Militia service, like road service and jury duty, was an obligation of all white male citizens in a specific age range. Normally the law called for a man to do his duty in these civic areas or pay a fine.

A review of Lousiana militia laws could be a masters thesis for some worthy candidate. There are articles on the topic which should be reviewed. To make it a bit easier, newspapers frequently carried orders to local militia commands by their officers to assemble for various acivities as prescribed by law. As previously noted, laws for volunteer militia were particularly strict, so most notices found in the newspaper concern volunteer companies.

After the militia was established under the original state constitution, each state legislature had an opportunity to amend and add to militia law. The same was true for any given area of governmental regulation; laws concerning slavery, for example. To avoid confusion the state frequently published a compendium of current statues. An example which I purchased a number of years ago is titled, "Code of Alabama, 1852". Other examples for antebellum Alabama are titled "Digest of the Laws of the State of Alabama" and (more to the point) "Military Code of the State of Alabama". The last-named was published in 1838.

Few attempts were made to completely rewrite the law on a particular subject. The 14-page Louisiana militia law passed on Jan 23, 1862 is a rare example.