Several articles pertained to the Recorder's Courts.
Art. 84. The judicial power of the State shall be vested in a Supreme Court, in Courts of Appeal, in District Courts, in justices of the peace, and in such other courts as are hereinafter provided for.
Art. 90. All judges, by virtue of their office, shalt be conservators of the peace throughout the State. The style of all .process shall be "The State of Louisiana." All prosecutions shall be carried on in the name and by the authority of the State of Louisiana, and conclude: "Against the peace and dignity of the same."
Art. 91. The judges of all courts, whenever practicable, shall refer to the law by virtue of which every definitive judgment is rendered, and in every case they shall adduce the reasons on which their judgment is founded. Service of citation shall not be waived, nor judgment confessed, by any document under private signature executed prior to the maturity of the obligation sued on.
Art. 96. Except as herein provided, no duties or functions shall ever be attached by law to the Supreme Court, Courts of Appeal, or District Courts, or to the several justices, or judges thereof, except such as are judicial, and the said justices and judges are prohibited from receiving any fees of office, or other compensation than their salaries, for any official duty performed by them. No judicial powers, except as committing magistrates in criminal cases, shall be conferred on any officer other than those mentioned in this title, except such as may be necessary in towns and cities; provided, the General Assembly shall have the power to abolish justice of the peace courts in wards containing cities of more than five thousand inhabitants, and to create in their Stead courts with such civil jurisdiction as is now vested in justices of the peace, and with criminal jurisdiction which shall not extend beyond the trial of offenses not punishable by imprisonment at hard labor under the laws of this State, and of violations of municipal and parochial ordinances, and the holding of preliminary examinations in cases not capital. Provided, the compensation of the judges of such courts shall be paid by the parishes and cities in which they are established, in such proportions as may be provided by law.
Art. 139. The Criminal District Court shall have exclusive original jurisdiction for the trial and punishment of all offenses when the penalty of death, imprisonment at hard labor, or imprisonment without hard labor for any time exceeding six months, or a fine exceeding three hundred dollars may be imposed, and appellate jurisdiction in all cases tried before the City Criminal Courts, or Recorders' Courts of New Orleans, which cases, shall be appealable on the law and the facts, and shall be tried on the record and the evidence as made and offered in the lower court.......Said court shall have general and supervisory jurisdiction over all inferior State and municipal criminal courts in the Parish of Orleans......
Art. 141. The General Assembly shall provide for Recorders' Courts in the City of New Orleans, to be presided over by magistrates, who need not be attorneys at law, but such courts shall have no jurisdiction except for the trial of offenses against city ordinances.
Art. 152. The recorders of the City of New Orleans who may be serving at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall, unless removed for cause, continue in the exercise of their functions and jurisdiction, conformably to existing laws, and until otherwise provided, except in so far as such functions and jurisdiction may be affected by the provisions of this Constitution which confer appellate and supervisory jurisdiction on the Criminal District Court and original jurisdiction in certain matters on the City Criminal Courts.
On July 12th, 1898, the Governor of Louisiana approved Act No. 84 of that year, entitled "An Act to amend and re-enact sections 68, 69, 70 and 71, of No. 45 of 1896, entitled 'An Act to incorporate the City of New Orleans, provide for the government and administration thereof, and to repeal all acts inconsistent or in conflict therewith.'
This constitution created two inferior criminal courts in the City of New Orleans, a First City Criminal Court and a Second City Criminal Court. Each was presided over by one judge, without juries. "They shall be learned in the law, and shall have resided and practiced as attorneys in the City of New Orleans for not less than three years before their election or appointment." See articles 139 and 140.
No. 12,589.
THE STATE EX REL. MRS. LOUISA HOHN VS. EDWARD FINNEGAN, RECORDER, ETC.
1. To authorize the fines under the ordinance against the keeping of houses of prostitution or assignation there must be proof of the notice to tle occupant given by the Mayor provided by the ordinance, and proof of the use of the house for the prohibited purposes.
2. Hence, when such fines have been imposed with no proof of the prohibited use, and only on proof of the notice, and the relator has been denied the right to offer witnesses she claims would disprove the charge against her, the sentence of tile recorder imposing the fines must be set aside.
3. The court again affirms that charges before the Recorders for violations of the laws or ordinances do not require the precision of indictments, but reasonable notice of the charge is all that is required.
No. 12,890.
STATE OF LOUISIANA EX REL. HENRY BEZOU, RECORDER, VS. JUDGE OF THE CIVIL DISTRICT COURT FOR THE PARISH OF
ORLEANS, DIVISION A.
The office of Recorder, under the Constitution of 1879, was not a constitutional office. 46 An. 830.
The existing Constitution, as to those Recorders now in office, is not retrospective.
The statutory office of Recorder, under the Constitution of 1879, as to those previously elected to that office, continue to be a statutory office under the existing Constitution.The authority of the municipal council to organize a tribunal to try the issues raised continues as it was prior to the existing Constitution.
