The Louisiana Constitution of 1845 allowed the legislature to establish "as many district courts as the public interest may require" (Title IV, Article 75). These district courts were to have original jurisdiction in all civil cases, when the amount in dispute exceeded $50, exclusive of interest. Act 43 of 1846 further detailed the organization of the district courts in the parish and city of New Orleans. The Act provided for five District Courts: the First, Second, Third, Fourth, and Fifth District Courts of New Orleans.

The Fifth District court primarily heard matters of a commercial nature. Furthermore, all cases pending (in 1846) before the defunct First Judicial District Court were to be transferred to the jurisdiction of the Fifth District Court.

Act 229 of 1853 further organized the Orleans Parish courts, giving exclusive jurisdiction over certain types of cases to the courts (criminal matters to First District Court, probate matters to Second District Court, for example) and added a new court, the Sixth District Court, to have jurisdiction over cases pending in the City of Lafayette, newly incorporated into Orleans Parish from Jefferson Parish. The remaining courts (Third, Fourth, and Fifth District Courts) were to have "concurrent jurisdiction of all civil cases whatever" that did not fall under the jurisdiction of the special courts.

Prior to this 1853 Act, the Fifth District Court (along with the other numbered district courts) also handled matters that were not purely commercial in nature, including successions. Most of these records are available on microfilm.

The Consitution of 1868 retained and reinstituted the six numbered district courts in Orleans Parish and added a seventh court. It reiterated the exclusive jurisdiction of several of the courts (First District Court, exclusive criminal jurisdiction; Second District Court, exclusive probate jurisdiction; Third District Court, exclusive jurisdiction of appeals from justices of the peace). Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh District Courts were given exclusive jurisdiction in all civil cases, except probate, when the sum in contest was above one hundred dollars, exclusive of interest. In most courts, the docket numbering begins again at this time, with a second series of records.

The consititution of 1879 consolidated all of the civil ourts into a single court, Civil District Court, still in existence today. All cases pending in Fifth District Court were transferred to the new court under new docket numbers.