to writing, and signs it, as well as the parties, in the presence of two free male witnesses, who must be fourteen years of age.

Rights of Married Women.

THE debts of both husband and wife, contracted before marriage, are chargeable only on their separate and Individual property.

The property which the husband or the wife owns before marriage, or that comes to either by gift, bequest, or inheritance, after marriage, remains the distinct and individual property of the party to whom it belongs. As to all other property, they are partners, unless she elects to the contrary.

The wife, even when she is separate in estate from her husband, can not alienate, grant, mortgage, or Acquire, either by gratuitous or encumbered title, unless her husband concurs in the act, or yields his conent in writing.

The wife may make her last will without the authority of her husband,

The surviving wife has the usufruct of the portion coming to her children, until she marries again.

Rate of Interest.

THE legal rate is five per cent.; but parties may agree on any sum as high as eight per cent. Bank interest is six per cent. The penalty for usurious contracts is a forfeiture of

the entire interest.

(For WILLS, see ARKANSAS, page 277.)

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