Art. 4871.Jury Trial Prohibited

Article 4871 states the rule plainly: no case in a parish court, city court, or justice of the peace court is tried to a jury. Every trial at this tier of the state's trial courts of limited jurisdiction — the courts below the general-jurisdiction district courts — is a bench trial, decided by the judge alone.

That is a sharp departure from district court practice, where a party can demand a jury for many civil claims. Louisiana's parish, city, and justice of the peace courts exist to handle smaller, faster-moving disputes, and Article 4871 keeps that arrangement working by removing jury selection, jury instructions, and everything else a jury trial requires from the process entirely.

The prohibition is not the end of the story for a party who wants a jury. Articles 4872 through 4875 give that party a way out: transferring the case to district court, where a jury becomes available if the underlying claim would otherwise qualify for one.