Note 92 — PART III. THE BATTURE AT NEW-ORLEANS.

If it be objected that the incorporation of the Roman law with the customs of Paris, and their joint transfer to Louisiana does not appear, I answer, 1. At the date of Crozat's charter, the Roman law had for many centuries been amalgamated with the customary law of Paris, made one body with it, and its principal part. By the customs of Paris were doubtless meant the laws of Paris, of which the Roman then made an important part, and might well be understood to be transferred with them. It was hardly intended that the new colonists were to unravel this web, and to take out for their own use only the fibres of Parisian customs, the least applicable part of the system to their novel situation. 2. If the term, coutumes de Paris in the charter be rigorously restrained to its literal import, yet the judges of Louisiana would have the same authority for appealing to the Roman as a supplementary code, which the judges of Paris and of all France had had; and even greater, as being sanctioned by so general an example. 3. The practice of considering the Roman law as a part of the law of the land in Louisiana, is evidence of a general opinion of those who composed that state, that it was transferred, and of an opinion much better informed, and more authoritative than ours can be. Or it may be considered as an adoption, by universal, though tacit consent, of those who had a right to adopt, either formally, or informally, as they pleased, as the laws of England were originally adopted in most of these states, and still stand on no other ground.