1.2.08 Authority and Laws to be Applied in the Trial and Appellate Courts

Statutes | Coushatta Tribe of LA Jud. Code Title I Chapter 2 § 1.2.08 | 2019

a) In cases otherwise properly before the Trial and Appellate Courts of the Coushatta Tribe, decisions on matters of both substance and procedure will be based on the following, in the following order of precedent:

1) The Constitution and Bylaws of the Coushatta Tribe.

 

2) Ordinances of the Coushatta Tribe.

 

3) Resolutions of the Coushatta Tribe.

 

4) Customs, traditions and culture of the Coushatta Tribe.

 

5) Laws, rules arid regulations of the Federal Government and cases interpreting such laws, rules and regulations. These federal authorities may be required to take a higher order of precedence in circumstances dictated by the

Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution.

 

6) The laws and rules of the State of Louisiana. This provision shall not be deemed to be an adoption of such laws and rules as the law of the Coushatta Tribe nor as a grant or cession to the State of Louisiana of any right, power, or authority by the Coushatta Tribe.

 

7) The Common Law.

b) The Courts of the Coushatta Tribe shall not recognize nor apply any federal, state, common law, rule or procedure which is inconsistent with either the spirit or the letter of either the Constitution and Bylaws of the Coushatta Tribe, or with any ordinances or resolutions of the Coushatta Tribe, unless otherwise required, in the case of Federal law only, by the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution.