Terms Used In Louisiana Code of Civil Procedure 421

  • Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
  • Precedent: A court decision in an earlier case with facts and law similar to a dispute currently before a court. Precedent will ordinarily govern the decision of a later similar case, unless a party can show that it was wrongly decided or that it differed in some significant way.

A civil action is a demand for the enforcement of a legal right.  It is commenced by the filing of a pleading presenting the demand to a court of competent jurisdiction.  Amicable demand is not a condition precedent to a civil action, unless specifically required by law.