SEC. 506. In case the sheriff, recorder or clerk should fail, neglect In case of failure or refuse to act as herein provided for, the Auditor shall appoint

to act Auditor

may appoint.

1855-55.

in New Orleans.

some other citizen to act in his stead, and the person so appointed shall be entitled to the same compensation as herein provided, and liable to the same penalty.

CLERKS OF THE SEVERAL DISTRICT COURTS IN NEW ORLEANS.

SEC. 507. The clerks of the several District Courts in the city of New Orleans shall keep the records and proceedings of the District Duties of clerks Courts, in conformity to law and under the direction of the judges of their respective courts; they shall perform the duty of translators whenever thereto required by the court, for which they shall not receive any compensation.

by them.

SEC. 508. The clerks shall keep the following books, which shall Books to be kept always be open for inspection: a General Docket, in which shall be briefly entered all the proceedings that take place in each cause from the filing of the petition or the issuing of any conservative writ, so as to make a complete synopsis of all the proceedings in a cause; a Rule Docket, in which shall be transcribed at length all the rules taken in every cause, and the orders made on the rules; a double Index of plaintiffs and defendants to the General Docket, and an

To number all papers filed in

any suit.

ordinary Index to their Rule Docket. It shall be the duty of the

clerks of the District Courts to number all papers filed in any suit, under a penalty of fifty dollars, to be imposed by the court.

SEC. 509. The clerk of the First District Court of New Orleans Salary of clerk shall receive an annual salary of six thousand dollars, as provided by the following section :

of First District Court.

Manner in

shall be paid.

SEC. 510. His salary shall be paid out of the ordinary fees fixed by the general fee bill, and out of the fines and forfeitures for violawhich his salary tion of the criminal laws of the State; the deficiency remaining to be paid by the Treasurer of the State, upon an account rendered by the clerk, under oath, countersigned by the judge, showing the precise amount collected by him from fees, fines and forfeitures, to be signed by the judge only on his being satisfied that the clerk has used diligence in making collections. The clerk shall pay his deputies out of the salary thus allowed him.

SEC. 511. The office of translator of the First District Court of Office of trans- the city of New Orleans is abolished, and the duty shall hereafter lator abolished. be performed by the clerk of the court; or in case of his inability to perform that duty, by any competent person appointed by the court, to be paid out of the fees or emoluments due the clerk, such sum as may be directed by the court according to the services rendered.

1868-114.

Notaries and clerks in the

parish of Or

commissioners.

SEC. 512. Within the parish of Orleans, any notary public or clerk of a District Court is hereby appointed commissioner to take testimony of witnesses in suits pending in the courts of the parish of Orleans, before either of whom the parties to any suit pending in leans appointed any court of the parish of Orleans may proceed to have the testimony of witnesses taken in the mode and manner hereinbefore specified; and said commissioners shall be vested with all the powers herein granted to the clerks of the courts out of the parish of Orleans; and provided that said commissioners, or either of them, may proceed to take such deposition, on giving twenty-four hours' notice to the opposite party, or his counsel, of the time and place of taking the deposition; for this purpose notaries public are authorized to administer oaths and to execute commissions, to take testimony issued from other States or parishes of this State in the manner required by law.

SEC. 513. The Code of Practice which the Legislature has adopted and passed this session under the title of "Code of Practice in civil 1824–178. cases for the State of Louisiana," shall be printed in the same number of copies, and shall be promulgated in the same manner and at the same time as the Civil Code.*

prevail.

SEC. 514. In case the said Code of Practice should contain any provisions contrary or repugnant to those of the Civil Code, the Its provisions t latter shall be considered as virtually repealed or thereby amended in that respect. SEC. 515.

proceeding and

All the rules of proceeding which existed in this State before the promulgation of the Code of Practice, except those 1828-160. relative to juries, recusation of judges and other officers and of Repeal of witnesses, and with respect to the competency of the latter, be and former rules of they are hereby abrogated; and all the civil laws which were in former laws. force before the promulgation of the Civil Code lately promulgated, be and are hereby abrogated, except so much as is embraced in its third chapter, which treats of the dissolution of communities or corporations.

declared to have

SEC. 516. The Code of Practice, such as it has been sent to the several courts in this State in the year eighteen hundred and twenty- code of Practice five, shall be considered as having full force of law, though its pro- the force of law. visions are not preceded by these usual words, "Be it enacted," and it had been omitted to mention, at the end of said Code, the names of the President of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and of the Governor who signed the same, and of the date when the said Code was approved.

1826-166.

SEC. 517. Article one hundred and five shall be amended so as to make the English correspond with the French text, by inserting Art. 105. after the words "bed and board," the words, or for the separation of property.

SEC. 518. It is a general rule in civil matters that one must be sued before his own judge, that is to say, before the judge having 1801-137. jurisdiction over the place where he has his domicile or residence, Art. 162. and shall not be permitted to elect any other domicile or residence for the purpose of being sued, but this rule is subject to those exceptions expressly provided for by law.

SEC. 519. Number five of article one hundred and sixty-five is 1826-168. repealed, and suits for the recovery of the debts therein mentioned Art. 165. may be brought before any court of competent jurisdiction.

SEC. 520. When the defendant resides out of the State, or when 1839-162, the suit is commenced by arrest or attachment, an amicable demand Art. 169. shall in no case be necessary.

The Code of Practice received legislative sanction on the twelfth April, 1824, and was promulgated throughout the State on the second October, 1825. 2 La. 345; 11 ib. 517.

1826-161. Art. 175.

1838-44. Art. 207.

1826-168. Art. 211.

1840-131.

SEC. 521. So much of article one hundred and seventy-five as requires the original of an act or note under private signature to be annexed to the petition, is repealed; Provided, That if the defendant pray a view or oyer of the document declared upon, the court shall order the same to be filed within a reasonable delay, and in default of the plaintiff's complying with the order, his petition shall be dismissed.

SEC. 522. The following days shall be considered as days of public rest in this State, namely:

The First of January, Eighth of January, Twenty-second of February, Fourth of July, Twenty-fifth of December, Sundays and Good Friday.

SEC. 523. So much of article two hundred and eleven as exempts from arrest emancipated minors for debts legally contracted by them after emancipation, is repealed.

SEC. 524. Articles two hundred and twelve and two hundred and fourteen of the Code of Practice, shall be so amended, that to Arts. 212 and 214 enable the creditor to arrest a debtor, it shall be necessary for the creditor, his agent or attorney, to swear that he verily believes that the debtor is about to depart permanently from the State, without leaving in it sufficient property to satisfy his demands; and lastly, that he does not take this oath with the intention of vexing the defendant.

1828-150.

1828-150. Art. 214.

1856-80. Art. 214.

SEC. 525. In all cases where attachments, arrests and sequestrations are demandable, the plaintiff, his agent or attorney, having made affidavit and given bond in conformity to law, and having filed the same in court, it shall be the duty of the judge to order, forthwith, the process required, without any petition being then presented; but the usual petition shall be filed on the day succeeding that on which the process shall have issued, except in cases where a day of public rest shall be the succeeding day; then, on the day next succeeding such day of public rest, and the sheriff shall proceed immediately to execute process according to its tenor.

SEC. 526. The affidavit required by the two hundred and fourteenth article of the Code of Practice, may be written either at the foot of plaintiff's petition, or annexed to said petition.

SEC. 527. Article two hundred and fourteen of the Code of Practice is amended and re-enacted so as to read as follows: "Previous to obtaining an order of arrest against his debtor to compel him to give sufficient security that he shall not depart from the State, the creditor must swear in the petition which he presents to that effect, to any competent judge, that the debt or damages which he claims, and the amount of which he specifies, is really due to him, and that he verily believes that the defendant is about to remove from the State permanently, without leaving in it sufficient property to satisfy his demand, and that he does not take this oath with the intention of vexing the defendant, but only in order to secure his demand. The creditor, his agent, or attorney in fact, praying such arrest, must besides annex to his petition his obligation in favor of the defendant for a sum exceeding by one-half the amount of that which he claims, with the surety of one good and solvent person, residing within the jurisdiction of the court, as a security for the payment of such damages as the defendant may recover against him, in case it should be decided that the arrest was wrongfully sued out.

Art. 216.

SEC. 528. In all cases where, by any provision of the Code, an oath of a party is required, it may (in case of the absence of said 1839-168. party) be made by his agent or attorney; and in such case it shall be sufficient for the agent or attorney to swear to the best of his knowledge and belief.

SEC. 529. The oath required by articles two hundred and sixteen

and two hundred and seventeen, may be taken before any judge or 1826-168. justice of the peace, or clerk of court, and all oaths required to Arts. 216 and 217 be taken in case of arrest of the debtor, or in order to obtain the orders of attachment, provisional seizures, sequestration of the debtor's property, or injunction, shall be administered by the persons above mentioned.

Art. 227.

SEC. 530. The time given by article two hundred and twentyseven shall be twenty, instead of ten days, for excepting to the secu- 1826-168. rities taken by the sheriff; and, out of the First Judicial District, instead of moving for a rule of court; the plaintiff may make his exceptions before the judge in chambers.

SEC. 531. Article two hundred and thirty-five of the Code of Practice shall be so amended, that the surety therein mentioned, 1839-162 against whom a motion shall have been made to render him liable Art. 235. for the amount of the judgment given against the debtor, shall be tried summarily, and without the intervention of a jury, unless the surety shall allege, under oath, that the signature to the bond, purporting to be his, is not genuine, or that the judgment has been. satisfied.

", 1839-162

SEC. 532. Article two hundred and forty of the Code of Practice shall be so amended, that the words "never again to return," Art. 240. be stricken out, and the word "permanently" inserted in lieu thereof.

and 244.

SEC. 533. Articles two hundred and forty-two, two hundred and forty-three, and two hundred and forty-four, of the Code of Practice, 1826-170. shall be so amended, that in cases where the debt or obligation is Arts, 242, 243 not yet due, it shall be lawful for a writ of attachment to issue, whenever the judge shall be satisfied by the oath of the creditor or his agent of the existence of the debt, and upon the creditor or his agent taking oath to either of the requisites in number one, two or three of article two hundred and forty, and complying with article two hundred and forty-four, and moreover swearing that the debtor is about to remove his property out of the State before the debt becomes due, it shall be sufficient for the oath required to be taken by the agent, to be to the best of his knowledge and belief; and it shall be deemed sufficient for the creditor, in order to obtain an attachment, to make the oath required to be taken by him in conformity to any of the requisites of number one, two or three, of article two hundred and forty.

SEC. 534. Article two hundred and forty-three shall be so amended, that in lieu of the oath prescribed by that article, it shall be 1839-164. sufficient for the creditor to swear to the existence of the debt Art. 243. demanded by him, and that he verily believes that the debtor has left the State permanently, or that he resides out of the State, or conceals himself so that citation can not be served on him.

SEC. 535. The two hundred and forty-fourth article shall be so amended, that the oath required to authorize the issuing of an 1828-38. attachment in cases where the debt is already due, may be made by Art. 244. the agent or attorney of the creditor, to the best of his knowledge and belief.

1839-166, 1840-43.

Art. 246.

1839-162. Art. 259.

1839-168.

1852-155.

SEC. 536. Whenever a party, plaintiff in a cause, has applied for a writ of fieri facias against the defendant, and has reason to believe that a third person has property or effects in his possession, or under his control, belonging to the defendant, or is indebted to him, he may cause such third person to be cited to answer under oath such interrogatories as may be propounded to him, touching the property and effects, or such indebtedness, in the same manner and with the same regulations as are provided in relation to garnishees, in cases of attachment.

Such third person shall thereupon be bound to answer in the same manner, and shall be liable in the same manner for his neglect or refusal to answer, and his answers may be disproved in the same manner as those of garnishees; in case such third person shall confess in his answers that he has property or effects in his possession, or under his control, belonging to the defendant, or is indebted to him in any sum of money, the court shall order him forthwith to deliver up the property or to pay such sum (if the same be due, and if not, when the same shall be due), to the sheriff; and a copy of the order, with the receipt of the sheriff indorsed thereon, shall be delivered to the third person, and shall be deemed equivalent to a receipt from the debtor himself; the property and effects, in the possession of a third person, belonging to the defendant, or debts due by him to such defendant, shall be decreed to be levied by the sheriff as from the date of the service of interrogatories on such persons.

SEC. 537. Article two hundred and fifty-nine of the Code of Practice shall be so amended, that in case of attachment, when the defendant has given his obligation with security, as by the article provided, and fails to satisfy the judgment rendered against him, the plaintiff may, on the return of the sheriff that no property has been found, and on exhibiting to the court the obligation duly transferred to him, obtain judgment against the surety on the obligation, upon motion, after ten days' previous notice to the surety, which motion shall be tried summarily and without the intervention of a jury, unless the surety shall allege, under oath, that the signature to the bond, purporting to be his, is not genuine, or that the judgment has been satisfied.

In all cases where property attached, sequestered or provisionally seized, shall be released on the defendant executing a bond with security, the sheriff shall be bound to return the bond so taken by him into court.

The plaintiff shall have the right to object to the insufficiency of the security on such bonds only within twenty days after the bond is filed in the clerk's office; and in case the security on the bonds should be declared insufficient, the sheriff shall be liable as security on the bonds. The bond shall be assigned by the sheriff to the plaintiff. Article two hundred and fifty-nine of the Code of Practice shall be amended so as to read thus:

"The defendant, if he appear in person or by his attorney, may, moreover, in every stage of the suit, have the property attached released by delivering to the sheriff his obligation for a sum exceeding by one-half the value of the property attached, with the surety of a good and solvent person residing within the jurisdiction of the court where the action was brought, that he will satisfy such judgment to the value of the property attached, as may be rendered against him in the pending suit.'