A Louisiana case usually starts in a district court, goes on appeal to the circuit court of appeal assigned to that parish, and can reach the Louisiana Supreme Court last.
How a case moves through Louisiana's courts
The Louisiana Constitution vests the state's judicial power "in a supreme court, courts of appeal, district courts, and other courts authorized by this Article" (art. V, §1). Most cases travel up that ladder in order.
District courts are where cases start. A district court has original jurisdiction of all civil and criminal matters, with stated exceptions, and exclusive original jurisdiction of felonies, title to immovable property, and successions, among others (art. V, §16). District judges serve six-year terms (art. V, §15).
A court of appeal reviews the district court's work. Each court of appeal has appellate jurisdiction of all civil matters, of matters appealed from family and juvenile courts, and of criminal cases triable by a jury, and it has supervisory jurisdiction over cases that arise within its circuit (art. V, §10). In civil cases its review extends to the law and the facts; in criminal cases, only to questions of law. Courts of appeal sit in panels of at least three judges, who serve ten-year terms (art. V, §8).
The Supreme Court is the state's highest court. It has "general supervisory jurisdiction over all other courts" (art. V, §5), hears direct appeals when a law has been declared unconstitutional or a death sentence imposed, and handles lawyer discipline. It has a chief justice and six associate justices, four of whom must concur to render judgment, with ten-year terms (art. V, §3), and the court's 2025 Annual Report says it sits in New Orleans. See the Louisiana Supreme Court page.
District courts and their parishes
The constitution divides the state into judicial districts, "each composed of at least one parish and served by at least one district judge" (art. V, §14). R.S. 13:477 lists them. Some districts serve one parish, such as the 9th Judicial District Court in Rapides Parish and the 1st Judicial District Court in Caddo Parish. Others are shared: the 22nd Judicial District Court serves Washington and St. Tammany, and the 21st serves Tangipahoa, Livingston, and St. Helena. The district numbers skip 41, which R.S. 13:477 lists as repealed in 2012, so the last numbered district is the 42nd Judicial District Court in DeSoto Parish.
In every parish, the clerk of court is the clerk of the district court and keeps its records (art. V, §28). In a multi-parish district, each parish still has its own clerk, so a case is filed with, and its record kept by, the clerk of the parish where it is pending. The Louisiana Clerks of Court directory lists all 64.
The five circuit courts of appeal
R.S. 13:312 creates five circuits and assigns every parish to one of them. According to the Supreme Court, the courts sit in these cities:
- First Circuit Court of Appeal: Baton Rouge
- Second Circuit Court of Appeal: Shreveport
- Third Circuit Court of Appeal: Lake Charles
- Fourth Circuit Court of Appeal: New Orleans
- Fifth Circuit Court of Appeal: Gretna
Appeals follow the parish, not the district. That matters in two shared districts. In the 16th Judicial District, St. Mary Parish appeals to the First Circuit, while Iberia and St. Martin appeal to the Third. In the 23rd Judicial District, St. James Parish appeals to the Fifth Circuit, while Ascension and Assumption appeal to the First. R.S. 13:312 lists every parish's circuit.
Specialized and limited-jurisdiction courts
The constitution also retained trial courts of narrower jurisdiction (art. V, §15) and continued mayor's courts and justice of the peace courts, "subject to change by law" (art. V, §20).
- Juvenile courts. Special juvenile courts in Caddo, Orleans, Jefferson, and East Baton Rouge parishes have exclusive original juvenile jurisdiction. Elsewhere, the district court hears juvenile matters, and parish and city courts share that jurisdiction with it (Ch.C. art. 302).
- Family court. The Family Court for the parish of East Baton Rouge has exclusive jurisdiction over divorce, annulment, support, custody and visitation, and community property partition between spouses (R.S. 13:1401). It is the only family court in the state.
- Parish courts. The Supreme Court's 2025 Guide to Louisiana Courts lists three: Ascension Parish Court and the First and Second Parish Courts of Jefferson Parish.
- City, mayor's, and justice of the peace courts. The 2025 Annual Report counts 48 city courts and approximately 250 mayor's courts and 382 justices of the peace.
Orleans Parish
Orleans is the one parish without a numbered judicial district. It has two district courts, the Civil District Court and the Criminal District Court for the parish of Orleans, continued by the constitution (art. V, §32); see Orleans Parish district courts. New Orleans also has the First City Court, the Second City Court, the Municipal and Traffic Court, and a juvenile court.
Act 15 of 2026 abolished the separate clerk of criminal district court at the end of May 3, 2026, so one clerk of court for the parish of Orleans now serves both district courts. Act 748 of 2026 reduces the divisions of the Criminal District Court and the Municipal and Traffic Court as judges' terms end. A 2026 bill to overhaul the Orleans judicial system, including merging the two district courts (HB 911), did not pass; legis.la.gov shows its last action in May 2026, with a status of "Subject to call - House final passage." Orleans appeals go to the Fourth Circuit.
Federal courts are separate
Federal cases are heard in a separate system. Under federal law, Louisiana is divided into the Eastern, Middle, and Western Districts of Louisiana, and appeals from them go to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. That federal court is different from Louisiana's own Fifth Circuit Court of Appeal in Gretna, which hears state appeals from Jefferson, St. Charles, St. James, and St. John the Baptist parishes.