Bypass

Louisiana State Criminal — Type E Mixed Jurisdiction

Louisiana is the canonical Type E jurisdiction — the only U.S. state with a civilian-law substantive heritage on the civil side. The criminal track adopts common-law statutory procedure, so the civilian dimension matters less here than it does for property, contracts, and successions. What does matter for the criminal map: La. Const. Art. V § 5(D) creates two structural bypasses from District Court directly to the Louisiana Supreme Court, skipping the Court of Appeal. Capital cases bypass; cases declaring laws unconstitutional bypass. No other state criminal track in this project has a comparable structural feature.