In the U.S. state

U.S. state

A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...

 of Louisiana

Louisiana

Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...

, the typical governing body of the parish is called the Police Jury. Not every parish is governed by a Police Jury, but 41 of the 64 parishes use this system.

The Police Jury is the legislative and executive government of the parish, and is elected by the voters. Its members are called Jurors, and together they elect a President as their chairman. The President presides over the Police Jury and serves as the titular head of the parish government. The Police Jury is akin to the commission

County commission

A county commission is a group of elected officials charged with administering the county government in local government in some states of the United States. County commissions are usually made up of three or more individuals...

s or councils that govern counties

County (United States)

In the United States, a county is a geographic subdivision of a state , usually assigned some governmental authority. The term "county" is used in 48 of the 50 states; Louisiana is divided into parishes and Alaska into boroughs. Parishes and boroughs are called "county-equivalents" by the U.S...

 in most other states.

Police juries range in size, depending on the population of the parish, from three to fifteen. Many parishes are quite rural and therefore have small police juries. Wide latitude is given to organize and administer the police jury's business.

Like other elections in Louisiana

Elections in Louisiana

Since 1977 state elections in Louisiana have used a jungle primary system, which in Louisiana has become known as "open" primary, where all the candidates for an office run together in one election. If someone gets a majority, that individual wins outright; otherwise, the top two candidates,...

, parish elections typically occur in odd-numbered years, and use the open primary system.

Origins of the Police Jury

When the United States first organized present-day Louisiana as the Territory of Orleans in 1804, the territory was divided into 12 counties. This system proved unsatisfactory, and by 1807, the territory reorganized its civil government roughly according to Roman Catholic parish

Parish (Catholic Church)

In the Roman Catholic Church, a parish is the lowest ecclesiastical geographical subdivision: from ecclesiastical province to diocese to deanery to parish.-Requirements:A parish needs two things under common law to become a parish...

es in the region.

Each parish had a parish judge and a justice of the peace

Justice of the Peace

A justice of the peace is a puisne judicial officer elected or appointed by means of a commission to keep the peace. Depending on the jurisdiction, they might dispense summary justice or merely deal with local administrative applications in common law jurisdictions...

, both appointed. Voters also elected a police jury, which was responsible for law & order and other administration. The office of sheriff

Sheriff

A sheriff is in principle a legal official with responsibility for a county. In practice, the specific combination of legal, political, and ceremonial duties of a sheriff varies greatly from country to country....

was added in 1810. Louisiana was admitted to the Union in 1812, and kept the parish system. Later on, parishes were divided into wards. The last vestiges of the territorial county system were removed in 1845.

The parish system continued to evolve until the Louisiana Constitution

Louisiana Constitution

The Constitution of the State of Louisiana is the cornerstone of Louisiana state law ensuring the rights of individuals, describing the distribution and power of state officials and local government, establishes the state and city civil service systems, creates and defines the operation of a state...

 of 1975, which established the modern local government system as Louisianans know it today.

Parishes using the Police Jury system

Acadia Allen Assumption Avoyelles Beauregard Bienville Bossier Calcasieu Caldwell Cameron Catahoula

Claiborne Concordia DeSoto East Carroll East Feliciana Evangeline Franklin Grant Jackson Jefferson Davis

La Salle Lincoln Madison Morehouse Natchitoches Ouachita Pointe Coupee Rapides Red River Richland

Sabine St. Helena Tensas Union Vermillion Vernon Webster West Carroll West Feliciana Winn

Other forms of parish government

Twenty-three Louisiana parishes are governed by home rule charters that allow them to pick a different form of government. These include: council-president, council-manager, and consolidated parish/city.

Council-President

Under this system, voters typically elect an executive President and a legislative Council separately.

Ascension Parish Iberia Parish Iberville Parish Jefferson Parish Lafourche Parish Livingston Parish

Plaquemines Parish St. Bernard Parish St. Charles Parish St. James Parish St. John the Baptist Parish St. John the Baptist parish St. John the Baptist parish may refer to one of a number of religious organisations:In the district of Clontarf, Dublin, Ireland:* The Church of Ireland Parish of Clontarf* The senior Parish of Clontarf... St. Landry Parish

St. Martin Parish St. Mary Parish St. Mary Parish, Louisiana St. Mary Parish is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The parish seat is Franklin. As of 2000, the population was 53,500.The Morgan City Micropolitan Statistical Area includes all of St. Mary Parish.-Geography:... St. Tammany Parish Tangipahoa Parish Washington Parish West Baton Rouge Parish

Council-Manager

In this system, the voters elect a County Council, who hires a professional manager to run the day-to-day government.

• Caddo Parish

Consolidated Parish/City

In this system, the parish government has been consolidated with the local city government. Voters typically elect a City Council and a Mayor.

• Orleans Parish & New Orleans
• East Baton Rouge Parish & Baton Rouge
• Lafayette Parish & Lafayette
  Lafayette, Louisiana
  Lafayette is a city in and the parish seat of Lafayette Parish, Louisiana, United States, on the Vermilion River. The population was 120,623 at the 2010 census...
  
  
• Terrebonne Parish & Houma
  Houma, Louisiana
  Houma is a city in and the parish seat of Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana, and the largest principal city of the Houma–Bayou Cane–Thibodaux Metropolitan Statistical Area. The city's powers of government have been absorbed by the parish, which is now run by the Terrebonne Parish...