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| DROI2327-1 | Constitutional Review in Belgium
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| Duration : | 30h Th |
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| Credits/ECTS : |
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| Holder(s) : | Géraldine Rosoux |
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| Language : | French language |
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| Course contents : | The Belgian Constitutional Court is not very old, dating back to 1983. However, its impact on the legal system is ever increasing and becomes of paramount importance.
Though the institution was, in the beginning, a simple "Court of Arbitration", that arbitrated conflicts of competences between the different legislators of the Belgian federal State, the Court has progressively conquered, since the extension of its competences in 1989 to the control of respect of articles 10, 11 and 24 of the Constitution (equality before the law and freedom of education), a complete range of Constitutional review, interfering in all fields of law.
Constitutional and legislative powers themselves confirmed its essential role: since 2003, the Constitutional Court ensures that laws respect all fundamental rights guaranteed by the Belgian Constitution, and in 2007, the "Court of Arbitration" was renamed in "Constitutional Court", so that its name matches its mission.
The course is devoted to the case-law of the Belgian Constitutional Court.
Understanding this case-law, that ensures the respect of fundamental rights, is a main asset for a student in law, not only involved in public law, but for any student, whichever matter of law he prefers. |
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| Course objective : | The course aims that students could know, analyze and understand the case-law of the Belgian constitutional Court:
- knowing some of the important cases of the Court, cases that give an impulsion, a step forward in the Constitutional case-law;
- analyzing some kinds of cases, specific of the Constitutional review in Belgium (effects, interpretation, relations with other judges, etc.);
- understanding the balances the Court has sometimes to establish.
These three objectives imply two complementary approaches: a theoretical, external approach of the reasoning developed by the Constitutional Court and the main issues raised by Constitutional review in Belgium, and a practical, internal approach of the questions arising in the writing of a Court's decision.
These two complementary approaches are made easier by the fact that the course is given by an assistant that is also a legal assistant at the Belgian constitutional Court. |
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| Organization : | First quadrimester, on Fridays, from 02.00 to 04.00 pm.
The course will be organized in seminars.
In accordance to prementioned objectives, the course will be structured in two ways, one more "theoretical" and one more "practical":
- On the one hand, different lessons will study specific topics, in order to give the students a thorough view of the main legal problems linked to Constitutional review in Belgium, and to familiarise them with the specific characteristics of the reasoning of the Court. The content of these different lessons may evolve in function of the issues arising in the current case-law.
Students must read cases and/or articles in advance, in order to participate in the discussion; these cases or articles will be given before each thematic lesson.
- On the other hand, students are invited to think about a pending case before the Court. The aim of this part of the course is to invite the students, from a real concrete case, to write, like a constitutional judge, a project of a Court's decision.
A documentation file will be given to students in order to research criticisms and defences they could raise towards a legislative norm. Two meetings will occur in this context, during which the students will present their arguing contra, and pro, before trying to write, in a few pages, the structure of the reasoning the Court could develop in the decision that will be pronounced in the analyzed case.
In function of the number of students, alternative formulas could be considered. |
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| Written notes : | Since the course is organized in seminars, thre will be no delivery of written notes. |
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| Assessment : | The assessment will take into account:
- the work of writing of the project of a Court's decision; this work must be given before the Belgian constitutional Court will pronounce its decision in the analyzed case;
- a written exam about the thematic lessons, organized during the January session;
- participation of the student during the discussions. |
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| Contacts : | Geraldine.Rosoux@ulg.ac.be |
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