Art. 1845.Effects of Judgments On State Law

Striking down a law is one of the most consequential things a Louisiana court can do, and Article 1845 ties that power to a procedural condition. If a court renders a judgment declaring a state law unconstitutional without first satisfying the pleading and notice requirements of Article 855.1, the judgment is not merely vulnerable to reversal on appeal -- it is absolutely null, void, and unenforceable from the start.

The point of that rule is to make sure the state gets a real chance to defend its own laws before a court sets one aside. Article 855.1's requirements exist to put the challenge to a statute's validity on the record clearly and to give the proper state officials notice and an opportunity to respond. Article 1845 supplies the consequence for skipping that step: no matter how sound the constitutional reasoning behind the judgment, the judgment itself has no legal effect if the underlying procedure was not followed.

This article works in tandem with others in Title VI. Article 1880's parties provision, for instance, requires that the attorney general be served and heard when a party alleges a law is unconstitutional and cross-references both Article 855.1 and Article 1845 directly, reinforcing that a constitutional challenge taken out of proper form risks producing a judgment worth nothing at all.