SCLAHS Mourns The Passing Of Legendary Legal Scholar Louis V. de la Vergne
Louis V. de la Vergne, loyal Member of the Supreme Court of Louisiana Historical Society, passed away on Friday, September 15, 2017, in New Orleans following a brief illness. SCLAHS President Donna D. Fraiche, on behalf of its Board, expressed the following, “It is with great sadness that we express our deepest sympathy upon the passing of our dear friend, Louis de la Vergne. He was one of our most active members, and made significant contributions to civilian scholarship worldwide.”
Louis graduated from New Orleans Academy and went on to Tulane University, where he received his undergraduate degree. He received his J.D. from Tulane University School of Law in 1965. In 2015, Louis was honored as a 50-year member of the LSBA.
Louis was a lifelong world traveler and enjoyed visiting countries with a civil law heritage. He was generous with sharing information about his ancestors and research perspectives with scholars around the world. A descendant of Charles de la Vergne, who was born in Paris, France, in 1700 and died in New Orleans in 1767, Louis was keenly interested in the contributions of his ancestors to the legal heritage of Louisiana.
In 2005, Mr. de la Vergne co-authored the Catalogue of Gustavus Adolphus Schmidt’s Library 1877, which was published by the University of Texas at Austin. Louis and his family are particularly known for the “de la Vergne Volume,” an invaluable Louisiana legal text containing codifier Moreau Lislet’s source notes for the Digest of 1808. Louis worked with Professor Robert Pascal to have the volume reproduced in 1967 and reprinted in 2008 by Claitor’s Publishing for the bicentennial of the 1808 Digest.
Relatives and friends are invited to attend a Mass at Lake Lawn Metairie Funeral Home, 5100 Pontchartrain Blvd., on Thursday, September 21, 2017 at 1:00 p.m. Visitation will begin at 11:00 a.m. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to The Historic New Orleans Collection, Office of Development, 533 Royal Street, New Orleans, Louisiana 70130.
LSU Law Worldwide posting: https://sites.law.lsu.edu/worldwide/2017/09/19/louis-de-la-vergne-1938-2017/
“De la Vergne Volume” of the 1808 Digest, with Moreau Lislet’s handwritten transcriptions citing the origins of the various articles: http://digitalcommons.law.lsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3351&context=lalrev
Miriam Childs’ article in De Novo about the De La Vergne volume (page 4): http://www.lasc.org/law_library/denovo/2008_Summer_DeNovo.pdf