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| DROI1203-4 | Constitutional Law
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| Duration : | 75h Th, 15h Lect. |
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| Credits/ECTS : |
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| Holder(s) : | Christian Behrendt |
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| Language : | French language |
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| Course contents : | The course has a traditional structure and contains five Parts, which are preded by a General introduction.
The General introduction proposes an overall view of the federal and federate institutions of the Belgian state. In Part One, the precise decision-making bodies at the federal level and in the Communities and Regions will then be studied in more detail. Hereafter, Part Two lays out the competences of the Federal level on the one hand and of the Communities and Regions on the other, whereas Part Three examines their respective financial resources. The Fourth Part is dedicated to the Judiciary, and studies the place of the different courts (judicial courts, administrative courts and the Constitutional court) within the federal framework of the Belgian state. Lastly, Part Five will give an overall view on the civil liberties enshrined in the Belgian Constitution and their protection in domestic courts.
Above all, students must be conscious of the fact that, to a certain degree, any division is arbitrary: for instance, by analysing such and such a civil liberties issue, we observe such and such a facet of federalism or a particular aspect of the separation of powers. |
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| Course objective : | The course aims to provide students with an understanding of Belgian constitutional law which, although general, is nevertheless sufficiently solid and precise to allow students to situate this branch of law in positive law overall, which is necessary not only for legal experts but also for students who want to focus on political science and public administration.
Emphasis is put on law as it emerges not only from constitutional, conventional and legislative texts, but also from doctrine, jurisprudence and practice.
The aim of the course is to reduce the effort of memorisation to the strict minimum. In return, students must ensure an in-depth understanding of the subject, throughout the whole year, and show the ability to establish links between the various issues dealt with in class.
Regular attendance at the ex cathedra classes, careful note-taking and regularly putting notes in order, are the necessary conditions for success in the overall majority of cases. In other words, "cramming" at the end of the year, most often based on borrowed notes and ready-made summaries of decrees, generally proves to be unfruitful. |
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| Prerequisites : | For students enrolled in the second year of the bachelor of law, political science or human and social sciences, there are no prerequisites for attending this course.
Furthermore, this course is accessible to students enrolled in the first year of the bachelor of law or political science, who would like to attend it as a free student, providing they have a pass mark of 12 or over for the Introduction to Public Law course given in the first year. If these conditions are met, students are exempt from the formality of obtaining formal and nominative authorisation from the teacher to attend the course as a free student.
Students who wish to attend this course as a free students, but do not meet the above-mentioned criteria, will not be admitted unless the teacher has exceptionally granted them a nominative dispensation. |
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| Workshops : | The Case Studies, partim Constitutional Law (15 hrs) are compulsory for students who have chosen the "Law" option.
Two tenured professors will each teach half of the allocated hours for these Case Studies:
Mr Vincent THIRY, lawyer and former President of the Bar Council of Liège, and
Mr Nicolas BANNEUX, prosecutor at the Public Prosecutor's Office in Namur. |
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| Organization : | Ex cathedra classes
Classes are held all year round; they begin on Tuesday, October 5, 2010. In the first four-month period, they will take place on Tuesdays and Thursdays, from 13:30 to 15:00.
Reading materials
The presentation given during the ex cathedra class, will be based on reading materials, which will be distributed at the appropriate time and according to the terms specified in a message published on the MyULg portal.
These materials will be part of the exam material as indicated in this message; they cannot be brought to the written exam but must be brought to the optional oral exam (see infra); for this latter exam, they may be annotated as needed by the student.
Independent reading
To complete the presentation given during the ex cathedra classes, students are required to read the work L'Action du Roi en Belgique depuis 1831 by professor Jean STENGERS (1922-2002), published by Racine. This work, written by one of the most brilliant historians Belgium has ever known, will provide essential background reading allowing students to reflect upon the country's institutional system, which is that of a constitutional and parliamentary monarchy. This work, which students can read in their own time during the academic year, and for which there will be no specific class, will be an integral part of the exam material.
It is on sale in the university's Le Point de Vue shop.
Weekly staff availability
Mr Frédéric BOUHON, assistant and maître de conférences (F.Bouhon@ulg.ac.be, tel. 04.366.31.63), will be available to students, every week, according to a timetable that will be sent out at the beginning of the ex cathedra classes.
Furthermore, the lecturer is always available to answer student's questions personally, either after the class or by appointment. |
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| Written notes : | Throughout the year, note taking during the ex cathedra classes and writing them up, is the key to success for the great majority of students. A Plan général du cours (general ouline of the course) is made available to the students at the outset of the academic year. See also supra, verbos
- information pack and
- independent reading. |
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| Assessment : | Principle
During each of the two sessions, for students enrolled in law and those enrolled in political science, the course exam is organised as follows:
At the beginning of the session, students are invited to sit a written exam. Following this exam, a mark between 0 and 14 is given to each student.
Students who obtain a mark equal to or higher than 10, who wish to improve their grade, may take an oral exam at the end of the session. The mark given following this test replaces the mark obtained during the written exam.
Students who have obtained a mark less than 10 may not take the oral exam.
Method
Written exam
1. The written exam is in the form of a multiple-choice questionnaire.
2. It is a closed book exam. Only codes devoid of any underlining or annotations (except for the student's surname and first name) can be used during the test. The book written by STENGERS can also be used ; this book can be annotated by the student but must not contain additional pages.
3. The codes are checked before the beginning of the test. Failure to respect the rule referred to in point 2 means that the student is immediately awarded a 0.
4. The order of the questions may vary from one questionnaire to another. It is therefore pointless to attempt to copy the answers from another student sitting the test.
5. To avoid random answers, each question is marked in the following way:
a) one point is given if the answer is correct ;
b) no points are given for an unanswered question ;
c) one point or a fraction of a point is taken away if the answer is incorrect.
6. The results obtained in the manner indicated in point 4 are added up and the overall result is converted into a mark out of 20. Any mark higher than 14 is automatically revised downwards to 14.
7. The results of the conversion are rapidly circulated on the my.ulg.ac.be portal.
8. Students who have obtained a mark lower than 10 cannot enrol for the oral exam: their written exam result is definitive.
9. Students who have obtained a mark equal to or higher than 10 may, if they so wish, enrol for the oral exam.
Oral exam
10. The students referred to in point 9 have 48 hours to go to the student service to enrol for the oral exam. This deadline applies from the moment the results of the written exam are posted via the my.ulg.ac.be portal.
11. The students referred to in point 9 who do not register within this deadline, retain the mark obtained in the written exam, which then becomes definitive.
12. The oral exam is an open book exam. Students may have use codes and a file containing the doctrine and jurisprudence if they consider them useful. However, students are not allowed to take in the syllabuses provided by the teacher, or their own course notes.
13. The mark given following this test replaces the mark obtained during the written exam. It corresponds at least to the mark obtained in the written exam reduced by one point. It can be higher than 14.
14. The students referred to in point 9, who have enrolled for the oral exam but do not turn up for the test, are considered absent. They do not benefit from the rule referred to in point 13; their written exam mark is deleted and replaced by the comment "Absent". |
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| Contacts : | Assistant:
Mr Frédéric BOUHON (F.Bouhon@ulg.ac.be, tel. 04.366.31.63) |
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| Remarks : | Les notions étudiées au cours d'Introduction au droit public (DROI 1101-2) dispensé en première année de baccalauréat font partie intégrante du présent cours de Droit constitutionnel (et donc de sa matière d'examen) dans la mesure où elles constituent son soutènement juridique nécessaire ; ainsi notamment sont censés connus les articles de la Constitution belge et de la Convention européenne des droits de l'homme qui ont déjà été examinés dans le cours d'Introduction au droit public en première année de baccalauréat.
Pour ce cours de première année, il existe un ouvrage de référence : Christian Behrendt et Frédéric Bouhon, Introduction à la Théorie générale de l'Etat - Manuel, Bruxelles, Larcier, 2009, ISBN 978-2-8044-3516-5). |
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