§312. Courts of appeal; circuits and districts

            There shall be five court of appeal circuits, which shall be subdivided into districts as follows:

            1.(a) First circuit. The parishes of Ascension, Assumption, East Baton Rouge, East Feliciana, Iberville, Lafourche, Livingston, Pointe Coupee, St. Helena, St. Mary, St. Tammany, Tangipahoa, Terrebonne, Washington, West Baton Rouge, and West Feliciana shall compose the first circuit and the court of appeal for that circuit shall be known as "Court of Appeal, First Circuit, State of Louisiana".

            (b) Districts of first circuit. The parishes of Ascension, Assumption, Iberville, Lafourche, Pointe Coupee, St. Mary, Terrebonne, and West Baton Rouge shall compose the first district of the first circuit. The first district shall be further divided into two election sections. Election section one shall be composed of Ascension Parish, Assumption Parish, Iberville Parish, Pointe Coupee Parish, and West Baton Rouge Parish. Election section two shall be composed of Lafourche Parish, St. Mary Parish, and Terrebonne Parish. The parish of East Baton Rouge shall compose the second district of the first circuit. The parishes of East Feliciana, Livingston, St. Helena, St. Tammany, Tangipahoa, Washington, and West Feliciana shall compose the third district of the first circuit.

            2.(a) Second circuit. The parishes of Bienville, Bossier, Caddo, Caldwell, Claiborne, DeSoto, East Carroll, Franklin, Jackson, Lincoln, Madison, Morehouse, Ouachita, Red River, Richland, Tensas, Union, Webster, West Carroll, and Winn shall compose the second circuit, and the court of appeal for that circuit shall be known as "Court of Appeal, Second Circuit, State of Louisiana".

            (b) Districts of second circuit. (i) The parishes of East Carroll, Franklin, Madison, Morehouse, Ouachita, Richland, Tensas, and West Carroll shall compose the first district of the second circuit. The first district shall be further divided into two election sections.

            (aa) Election section one shall consist of East Carroll Parish, Madison Parish, Precincts 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, and 26 of Morehouse Parish, Precincts 2-4, 3-1, 3-2, 3-3, 3-4, 3-5, 3-6, 3-7, 3-8, 3-9, 3-10, 3-11, 3-12, 3-13, 3-14, 3-15, 3-16, 3-17, 10-7, 10-8, 10-12, 10-13, 10-17, and 10-22 of Ouachita Parish, Tensas Parish, and Precincts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 5A, and 6 of West Carroll Parish.

            (bb) Election section two shall consist of Franklin Parish, Precincts 1, 2, 3, 5, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33 and 34 of Morehouse Parish, Precincts 1-1, 1-2, 1-3, 1-4, 1-4A, 1-5, 2-1, 2-2, 2-3, 4-1, 4-2, 5-1, 5-2, 5-3, 5-4, 5-5, 5-6, 5-7, 5-8, 5-9, 5-10, 5-11, 5-12, 5-13, 5-14, 5-15, 5-16, 5-17, 5-18, 5-19, 5-20, 5-21, 6-1, 6-2, 7-1, 8-1, 8-2, 9-1, 10-1, 10-2, 10-3, 10-4, 10-5, 10-6, 10-9, 10-10, 10-11, 10-14, 10-15, 10-16, 10-18, 10-19, 10-20, and 10-21 of Ouachita Parish, Richland Parish, and Precincts 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 12A, 13, 14, 14A, 15, 16, and 17 of West Carroll Parish.

            (ii) The parishes of Bienville, Bossier, Caldwell, Claiborne, Jackson, Lincoln, Union, Webster, and Winn shall compose the second district of the second circuit. The second district shall be further divided into two election sections.

            (aa) Election section one shall consist of the parishes of Bienville, Caldwell, Claiborne, Jackson, Lincoln, Union, and Winn.

            (bb) Election section two shall consist of the parishes of Bossier and Webster.

            (iii) The parishes of Caddo, DeSoto, and Red River shall compose the third district of the second circuit. The third district shall be further divided into two election sections.

            (aa) Election section one shall consist of Precincts 1, 3, 5, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 58, 59, 60, 61, 65, 67, 71, 73A, 73B, 80, 81, 84, 86, 96, 130, and 131 of Caddo Parish.

            (bb) Election section two shall consist of Precincts 2, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 28, 47, 48, 49, 56A, 56B, 57, 62, 63, 64, 66, 68, 69, 70, 72, 74, 75, 76A, 76B, 77, 78, 79, 82A, 82B, 83A, 83B, 85A, 85B, 87, 88, 89A, 89B, 89C, 90A, 90B, 91A, 91B, 92, 93, 94, 95A, 95B, 97A, 97B, 98, 99, 122, 123, 124, 125, 126, 127, 128, 129, 132A, 132B, 133, 134, 135, 136, 137A, 137B, 138, 139, 140, 141, 142, 143, 144, 145, 146, 147, 149, 150, 151, 152, 153, 154, 155, 156, 157, 158, and 159 of Caddo Parish, DeSoto Parish, and Red River Parish.

            3.(a) Third circuit. The parishes of Acadia, Allen, Avoyelles, Beauregard, Cameron, Calcasieu, Catahoula, Concordia, Evangeline, Grant, Iberia, Jefferson Davis, Lafayette, LaSalle, Natchitoches, Rapides, Sabine, St. Martin, St. Landry, Vermilion, and Vernon shall compose the third circuit and the court of appeal for that circuit shall be known as "Court of Appeal, Third Circuit, State of Louisiana".

            (b) Districts of third circuit.

            (i) The parishes of Avoyelles, Catahoula, Concordia, Grant, LaSalle, Natchitoches, Rapides, and Sabine shall compose the first district of the third circuit.

            (ii) The parishes of Beauregard, Calcasieu, Cameron, Jefferson Davis, and Vernon shall compose the second district of the third circuit. The second district shall be further divided into two election sections.

            (aa) Election section one shall consist of Precincts 300, 301, 302, 303, 304, 305, 307, 308, 309E, 309W, 310, 311, 312, 313E, 313W, 315E, 320E, 320W, 321, 322, 323, 324, 328, 329, 330, 361, 364, 371N, 800, 801, 861E, and 861W of Calcasieu Parish and Precincts 5, 6, 8, 8A, 20, 21, and 23 of Jefferson Davis Parish.

            (bb) Election section two shall consist of Beauregard Parish; Precincts 160E, 160W, 161, 162E, 162W, 163, 164, 165, 166E, 166W, 167, 260, 261, 262, 306, 314, 315W, 316E, 316W, 317, 318, 319N, 319S, 325, 326, 327, 331, 332N, 332S, 333, 334, 335, 336, 337, 338, 339, 340, 360, 362, 363, 365, 366, 367, 368, 369, 370, 371S, 372, 400, 401, 402, 403, 404, 405, 406, 407, 408, 440, 441, 460E, 460W, 461, 463, 464, 465, 466E, 466W, 467, 468, 469, 560, 561, 562, 600, 601, 602, 603, 660, 661, 662, 663, 664, 700, 701, 702, 703, 760, 761, 762, 860N, and 860S of Calcasieu Parish; Cameron Parish; Precincts 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 9A, 9B, 10, 12, 13, 14, 16, 17, 18, and 19 of Jefferson Davis Parish; and Vernon Parish.

            (cc) The election sections used in this Item shall be evaluated by the end of the year following the year of official release of the decennial federal census to determine if there exists any substantial variation in population in a district, or if they are as equal as practicable.

            (iii) The parishes of Acadia, Allen, Evangeline, Iberia, Lafayette, St. Martin, St. Landry, and Vermilion shall compose the third district of the third circuit. The third district shall be further divided into five election sections.

            (aa) Election section 1 shall consist of precincts 2-3, 2-4, 3-1, 3-2, 3-3A, 3-3B, 3-4, 3-5, 3-6, 3-6A, 3-6B, 3-7, 4-1, 4-2, 4-6, 7-1, 7-2, 7-3, 7-4 of Acadia Parish; Allen Parish; Evangeline Parish; precincts 1, 3A, 4, 5, 3B of Lafayette Parish; precincts 1-8, 1-10, 1-12, 1-17, 1-17A, 1-19, 2-2, 2-3, 2-4, 2-5, 2-9, 2-10, 5-2, 5-4, 6-2, 6-3, 6-4, 6-5, 6-6, 6-7, 6-8, 6-9, 6-12, 6-13, 6-14, 6-16 of St. Landry Parish.

            (bb) Election section 2 shall consist of precincts 1-1, 1-2, 2-2, 1-4, 2-1, 2-3, 4-1, 4-2, 4-3, 4-4, 2-5, 14-2, 3-4 of Iberia Parish; precincts 15, 17, 18, 19, 22, 23, 24A, 50, 51, 52, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 61, 62, 63, 64, 67, 68, 24B of Lafayette Parish; precincts 1-1, 1-2, 1-3, 1-4, 1-5, 1-7, 1-9, 1-11, 1-13, 1-14, 1-15, 1-16, 1-18, 1-20, 1-21, 1-22, 1-23, 1-24, 1-25, 1-26, 1-27, 1-28, 1-29, 2-1, 2-6, 2-7, 2-8, 3-2, 3-4, 3-6, 4-1, 4-2, 4-4, 4-7, 4-8, 4-9, 4-10, 4-11, 4-14, 4-15, 5-1, 5-3, 5-5, 5-6, 5-7, 5-3A, 6-1, 6-10, 6-11, 6-15, 6-17 of St. Landry Parish; precincts 1-1, 1-3, 1-4, 2-1 & 2-3, 3-1, 4-1, 4-3, 4-4, 7-1, 7-2, 7-3, 7-4, 9-1, 9-3, 3-7, 3-3, 1-6, 2-4, 3-8, 3-5, 3-9, 3-6, 9-5 of St. Martin Parish.

            (cc) Election section 3 shall consist of precincts 1-3, 5-6, 3-1, 3-2, 3-3, 1-5, 5-1, 5-2, 5-3, 5-4, 4-5, 7-6, 1-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-3, 7-1, 7-2, 7-3, 7-4, 7-5, 8-1, 8-2, 8-3, 8-4, 8-5, 11-6, 9-1, 9-2, 9-3, 9-4, 9-5, 6-5, 10-2, 10-3, 10-4, 11-1, 11-2, 11-3, 11-4, 11-5, 12-1, 12-2, 12-3, 12-6, 12-5, 3-5, 5-8, 13-4, 13-5, 13-6, 14-1, 14-3, 14-4, 13-2, 14-6, 14-5, 5-5, 2-4, 4-6, 7-7, 8-6, 11-7, 5-7, 6-4, 12-7, 12-4, 12-8, 10-1, 13-3, 13-1 of Iberia Parish; precincts 99, 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 106 of Lafayette Parish; precincts 1-6, 3-1, 3-3, 3-5, 4-3, 4-5, 4-6, 4-12, 4-13, 4-16 of St. Landry Parish; precincts 1-2, 1-5, 2-2, 3-2, 4-6, 3-4, 4-2, 4-5, 5-1, 5-2, 5-3 & 5-4, 6-1, 6-2, 6-3, 6-4, 8-1, 9-4, 8-3, 8-4, 9-2, 1-7, 8-2 of St. Martin Parish.

            (dd) Election section 4 shall consist of precincts 1-1, 1-2A, 1-2B, 1-3A, 1-3B, 1-4A, 1-4B, 1-5A, 1-5B, 1-6, 1-7, 1-8, 1-9, 1-10, 1-11, 2-1, 2-2, 2-5, 4-3, 4-4, 4-5, 5-1A, 5-1B, 5-2A, 5-2B, 5-3, 5-4, 5-5, 5-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-3A, 6-3B, 6-4, 6-5, 6-6, 6-7, 6-8, 6-9, 6-10, 6-11, 6-12, 6-13, 6-14, 6-15, 6-16 of Acadia Parish; precincts 7, 8, 9, 27, 28, 36, 37, 86, 34B of Lafayette Parish; Vermilion Parish.

            (ee) Election section 5 shall consist of precincts 2, 6, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 20, 21, 25, 26, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34A, 35, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 53, 60, 65, 66, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 105 of Lafayette Parish.

            4.(a) Fourth Circuit. The parishes of Orleans, Plaquemines, and St. Bernard shall compose the fourth circuit, and the court of appeal for that circuit shall be known as "Court of Appeal, Fourth Circuit, State of Louisiana".

            (b) Districts of the fourth circuit. The parish of Orleans shall compose the first district of the fourth circuit; the parish of Plaquemines shall compose the second district of the fourth circuit; and the parish of St. Bernard shall compose the third district of the fourth circuit.

            5.(a) Fifth Circuit. The parishes of Jefferson, St. Charles, St. James, and St. John the Baptist shall compose the fifth circuit and the court of appeal for that circuit shall be known as "Court of Appeal, Fifth Circuit, State of Louisiana".

            (b) Districts of the fifth circuit.

            (i) The parish of Jefferson shall compose the first district of the fifth circuit. The first district shall be further divided into two election sections. Election section one shall consist of Precincts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103, 105, 106, 107, 116, 117, 118, 119, 120, 121, 122, 123, 124, 125, 126, 127, 128, 129, 130, 131, 132, 133, 134, 136, 138, 152, 155, 157A, 170, 171, 172, 174, 175, 176, 177, 178, 179-A, 182, 183, 184, 185A, 185B, 189, 190, 191, 192, 193, 194, 195, 196, 197A, 197B, 197C, 198, 199, 202, 203, 204, 205, 210, 211, 212A, 212B, 213A, 213B, 213C, 214A, 214B, 215, 216, 217, 225, 226, 227, 228, 229, 230, 231, 232, 233, 234, 235, 236, 237, 238, 246, 247, 248, 249, 1-G, 2-G, 3-G, 4-G, 5-G, 6-G, 7-G, 8-G, 9-G, 10-G, 11-G, 1-GI, 1-H, 2-H, 3-H, 4-H, 5-H, 6-H, 7-H, 8-H, 9-H, 13-KA, 1-K, 2-K, 3-K, 4-K, 5-K, 6-K, 7-K, 8-K, 9-K, 10-K, 11-K, 12-K, 14-K, 15-K, 16-K, 17-K,18-K, 19-K, 20-K, 25-K, 27-K, 28-K, 29-K, 30-K, 34-K, 35-K, 1-L, 1-W, 3-W, 4-W, 5-W, 6-W, and 7-W of Jefferson Parish. Election section two shall consist of Precincts 104, 108, 115, 150, 151, 153, 154,156, 157B, 179B, 180, 181, 187, 188, 200, 201, 13-KB, 21-K, 22-K, 23-K, 24-K, 26-K, 31-K, 33-K, 173 and 2-W.

            (ii) The parish of St. James and that portion of St. John the Baptist Parish east of the Mississippi River shall compose the second district of the fifth circuit.

            (iii) The parish of St. Charles and that portion of St. John the Baptist Parish west of the Mississippi River shall compose the third district of the fifth circuit.

            Added by Acts 1975, No. 52, §1. Amended by Acts 1980, No. 661, §1, eff. July 1, 1982; Acts 1980, No. 661, §7, eff. July 24, 1980; Acts 1981, No. 3, §1, eff. May 1, 1982; Acts 1992, No. 513, §1, eff. June 25, 1992; Acts 1992, No. 1069, §1, eff. July 14, 1992; Acts 2007, No. 261, §1, eff. Oct. 31, 2007; Acts 2008, No. 369, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 2009; Acts 2009, No. 133, §1, eff. June 25, 2009; Acts 2020, No. 338, §1, eff. June 13, 2020.

NOTE: See Acts 2007, No. 261, §3, relative to the effectiveness of the amendment to Paragraph (5). The consent judgment referred to in the Act was entered on Oct. 31, 2007.

NOTE: See Acts 2020, No. 338, §§2, 3, regarding judgeships created by that Act being assigned election sections for election purposes.