New Orleans Public Library City Archives Louisiana. Commercial Court (Orleans Parish) Records, 1839-1846 NOTE: The general dockets of the Commercial Court and the extant indexes to those dockets have been digitized and are now available at FamilySearch.org. (The suit records and other records of the court remain unmicrofilmed or digitized and are available for in-house use only at NOPL.) In order to access the digital images, you must create an account with FamilySearch, but the account is free. See below for direct links to the digital images.

With the passage of 1839 La. Acts 17, under the power granted by La. Const. art. IV, sec. 4 (1812), the Legislature created the Commercial Court of New Orleans. The act granted the Commercial Court concurrent jurisdiction with the already existing Orleans Parish Court and First Judicial District Court (courts of general jurisdiction), with the notable exceptions that the Commercial Court could hear no case involving (typically long drawn-out) disputes as to: ownership or possession of land; ownership of slaves; domestic relations; tort suits; or eminent domain expropriations. (See 1839 La. Acts 17, sec. 3.) The act also allowed parties to transfer actions pending in the existing courts to Commercial Court as a way of relieving the burden on the existing courts created by the large number and technical complexity of commercial disputes arising in the city. (1839 La. Acts 17, sec. 13.) The legislature also evidently intended to facilitate the speedy resolution of commercial disputes as a way of encouraging the development of commerce in New Orleans. Appeals from Commercial Court lay to the Supreme Court, which was bound by statute to decide any appeal taken to it. (1839 La. Acts 17, sec. 4.)

Charles Watts, a noted figure in the city's commercial life who had served as judge of the First Judicial District from 1832-36, received the appointment to the Commercial Court bench. His status equaled that of the judges of the existing courts. (1839 La. Acts 17, sec. 2.) Similarly, the rules the court adopted closely resembled those of the First Judicial District Court. (1839 La. Acts 17, sec. 7.) Judge Watts held court at the Merchants' Exchange and later at the Presbytere. Though the parties could elect to have a jury hear their case, Judge Watts himself decided most of the disputes.

A small (n=221) random sample of suits filed over the life of the court reveals that 51% involved financial instruments, either promissory notes (31%), bills of exchange (12%), or other instruments (8%); 26% involved debts for merchandise; 8% involved debts for services; 4% involved leases; and the remainder involved various miscellaneous disputes. The cases ranged from simple actions on a debt in which the defendant defaulted and the plaintiff received a speedy judgment to cases which required trial testimony on complicated factual and legal questions of liability and damages.

In the Logan v. Pontchartrain R.R. case, for example, Logan claimed that the railroad had lost his baggage on the last leg of a trip from Mobile to New Orleans in May of 1843. To support his claim, he enclosed a detailed inventory of the personal property he had placed in his "parcel of trunks and baskets." Of most concern to Logan: the loss of "an extensive theatrical wardrobe" which ran the gamut from "yellow buckskin breeches" ($15.00) to a champagne basket ($.50). The railroad countered by denying Logan's allegations, and added that according to its printed tariff (reproduced above), it bore no liability for loss of baggage because the tariff stated: "All baggage at risk of owners." Judge Watts disagreed, and found for Logan, awarding him $812 of the $1,236 he had claimed. The railroad appealed to the Supreme Court, which affirmed Judge Watts' judgment. Logan v. Pontchartrain R.R. Co., No. 5562 (La. May 27, 1845).

The Commercial Court ceased to exist at the adoption of the new constitution of 1845, which allowed for only those courts specifically set out in the constitution. La. Const. art. 75 (1845). Legislation transferred the Commercial Court's pending cases to the newly created Fourth District Court. (1846 La. Acts 32.)