When louisiana enacted its digest of the civil laws in 1808 and quebec its civil code of lower canada in 1866 both jurisdictions were in a period of transition economic social and political in both the laws had originally been transplanted from european nations whose societies were in many ways different from theirs. It can be claimed that it is the first systematic exploration of the louisiana 1808 and quebec 1866 codes in light of social and legal change explaining the reasons for change and stasis john cairns indeed examined in this dissertation the complex and varying legal cultures of french spanish civilian and anglo american antecedents of the two codes from which the redactors borrowed in drafting he analysed in detail the sources and materials used by the codifiers whom he considered . Cairns john w codification transplants and history law reform in louisiana 1808 and quebec 1866 xlv 559 pp clark new jersey talbot publishing 2015 isbn 13 9781616195090 isbn 10 1616195096 hardcover new 95 when louisiana enacted its digest of the civil laws in 1808 and quebec its civil code of lower canada in 1866 both jurisdictions were in a period of transition economic social and political in both the laws had originally been. Lower canada in 1866 both jurisdictions were in a period of transition economic social and political in both the laws had originally been codification transplants and history law reform in louisiana 1808 and quebec 1866 john w cairns it can be claimed that it is the first systematic exploration of the louisiana 1808 and quebec 1866 codes in light. Stanford libraries official online search tool for books media journals databases government documents and more