Definition
A French-language term appearing in civil law sources meaning "person." In Anglo-American legal research, PERSONNE functions primarily as a term of art encountered in Louisiana civil law materials and in French-language legal texts incorporated into or cited alongside American jurisprudence. It denotes any human being, male or female, recognized as a subject of legal rights and obligations.
The term carries no independent technical meaning beyond its French equivalent of the English "person." Its legal significance lies in its appearance as a defined term within the Louisiana Civil Code, which expressly provides that PERSONNE applies to men and women, or to either — a clarification that carries interpretive weight in a mixed civil law jurisdiction where gender-specific terminology in source texts could otherwise create ambiguity.
Common Language
Modern common usage (Wiktionary): In contemporary French, personne functions as both a noun meaning "person" (a human being) and, paradoxically, as an indefinite pronoun meaning "nobody" or "no one" depending on context.
Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): Webster's 1913 does not treat personne as an English word. It is a French term that entered American legal vocabulary exclusively through Louisiana's civil law heritage.
Editorial note: The pronoun ambiguity in modern French — where personne can mean either "a person" or "no one" — has no parallel in the legal usage. In legal sources, PERSONNE invariably means a human being recognized by law, never "nobody." Researchers encountering the term in translated or bilingual Louisiana documents should not import the pronoun sense.
Common Confusion
PERSONNE should not be confused with the English legal term PERSON, which has expanded far beyond natural persons to encompass corporations, partnerships, governmental entities, and other juridical persons. The historical dictionaries' treatment of PERSONNE is narrowly tied to human beings. When Louisiana Civil Code sources use PERSONNE, the context is natural personhood; when modern American statutes use "person," the term almost certainly carries a broader statutory definition. Researchers should not assume that the definitional scope of PERSONNE in civil law sources maps cleanly onto statutory definitions of "person" in the same jurisdiction.
Why It Matters in Research
Researchers working in Louisiana legal history will encounter PERSONNE in French-language source materials, early Louisiana Civil Code provisions, and in decisions of the Louisiana Supreme Court from the nineteenth century that quote or paraphrase the Code in French. The term most frequently appears in conflict-of-laws discussions, where Civil Code Article 3522 (referenced in the historical dictionaries) governed rules of private international law and required definition of foundational terms including the parties to legal relationships.
The critical navigational point: PERSONNE in historical Louisiana sources is a term with a fixed, declared meaning — the Code itself defines it, which is unusual. This statutory definition constrains interpretive drift in ways that undefined terms do not. When synthesizing historical Louisiana case law with modern Louisiana statutory research, verify which version of the Civil Code was operative at the time; Louisiana has undergone significant Civil Code revision, and article numbering has changed.
For researchers working outside Louisiana, PERSONNE appears occasionally in citations to French legal authorities cited as persuasive or comparative sources, particularly in nineteenth-century treatises on conflict of laws, maritime law, and succession. It is not a term of art in common law jurisdictions and can be treated as a simple French translation gloss in those contexts.
Historical Dictionary Support
Black's Law Dictionary (both the first and second editions) treats PERSONNE as a brief definitional entry, directing readers to Civil Code Louisiana Article 3522, § 25. Both editions agree that the term applies to men and women, or to either. Neither edition develops the term further or connects it to broader questions of legal personality. The entry in both editions is sandwiched between the maxim Perspicua vera non sunt probanda and entries for PERSUADE — an arrangement that reflects these dictionaries' hybrid function as glossaries of both Latin maxims and French civil law vocabulary alongside common law terms.
Burrill's Law Dictionary adds the specific jurisdictional anchor explicitly: the Civil Code of Louisiana is identified as the source of the definition, and the cross-reference to Art. 3522, num. 25 is confirmed. Burrill also notes the French legal term perte pur perte in the immediately adjacent entry, which underscores the civil law environment in which PERSONNE was received into American legal vocabulary.
None of the three historical dictionaries addresses juridical persons, corporate personality, or the expanding definition of "person" that would occupy later American legal development. This is a significant gap: by the time of Black's second edition (1910), American courts and legislatures were actively debating the legal personhood of corporations, trusts, and other entities — yet PERSONNE remains frozen in its narrow natural-person meaning drawn from the Louisiana Code.
Jurisdictional Note
PERSONNE is a term of relevance primarily in Louisiana, the only American jurisdiction with a civil law foundation that incorporated French-language source materials directly into its operative code. Researchers in other jurisdictions will encounter the term only in comparative law contexts or in treatises drawing on French legal tradition.
Encyclopedia Cross-Reference
Law Mind Encyclopedia — Person
Law Mind Encyclopedia — Legal Personality
Law Mind Encyclopedia — Louisiana Civil Law