"In 1975 Louisiana became the fiftieth state to enact the Uniform
Commercial Code, but unlike its sister states, Louisiana omitted several
UCC articles. As of 1983, UCC articles 2, 6, and 9 remain unadopted in
Louisiana, and only article 6 remains under serious consideration for
adoption by the Louisiana State Law Institute. For the present, articles
2 and 9 appear to be deadletters in Louisiana, the apparent reason for
inaction being a perception that the two articles are incompatible with
Louisiana's Civil Code principles." Ronald L. Hersbergen,
Unconscienability: The Approach of the Louisiana Civil Code, 43 La. L.
Rev. 1315, 1315 (1983)
A historical note in West's Louisiana Statutes Annotated,
following Revised Statutes 10:1-101 (1993), states:
"Since Louisiana's version of the U.C.C. omits Articles 2, 6, 7, 8, 9,
and 10 it cannot be called a uniform code; and since its format is not at
all in the tradition of a civil law code, it cannot be called a 'code'.
Hence the statute is designated as 'Commercial Laws'. . . . It should be
noted that in spite of omissions and changes the sequence of sections in
Louisiana follow those in the U.C.C." A footnote to this "1974
Louisiana Comment" adds that Articles 7 and 8 were adopted in 1978,
Article 9 in 1988.
The question about adoption of the Restatement of Torts is
probably more difficult. The UCC is a text that legislatures adopt
(generally much more wholeheartedly than Louisiana). But the Restatements
are secondary sources -- almost like a treatise drafted by committee --
that have traditionally been accorded great persuasive authority by
courts. They are not adopted by legislatures. My understanding is that a
state's court might choose to follow -- or adopt -- one or several
provisions of a Restatement as the issues they discuss arise in
litigation, but it would be beyond a court's law-making authority to reach
out and say that it adopts an entire Restatement -- after all, it would be
very hard for one dispute between two real-life litigants to raise all the
issues discussed in the Restatement. So each of the states you list might
have had occasion to adopt or reject some sections of the Restatement of
Torts, but might never have mentioned others. If you are interested in
one section of the Restatement, the question would be easier to address.
=====Mary Whisner, Head of Reference======================
=====Gallagher Law Library, University of Washington======
=====whisner@u.washington.edu=============================
On Wed, 1 Dec 1993, David R. Hart, Law Librarian wrote:
> Could anyone out (and over) there confirm whether Louisiana has
> adopted the Uniform Commercial Code, and whether Michigan, North
> Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia and Wyoming have adopted the 2nd
> Restatement of the Law on Torts?
>
> Regards,
> David R. Hart,
> Law Librarian,
> University of Dundee,
> Scotland
>
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