Case Name: Alexander Latiolais v. Louis V. Mouton
Court: Louisiana Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: Louisiana
Decision Date: 1871-06
Citations: 23 La. Ann. 529
Docket Number: No. 752
Parties: Alexander Latiolais v. Louis V. Mouton.
Judges: 
Reporter: Louisiana Annual Reports
Volume: 23
Pages: 529–530

Head Matter:
No. 752.
Alexander Latiolais v. Louis V. Mouton.
The proces verbal of a*survoyor appointed as an expert to determine a boundary line, if not authenticated, is nothing more than a memorandum, and is not therefore admissible in evidence as an authentic document on the trial of an action of boundary.
APPEAL from the Fifteenth Judicial District Court, parish of Lafayette.
M. 0. Grow, Judge ad hoc. M. E. Girarcl, for plaintiff and appellee.
Ed. E. Mouton, for defendant and appellant.

Opinion:
Howe, J.
This is an action of boundary; to which there is no prescription. 21 An. 673; C. C. 825.
Upon the trial of this case the defendant reserved a bill of exceptions to the reception of a document offered by the plaintiff as a pro ces verbal of the surveyor, appointed as an expert, to determine provisionally a boundary Ene.
In our opinion the objection should have been sustained, and the paper excluded. The surveyor himself was not called. The paper was offered as authentic, to make full proof of itself. In order to do this it should have been made according to the formalities prescribed by article 833 [829J of the Civil Code, and signed by two witnesses called for the purpose; or contain a mention of the causes which prevent them from signing. In the absence of these formalities it is a mere memorandum which might have been produced and referred to by its maker on the witness stand, but which can not make full j>roof of itself. 4 An. 33, 382 ; 5 An. 122; 13 An. 128; C. C. 841, 833.
It is therefore ordered that the judgment appealed from be reversed, and the cause remanded for a new trial, and that appellee pay the costs of appeal.