Page:History of Southeast Missouri 1912 Volume 1.djvu/173

 HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 113 regard to the granting of land and to the col- lection of revenue, but so far as those great- provinces of the law which define the rights and duties of individuals and the holding and transfer of property were concerned, the Spanish retained almost unchanged, the French law. They did this because the set- tlers were, many of them, French ; they were acquainted with the law of France ; they had acquired and held property under it, and it was really less difficult for Spanish officials to continue the administration of this law than it would have been to make a change. They were the more inclined to this course because of the fact that the Spanish law and French law are quite similar. They were both derived from the old Roman civil law and in their fundamental principles were the same. This law derived from the civil law is still in force in Louisiana, which is the only one of the states in the union where the English common law is not in force. The civil law differs from the common law in many vital respects, and it was this law, whether French or Spanish in its form, that was administered by the Spanish officials in the province of Louisiana. The question of language gave considerable trouble. There were three principal languages spoken in Upper Louisi- ana—Spanish, which was the language of the officials, and French, and English, the lan- guage of the settlers. Spanish was the official language, and trials and other official pro- ceedings were supposed to be conducted in Spanish, but very frequently, owing to the prevalence of the French language, it was used even in the official proceedings. In each one of the districts there was an official in- terpreter who assisted the commandant in the hearing of cases by translating from one lan- guage to the other as necessity required. Cousin, it will be recalled, acted in this ca- pacity in Cape Girardeau; he drew up pe- titions and other official papers for settlers, both French and American; these petitions were presented to the commandant, and were in French or Spanish, either being acceptable. The government exercised by all of these various officials was in theory a practically absolute despotism; the power being in the hands of the officers. In fact, however, the rigor of the law was tempered to suit the times and occasions and the government was often paternal in character. The thing which bore most heavily on the American settlers and which made them most impatient of Spanish control was the dilatory character of some proceedings. This statement does not, however, apply to the proceedings before the various commandants. They were usually transacted with commendable despatch. In fact, most of the trials and other proceedings before the commandants are rather remark- able for the speed with which they were con- ducted. It was not unusual for the issues to be joined and a decision to be rendered within a very short time. Execution of the sentence was usually summary, but the authority of the commandant was sometimes exercised in order to postpone proceedings and to prevent unnecessary hardship. An instance of this is recorded in the life of Lorimier: One, Jo- siah Lee, had abandoned his wife and was ordered by Lorimier to leave the country. All persons were forbidden, under penalty, to harbor or help him in any way. Lee, how- ever, presented a very humble petition in which he confessed his fault and prayed that he might be permitted to remain, on condition that he should not again offend. This pe- tition seems to have been granted, for the name of Lee is found on the tax records for several years after this incident. It required