The jurisdiction of a court over the subject matter of an action or proceeding cannot be conferred by consent of the parties. A judgment rendered by a court which has no jurisdiction over the subject matter of the action or proceeding is void.
Art. 3.Same; Cannot Be Conferred By Consent
Title I. Courts · Chapter 1. Jurisdiction · Amendment history unavailable · Last verified July 30, 2026
In one sentenceArticle 3 provides that parties cannot agree to give a court subject-matter jurisdiction it doesn't otherwise have, and that a judgment rendered without it is void.
Full Text of Art. 3
Plain-English Summary
Some defects in a lawsuit can be waived. If a defendant doesn't object to the wrong venue in time, or accepts service that was technically flawed, the objection disappears. Subject-matter jurisdiction doesn't work that way. Article 3 makes clear that no agreement between the parties, no failure to object, and no shared desire to have a particular court decide the case can create jurisdiction where none exists.
The reason runs deeper than fairness to the parties. Subject-matter jurisdiction reflects how the legislature has divided judicial power among Louisiana's courts, and that structure belongs to the public, not to the litigants in any one case. Letting parties contract around it would let them rewrite the state's judicial organization to suit themselves.
The consequence is severe: a judgment from a court without subject-matter jurisdiction is void, not merely voidable. A void judgment can be attacked later, sometimes long after it was entered, because it never had legal effect in the first place.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can both parties agree to let a court hear a case it wouldn't normally have power over?
No. Article 3 says subject-matter jurisdiction cannot be created by the consent of the parties, no matter how much both sides want a particular court to decide the case.
What does it mean for a judgment to be ‘void’?
A void judgment has no legal effect at all, as though it were never rendered. Unlike a judgment with a procedural flaw, it can be challenged later, including after the time for a normal appeal has passed.
Is failing to raise a subject-matter jurisdiction problem the same as waiving it?
No. Unlike venue or personal jurisdiction, subject-matter jurisdiction cannot be waived by silence or inaction, because it isn't the kind of defect that belongs to the parties to give up.
Can subject-matter jurisdiction be raised for the first time on appeal?
Yes. Because the defect makes the judgment void rather than merely irregular, a court can recognize the lack of subject-matter jurisdiction even if no party raised it earlier in the case.
Source & verification. Article text is reproduced verbatim from
the vLex (Louisiana Code of Civil Procedure, 2026 Edition). Enacted by the Louisiana Legislature.
Last verified July 30, 2026.
· Official source
Also known as: can parties consent to jurisdictionjurisdiction by agreement louisianavoid judgment louisianawaiving subject matter jurisdictioncan jurisdiction be challenged later