Opinion ID: 1113494
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Early History of the Institution of Forced Heirship

Text: Because Louisiana's institution of forced heirship is an amalgamation of several bodies of law, I believe a reference to the history of those bodies is necessary to determine what the protected institution is in Louisiana. Louisiana was originally colonized by French settlers in the early 1700s. These settlers brought with them the laws of France, particularly the Custom of Paris. These laws are believed to have been the origin of the institution of forced heirship in Louisiana. [2] In the mid-1700s, France ceded Louisiana to Spain. Spanish law, which had its own concept of forced heirship, reigned over the Territory for nearly forty years thereafter. Then, in the early 1800s Spain agreed to return the Territory to France. Before this transfer from Spain to France took place, however, France sold the Territory to the United States. Thus, Louisiana's concept of forced heirship is a result of the French and Spanish rule over the Territory. Because Roman Law is the earliest source of the institution of forced heirship and the framework from which all other legal systems' versions of the doctrine evolved, [3] including the French and the Spanish, this analysis necessarily begins with consideration of that system.