"Lacking a comprehensive evidence code, Louisiana's evidence law is scattered throughout the various codes, revised statutes, and cases."
So stated the 1986 preface for Westerfield's Louisiana Evidence. Louisiana did not have a code of evidence until 1989. This libguide provides information on this major development in Louisiana law.
This Article had no counterpart under prior Louisiana law, for Louisiana never previously had a unified body of evidence law. The sources and content of Louisiana's prior evidence law, in fact, were often scattered and uncertain, particularly in civil cases. Generally, however, it may be said that Louisiana's evidence law in both civil and criminal matters was squarely rooted in the traditions of the common law. No radical or systemic changes are introduced by this Code, which is based in large measure on prior law and on the Federal Rules of Evidence of 1975, which are in turn based on traditional common-law evidentiary principles.
Official Comment on 1988 Act No. 515
