Louisiana's Napoleonic code-influenced inheritance law meant that these works technically belonged not only to Thelma Toole, but also to several other relatives on his father's side of the family. However, as the initial print run of "Confederacy" was only 2,500 copies (and was distributed by the small and non-mainstream Louisiana State University Press) no one figured that owning rights to the book would be especially profitable. Accordingly, Thelma Toole was able to convince these relatives to give up their rights to "A Confederacy of Dunces".