Louisiana Law

Jefferson Parish, was, in fact, named in honor of Founding Father, Thomas Jefferson. A bronze statue of Jefferson stands at the entrance of the General Government Building in Gretna where all the courtrooms for the 24th Judicial District Court are located, as well as the Justice of the Peace courtroom for the Parish’s 1st District. This tribute stems from Jefferson’s substantial involvement in the purchase of Louisiana Territory from France in 1803 and his push for the passage of the Congressional Act for the Admission of Louisiana’s as a State in the Union. Act of Congress April 8, 1812, c. 50, 2 U.S. Stat. 701.

Interestingly, there was opposition to the passage of the Act and the admission of the Louisiana Territory by Josiah Quincy, a congressman from Boston. Quincy argued that the United States Constitution ‘did not permit the admission of a state on the other side of the Mississippi, a state peopled by a foreign nation, speaking a foreign tongue, and following strange laws and customs;’ as: