The Lost Translators of 1808 and the Birth of Civil Law in Louisiana (eBook)

Vernon Valentine Palmer (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2021
University of Georgia Press (Verlag)
978-0-8203-5832-1 (ISBN)

Infos

In 1808 the legislature of the Louisiana territory appointed two men to translate the Digest of the Laws in Force in the Territory of Orleans (or, as it was called at the time, simply the Code) from the original French into English. Those officials, however, did not reveal who received the commission, and the translators never identified themselves. Indeed, the “translators of 1808” guarded their secret so well that their identities have remained unknown for more than two hundred years. Their names, personalities, careers, and credentials, indeed everything about them, have been a missing chapter in Louisiana legal history.

In this volume, Vernon Valentine Palmer, through painstaking research, uncovers the identity of the translators, presents their life stories, and evaluates their translation in the context of the birth of civil law in Louisiana. One consequence of the translators' previous anonymity has been that the translation itself has never been fully examined before this study. To be sure, the translation has been criticized and specific errors have been pointed out, but Palmer's study is the first general evaluation that considers the translation's goals, the Louisiana context, its merits and demerits, its innovations, failures, and successes. It thus allows us to understand how much and in what ways the translators affected the future course of Louisiana law. The Lost Translators, through painstaking research, uncovers the identity of the translators, presents their life stories, and evaluates their translation in the context of the birth of civil law in Louisiana.

Autor

VERNON VALENTINE PALMER is the Thomas Pickles Professor of Law at Tulane University and the codirector of the Eason Weinmann Center for International and Comparative Law. He is the author of numerous books, including The Louisiana Civilian Experience, Through the Codes Darkly, and Mixed Jurisdictions Worldwide: The Third Legal Family.

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 28.2.2021
• Reihe/Serie: Southern Legal Studies
• Reihe/Serie: Southern Legal Studies Ser.
• Reihe/Serie: Southern Legal Studies Ser.
• Zusatzinfo: 13 b&w photos
• Verlagsort: Athens
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Klassiker / Moderne Klassiker
• Themenwelt: Sachbuch/Ratgeber ► Beruf / Finanzen / Recht / Wirtschaft
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Geschichte ► Regional- / Ländergeschichte
• Themenwelt: Geschichte ► Teilgebiete der Geschichte ► Militärgeschichte
• Themenwelt: Recht / Steuern ► Rechtsgeschichte
• Schlagworte: 19th century • american historians • Civil Law Studies • Comparative International Law • Eason Weinmann Center for International and Comparative Law • French translations • inter • jurisdiction legal studies • Law • Legal History • Legal Translation • Local History • Politics • southern history • The Louisiana Civilian Experience • Thomas Pickles Professor of Law • Tulane University • U.S. History
• ISBN-10: 0-8203-5832-0 / 0820358320
• ISBN-13: 978-0-8203-5832-1 / 9780820358321