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| DROI8006-2 | Legal method, logic and argumentation and documentary research | ||||||||
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| Duration : | 60h Th, 15h Mon. WS | ||||||||
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| Holder(s) : | N... | ||||||||
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| Substitute(s) : | Eric Geerkens Provin, Bruno Leclercq, Paul Delnoy | ||||||||
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| Course contents : | In a short first part the course introduces to a method in the study of law. It then focuses on only one aspect of the application of the law, namely what consequences the law ascribes to actual or intended facts or behaviour. As legal reasoning must follow a rational path, the course develops the outline of a method for legal reasoning. One of the stages in legal thinking consists of the search for the applicable law. In our legal system it is almost entirely contained in texts. Jurists must then bring out their meaning: they must interpret them (methodology of the invention - discovery - of the law). They will have had first to find the documents in which those texts are written and the several interpretations these have already received (methodology of legal documentation). Next they have to apply the law to the actual or intended facts (methodology of the application of the law stricto sensu). After the facts hve been established (on a physical and legal basis) jurists must look for relevant rules using legal qualification and systemics. Then they must check whether the rules they found are legal. Throughout this investigation jurists have to develop a rigorous system of legal argumentation. To this end they must be provided with general standards through which they will be able to assess whether a form of reasoning of whatever nature is right or wrong, and they also have to consider the specific nature of legal reasoning which is related to contradictory debate (legal logic and argumentation). | ||||||||
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| Course objective : | The coursee of legal methodology, argumentation and logic aims at introducing the process principles and technique involved in rigorous legal reasoning, in the search for and interpretation of legal rules as well as in their application. The coursee of methodology in legal documentary research aims at empowering law students in their search for written standards, court decisions, or doctrinal literature: they are shown how to use available tools within the Graulich library (written documents and databases, whether indexing documents within or outside the university); they are also shown how to properly reference the outcome of their research. This learning process is mainly applied to Belgian and European law, foreign law is merely touched upon. Beyond such immediate objectives which consists of providing students with the necessary expertise to carry out the kind of research that is required in their university training, the coursee contributes to develop students' capacities to analyse and investigate [formulating questions (inscribing a research object within a branch of law), locating them within a legal or documentary typology (what kind of sources or documents are we looking for? Where and how can they be found ?), finding the logical links that connect moments in the argumentation]. It leads students to present the outcome of their research with great scientific rigor. It calls upon notions that have been introduced in the coursee of positive law, and gives them some substance. | ||||||||
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| Prerequisites : | For the coursee on legal methodology students are expected to have a good knowledge of French. They should also like reading and analysing texts, and appreciate rigorous reasoning. For the coursee on methodology of documentary research a good knowledge of those institutions that produce standards and of the hierarchies in the sources of the law, as well of some knowledge of the machinery of justice and of legal vocabulary, are required. | ||||||||
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| Organization : | Schedule and timetable are decided on at the beginning of the year. The coursee on logic and argumentation is taught by M. Bruno LECLERCQ during the first term on Thursday from1 to 2.30 until Dec. 1 (included). The coursee on legal methodology is taught by Prof. Paul Delnoy during the first term on Thursday from 4.45 to 6.45 and from Dec. 8 onward also on Thursday from 1 to 2.30, and at a time and on a day to be announced in January during the second term. It combines theoretical lectures and specific illustrations (text interpretation, practical applications). For the oral part of the coursee students must have the collection of text with them, and nothing else. Methodology in documentary research is taught by M. E. Geerkens with the help of library assistants and student-instructors. Learning is organised in small groups of students. This part of the coursee is taught in the second term. It consists of two main parts. A first part consists of ex-cathedra lectures introducing the main sources of the law, how they are recorded (printed documents or electronic medium), and the tools that can be used. A second part is of a more immediately practical nature and relies on student instructors who will introduce small groups of students to documentary research in the library and in the computer room. Learning assistance. No Q&A sessions are organised for Prof. DELNOY's part of the coursee. The schedule of Q&A sessions for M. LECLERCQ's part will be posted. All three professors are available for students who'd need more explanation at the end of each class. Students should also feel free to ask for individual or collective Q&A sessions. M. LECLERCQ's office hours (place du XX août, 9, 2ème étage) are on Mondays 9-11. A website provides an electronic version of the coursee on Logic and argumentation; it makes it possible for students to see the slides shown in class again, to ask questions on the forum, to go through modules of exercises with corrections, but also to assess their knowledge thanks to short learning tests. Tests on legal methodology will be organised throughout the year (P. DELNOY). Students will be credited with one mark for each test for which they had 12 or 13/20, 2 marks for each test for which they had 14 or 15/20, and 3 marks for each test for which they had 16/20 or more. This credit will be valid as results on the part of the examination on legal methodology (see below). On students' request Q&A sessions can be organised on the various parts of the coursee. | ||||||||
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| Written notes : | Coursee notes are available for sale at the beginning of the year (and can still be bought later). (Since they are updated every year, it is advisable not to buy them before the professors have provided necessary information during the first class.) For the legal methodology course (P. DELNOY) students can buy a course book published by the University P. DELNOY, Eléments de méthodologie juridique, Larcier, Bruxelles, 2005, 439 p. They can also buy a collections of illustrative texts (Larcier, Bruxelles, 2005, 130 p.). They do not have to buy any code. For the course on Logic and argumentation (B. LECLERCQ) students can buy the syllabus Logique et théorie de l'argumentation juridique, by Bruno LECLERCQ, published by the University. For the course on Methodology of legal documentary research, students can be a course book that will be available at the beginning of the second term. Assessment system for the course on legal methodology (M. P. DELNOY): S (12-13) = students are able to reproduce the course and show they have understood - rigorous and sure-footed mastery of what was discussed (legal methodology) - ability to explain the notions they learned and the jurist's reasoning process clearly. (It should be noted that a clear explanation requires illustrations; therefore the collection of illustrative texts). G (14 and more) = students who, beyond what is outlined above, can solve new problems - know the course inside out - have thought further than the course notes - are able to relate to other courses - offer personal illustrations. P (10-11) = students who make slight mistakes (not lapsus) and cannot correct them - are not clear - keep hesitating - are inaccurate in their presentations - need tutoring - is not self-relying. I (9 and less) = students who make serious mistakes and cannot correct them - just do not know the course - do not understand either basic notions or illustrations - are consistently fuzzy. Assessment system for Methodology of legal documentary research (E. GEERKENS) : The evaluation method will be an oral examination in three parts. Students will first have to show that they can use the available material to carry out documentary research. Next their knowledge of legal documentation will be tested through questions bearing mainly on the three major distinctions between sources of the law and their respective media. Finally they will have to give written evidence of their ability to reference fully and correctly the documents they may need in their later research. | ||||||||
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| Assessment : | Only one notation out of 20 is awarded for this three part coursee, 12 for legal methodology (P. DELNOY), 4 for Logic and argumentation (B. LECLERCQ), and 4 for methodology of legal documentary research (E. GEERKENS). A written examination on Logic and argumentation will be organised in January 2006. The examinations in May-June and August-September will also be written. The examinations on legal methodology and methodology of legal documentary research will probably be oral. | ||||||||
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| Contacts : | For methodology of the law : Paul DELNOY, guest professor, Faculty of Law, 7, boulevard du Rectorat, 4000-LIEGE, tel. 04-3663086, fax. 04-3662886, email: Paul.Delnoy@ulg.ac.be. Secretary: Nadia JASZCZINSKI, 7, boulevard du Rectorat, 4000-LIEGE, tel. 04-3663129, fax. 043662983, email: « nadia.jaszczinski@ulg.ac.be ». For logic and argumentation : Bruno LECLERCQ, Faculty of Philosophy and Letters, 7, place du XX Août, 4000-LIEGE, tel. 043665592, fax. 043665559, email: B.Leclercq@ulg.ac.be. Student-instructor: Denis Pieret, fourth year student in philosophy, email: denis.pieret@swing.be For Methodology of legal documentary research : Eric GEERKENS, ULg Library network, boulevard du Rectorat, 7 Bât B31, 4000 Liège, tel.: O4-3662773, fax: 04-3662983, email: E.Geerkens@ulg.ac.be. Student-instructors: Cécile Delforge, fifth year student in law; Jessica Loly, fourth year student in law, and Sébastien Radoux, fourth year student in law, email: sradoux@yahoo.fr. | ||||||||
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ULg : Students and Studies Administration - Academic Affairs
Contact : Monique Marcourt, direction A.E.E.
Date of data : 27/02/2006
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