Multicultural Populations and Mixed Legal Systems in the United States: Louisiana and Puerto Rico

Multiculturalism has been a substantial part of the U.S. experience and a continued source of tension throughout the country’s existence. From a legal point of view, however, the Anglo-American common law is everywhere the driving force, seemingly leaving limited room for the legal systems of the native populations,1 and even less for the forcefully transported African population, though history proves that these populations had at all times legal awareness and agency.2 While it might seem difficult to describe the U.S. legal system as mixed, its day-to-day, decentralized, bottom-up dynamic interacts with, and draws on, a diversity of endogenous and exogenous cultures. If legal and normative phenomena are considered from the perspective of critical3 or radical pluralism,4 there may be more diversity in the United States than one might expect. The present Report, however, focuses on the State of Louisiana and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, both of which qualify as mixed jurisdictions according to mainstream definitions.5 Louisiana is a state in the continental United States. It constitutes the southern portion of a large territory purchased from France in 1803, which, after a short territorial period, became in 1812 the eighteenth state of the Union. The State of Louisiana shares much of its history and culture with other southern states, and its 4.5 million people speak the English language. A Spanish colony for over 400 years, Puerto Rico is a Caribbean island acquired by the United States in 1898. It has a Spanish speaking population of 3.2 million people. Today, the Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico (Associated Free State of Puerto Rico, or the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico) is in a decades long debate as to whether it should become a state of the United States, remain an autonomous territory or become an independent nation. What Louisiana and Puerto Rico have in common is that both have their private law anchored in the civil law tradition, each having a civil code. Louisiana codified its civil law after the Purchase of 1803 (Digest of 1808, Civil Code of 1825, and revised Civil Code of 1870) and engaged in a piecemeal civil-code revision starting in the 1970s. Puerto Rico received the Spanish Civil Code of 1889, which it revised in 1902 and again in 1930, replacing it with a new code in 2020. Regarding their multicultural populations and mixed legal systems, these two jurisdictions have many singularities that justifies that they be discussed in different sections. Louisiana is better known for its Creole culture than for its law.6 As the cradle of jazz, blues, and zydeco music, it is a land of linguistic and cultural diversity resisting the steamroller of a North American model that tends towards uniformity. In this respect, gumbo is an emblematic metaphor of multiculturalism and legal pluralism in Louisiana. It is a beloved local dish that combines a mixture of African, North American, Caribbean, Spanish, and French flavors, where ingredients contribute a unique flavor, while most of them keep their physical identity. A roux is prepared by heating canola oil and flour over medium heat and mixing it well until it reaches a chocolate color. Onions, peppers, and celery are added during the heating process, without burning the roux. Slices of sausage, called “andouille” in Louisiana, find their way into the pot. Chicken broth is then slowly poured in, while the pot is brought to a boil. The mix is seasoned with salt, garlic, and cayenne pepper. Pieces of chicken previously sautéed in olive oil are added, alongside okra, a plant found in West Africa, where it is known as (ki)ngombo in the Bantu language, hence the name “gumbo.”7 The mixture must simmer for a good hour. Duck is a common ingredient, though gumbo can also be cooked with seafood, especially shrimp, abundant in Louisiana, without removing the head. There is no need for a mixer or a blender. Gumbo is served over white rice. The solid ingredients remain perceptible to both the eye and the palate, while the mixture has a unique flavor that varies according to the ingredients, with chunks swimming in the dark soup, which remains quite liquid. Gumbo thus comes from West Africa, which, against its will, provided Louisiana with a large portion of its population, who were beaten with a whip that is not used in the kitchen and brutally enslaved by unscrupulous masters eager to enrich themselves from the production of sugar and cotton. Whether cooked by descendants of settlers from Canada, France, or Spain, of African slaves or Acadian deportees, of sauvages créoles,8 or Yankees, or by boat people from Vietnam, the recipe is a symbol of diversity and It the for in and the of until the Louisiana law is to gumbo in the that it combines chunks of the civil law codified in a civil with a and law which are of common law the of this of the to the ingredients of the legal gumbo a of that the civil law a flavor in a common law the culture the civil law of code while the code remains a It be and to that the process, of common law a blender. It the civil law and its a unique Louisiana, state law is of to and legal different legal civil law from and which the and on the one and the common law from which the by the in a on the each other and then to a mixed, or at the of the of and or whether the of for in Acadian The the of French law by the of name to of the a in the of the colony to and the of as It is that the Civil Code of Louisiana, in after the of the colony by the United States, more or less a of the the of French law more than French in North on the were the where the French culture one has the civil while the of the French the has the the civil and one has to keep both the civil law and the French language. The one is the of the territory of Louisiana purchased by the United States from France in 1803, which became the State of Louisiana in Civil Code and have been in English the Civil comes and then to in and French settlers were by the English in The who to became the of for French is the common law has been it can be both in English and in and is in the French at the de Canada, which became the of by in to remain and has had a Civil Code Code of in Code of tends to the Louisiana Civil Code as a of the of France the it may be as an of a gumbo while its with the that the French from of by de by the to of the of Louisiana to by the of The territory from the of to the by the to the and the to the It should be however, that the in the on in the State of by in The French until the of in in and in and in As a to the and in the system Civil and by a as a of the of of the of The Spanish with the of of the not become until the of in in The and by the and the of by the de the of also the of Louisiana to be by the as the other Spanish The Spanish were more and than the of and the French the the that the legal less than the were during the Spanish period, which a good of Spanish by the population as the colony French the of on Louisiana to France, its The had to remain of that of the Louisiana, which the of the Spanish until the of the of Louisiana by France to the United States in who on 1803, to a system the one that in the other French to or to French on 1803, to the population of the to the United States to to a on 1803, of Louisiana in the name of the United States, received from France a territory Spanish the of Louisiana, the United States the of the and need not be were the of and the hence the of a of with a a and a by the with the to a The of Louisiana the territory of the United a of Louisiana, which to be and and into that become In 1803, the population of the at of which in the of them people of In there were and slaves in Louisiana. The population in of which were in The of the for the territory to for to the as a thus The of and new from and brought and the of the law became the of culture and The Creole in for the of the civil law and the of which in its While the from French to Spanish law in both systems their from and an to Anglo-American common law not be without In to the at it is to point that the the two are not the of the The civil law is a of law in the from the of the of the of the of the which the civil of the and is as a of in in the is to be by the of on the other is a of not on a in the that the The is on the of than on the It is difficult to the their is to the of the of the civil law is in the common law is to a that be without to the of the In the civil law tradition, the is more not the in the of the the who has to the its by the and in with the common law A in the civil law in to in a common law for that a radical in Louisiana not have been or by the legal this is in Louisiana, as an system in after the by the also the of the While both systems the on the civil law the of a by the of the this at common a a The civil law the of of from law with law in after the which the to become the by of the on the of the The common on the other the the of the and the from of the on which It is that in the United States, and the system of of which to a the of the common law other While Louisiana, France and Spain, from law a of the common law on the with from American law in a that on the of In Louisiana the common law the of the civil law that are by the common and a that is limited by a can the of or two after their the by the against In the of common law had the of to the way were and which the of the people that the in at the of the Louisiana Purchase should be to or by the territorial In however, this a The of Louisiana into the United States not without The of the linguistic and legal the other were and of common a that and from the a in of the common law the by to on a to the common a which in a to as the most a of the the of civil law in the The A by the of the the in the two an of the to the of a legal of the civil law is by all and this law is the one which of the population of Louisiana and are to from of which they not themselves without into The to the of the common had no to in to an for legal diversity in a where each state its of to with the U.S. The not a it that it become one in the The of a civil code for the new territory to two both in of an from of French and had received legal in from had to after the their in less than two has it that they the French Civil which had been on the of the of the are that the Code in in Louisiana even while it in at the of the The is that not Louisiana after the also that the Louisiana is not a of the The is not the of to from the Code The Louisiana Code is and and to French law of Spanish as the which a to one of the in Whether the Louisiana Civil Code is French or Spanish remains a in legal It is that the Code its and from many from the French as has it is also that French law and Spanish law were in of the common of and that the Louisiana code on Spanish from the French Code the two were and Spanish that were the Louisiana Civil Code as Spanish in French has the with that on the French to the Spanish which proves that the of the that they in and law the who became an the of the until the of the the French Civil from the as as the of a which by the Louisiana as more to the local of the Louisiana are the of the Louisiana which many more than its French Louisiana at the not and the civil law had to be to and in the common who were of the of the civil law that one of the of were from French legal during the as a part of the population an English hence the The Code into English and in both and its both linguistic on an to the the Louisiana the of the French as the source in the of a the English and the French which to the law by the law that in the of France and the law that in the the of the not to the law of Louisiana to the of the civil law and the of the the of a the law in all by the as the French of the Civil Code had The of the Louisiana Code the law where the new not with the this it at the of to the name than the though the by the French Civil as a radical of and a of civil in to this its to become an of of the without with the The of the of a than a code were the new a to the Spanish for a more and the had to whether or not this by the In the of the had the law as they in the where it that an a not in the a that had not in of the of the of the of law the of to in France, in the of in the civil one to it by for the in Louisiana, and the their and their with the which a source of debate in the less than it had been to The found no better than to in became known as the Civil Code of Louisiana, that of The law for a in the were to that two had to be which were with The Code revised after the Civil in to to and other It in English who were and not to the of the The that one is with a than a code remains an of The Civil Code is a of the legal with other from the common law and other is by from the common The mix or both the Code and the While to the of the common in the to a system to that of the other The a common law also by France during the it into a system with is used in both civil and A by in the and the Spanish Civil codified in of an of civil and common law The in 1812 from the common law flavor, and the civil law by the of the common law system by In Louisiana, the Civil Code to the common law with legal in the Code of Civil The of the Civil Code are and in common law are in in the Louisiana to is found in other Civil which a the civil law and common law the of the with French and Spanish in the of the other endogenous and exogenous should not be even they are to of radical who not at the law from the perspective of the of from the point of of each to a of whether legal or not in the There must be of African the gumbo without themselves The of in or in not their may the way their and their of There is also of the and the who have their and The history of Louisiana law as and by the is to be more of the of the as the and The boat people from who as the of Louisiana contribute to the of while legal It may seem to for legal pluralism in the Civil Code as this is the of the civil law of the Code is to that of law are law and the two of the law in the civil law should be limited to of it not the of Louisiana not seem to a it is that the of the Civil Code room to law by the their their and in that the of and may multiculturalism to the of the legal The of are and the of on by radical though this is in a The Louisiana Code draws from The of the by known as the the of the from Spanish as well as from the French and who much of the French Civil It has been that the of the Code in to the of and the the of and from a mixture of Spanish, and English on the of in and were on as a source everywhere in the United and also in Louisiana. In the Louisiana the Louisiana State with a to the Civil it prepared a piecemeal revision of the by The revision of each is prepared by a of and While most of them the people and their local a have brought to the mix ingredients from the In to the to French and Spanish from the of and or from law can be found in the revision of the law of the of the from and can be in the revision of the law of the of the common law ingredients have also been into the Louisiana common law though of portion and in of remain in the The added on the of or is a more common law its common law the it is of a of the law of the common law are from the of states, in of is in and with which is the of of the French Civil the the of the in the of is in a Civil as the of it that the of a The added are of common law and Louisiana law in with the law of the Civil Code in and in much to the of who to keep the Louisiana for a civil law system in the English language, a civil law than the of the common The Louisiana of the civil code in though the of of the French Civil Code were by the of common law as were the of American in the United States in the alongside other mixed as Africa, and Louisiana has a to the civil law tradition, from the of the common law and its legal this Louisiana also English of of French legal as civil law by and and of and of the French legal in the Louisiana also a in the Louisiana Civil and the Civil Code Louisiana has been the of the French civil law in for two The French to that the American codified their civil law by the model of the As as the French one should not that the Louisiana Civil Code of has been more than a of The Louisiana Civil Code is the of the Spanish civil long in much of and it much in in the not its civil code until 1889, also with an of the Louisiana Civil The of the Louisiana Civil Code as well as the French Civil Code in the in French by and in Spanish by these that other of the as the of the and the Civil Code of The of the Louisiana civil even one in the and even It even the of the civil law tradition, the Code the by of a civil code for the state of civil by the in served as a model for the Civil Louisiana, the United States also received a civil law by way of in the and of the which of the United on of with legal while to In and to be The Civil Code of Louisiana, in English the is again in and in in its The Louisiana not though French remains by over of the state population and is in of While from to a of the cultural and linguistic The French of the Civil Code is on a of the and of the civil law of Louisiana, the to be are of French the the code on two A also and the of Civil is a Spanish which may the Louisiana in as or are and the they the of this legal the of its multicultural Whether it is to the of this Report, though it and in mixed and not mixed The Puerto legal system is a mixed, mixed system with other mixed legal systems the The mixture is to one in and as private Anglo-American as and law and legal and as the of the legal The for the mixture and in history and which to a short of Spanish and U.S. in the Puerto Rico as a Spanish colony in during to the It by and mixture is one and to Puerto Rico as part of the in the of Louisiana and the southern United States, these slaves were and brought to not from a from African were not from their native they were also from their The and especially the and legal from which they not transported to their and in the Caribbean, the or even the of legal as can in the with with and with a long history of legal they were over by As as the local population there are of the native or population, this though and The to local and by as de were and they have an it more in where the population more than in the The legal mixture one in of and is the of the or of and cultural In the Caribbean, until the of and North American and the to a land where they there a The two at times they to local the new were an and not into The into of legal and cultural that in more local not in the Puerto Rico, a a Spanish colony after the of the of its and North American in the decades of the than African which Spanish until the the Puerto Rico, and were the of had a Civil in 1889, to the in and had in a a a land and continental and the of the Puerto Rico a Spanish for a American and in the to a in the United States and in and Puerto the times called in became a U.S. for years, the to in local the to the more over local the United States over has become the U.S. in the of the where are Puerto Rico to the United States by the of of The where a of continued to be a and after from the United States. American in the Caribbean the of the of the which two decades from at the of its A in by the United States, its from and to of as of to become a and its land that continued until the The a debate in the United States the legal of the In the many of the Spanish were into in the United States had to to with Puerto Rico, a speaking territory with legal and The to that not with and of the new A of called the Puerto Rico an one that to had in the of the United States, not have to become a state the nation. The which in the to keep the private in at the of the Spanish U.S. of it in and in to the U.S. the of the new that of and which and the American not have to the legal long in on the a system had and with during as a private in The Spanish Civil and the the and other of private from the Spanish were with to with of from the Louisiana for to the 1902 and American the of and a U.S. which a with then and the as U.S. and and law were from from and and on U.S. Puerto Rico a of and that had been in the American law became that in the United States and in the all two of the American Code had been with English the and law were also as were American were in law which by the had the American model of legal with in the of the American and the American of however, after the Spanish Civil as is by the of Spanish and French and American in were in the a new Civil Code into law in 2020. new code a more from and the new Civil and than from the American one the and of and both on the or of the are by the new code a by the that the of Puerto Rico into the United States as a state in the which the of codified private to the legal were for by the who on called Puerto than tradition, and who American over local which called the As has been it is to the than to describe the be that as it it that as long as Puerto Rico Spanish as its common and American private law in other than with an American and especially as most also and The have been a source of for the of American States, which has a model for and for two have not American have found a source of in that for a more of to be and to keep on they have to for Puerto have to with the legal mixture they have and at in both the Spanish, and the American legal and much as they at is other of the debate are cultural and Spanish language, legal and American to the United States and its on to in and there in which in and land the system and people and and and the in not in a mixed with a mixed even at times it its cultural and legal an and who that should not of the from the that were not The and for their with to and The that and slaves were of the most of law and a in legal on to and their to their and were not of that their or had they were of of by and of them to their and legal awareness to the of and to the of are descendants of the at the of the of the are of or or descendants of the of of or physical are of of their or their at the of the of the is the a A may be by a or should have known that the the other to on it to and the other in may be limited to the or the as a of the on the on a without is not of that to by it to may of and and be by the of who have had a of for of an not for or of or are to a physical or or by the on the or of the

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