AN ORDINANCE relating to the public lands of the United States, and the lands of non resident proprietors citizens of said states, within the territory of Orleans. BE it ordained by the representatives of the people of the territory of Orleans in convention assembled, agreeably to an act of congress entitled, « An act to enable the people of the territory of Orleans to form a constitution and state government, and for the admission of such state into the Union, on an equal footing with the original states, and for other purposes,» that the people inhabiting the said territory do agree and declare, that they do forever disclaim all rights or title to the waste or unappropriated lands, lying within the said territory; and that the same shall be and remain at the sole and entire disposition of the United States. And be it further enacted, by the authority aforesaid, That each and every tract of land, sold by congress, shall be and remain exempt from any tax laid on under the authority of the state of Louisiana, either for state, county, township, parish, or any other purposes whatever, for the term of five years from and after the respective days of the sales thereof, and that the lands belonging to the citizens of the United States residing without the said state of Louisiana, shall never be taxed higher than the lands belonging to persons residing therein, and that no taxes shall be imposed on lands, the property of the United States. And be it further ordained, by the authority aforesaid, that this ordinance shall never be revoked, without the consent of the United States in congress assembled being first obtained for this purpose. Done in convention at New-Orleans, this--day of December, one thousand eight hundred and eleven, and of the independence of the United States of America the thirty-sixth.. J. POYDRAS, President. By order, EL. FROMENTIN, Secretary. CIVIL CODE OF THE STATE OF LOUISIANA. Preliminay Title. Of the general Definitions of Rights and the Promulgation of the Laws. CHAPTER I. Of Law. ARTICLE 1. Law is a solemn expression of Legislative will. ART. 2. It orders and permits and forbids, it announces rewards and punishments, its provisions generally relate not to solitary or singular cases, but to what passes in the ordinary course of affairs. ART. 3. Customs result from a long series of actions constantly repeated, which have by such repetition, and by uninterrupted acquiescence, acquired the force of a tacit and common consent. CHAPTER II. Of the publication of the Laws. ART. 4. As laws cannot be obligatory without being - |