Study Programmes 2015-2016
DROI1296-1  
Methodology of the application of the law and legal documentary research
Duration :
32h Th, 9h Pr
Number of credits :
Bachelor in law3
Master in law (120 ECTS)3
Lecturer :
Pierre Moreau
Language(s) of instruction :
French language
Organisation and examination :
Teaching in the first semester, review in January
Units courses prerequisite and corequisite :
Prerequisite or corequisite units are presented within each program
Course contents :
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).
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.
Learning outcomes of the course :
The course 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.
Beyond such immediate objectives which consist of providing students with the necessary expertise to carry out the kind of research 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.
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, European law and International 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.
Prerequisite knowledge and skills :
For the course on legal methodology students are expected to have a good knowledge of the French language.
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.
Planned learning activities and teaching methods :
See below next point.
Mode of delivery (face-to-face ; distance-learning) :
The course on legal methodology is taught during the second term. It combines theoretical lectures and specific illustrations (text interpretation, practical applications). For the oral part of the course students must have the collection of texts with them, and nothing else is required.
Recommended or required readings :
- P. DELNOY, Eléments de méthodologie juridique, 3nd edition, Larcier, Bruxelles, 2008 (version 2009) and collection of illustrative texts (Larcier, Bruxelles, 2009); 
- P. MOREAU, F. CREVECOEUR et M. DESSARD, Complément de méthodologie juridique, Presses Universitaires de Liège, 2015-16;
- C. NISSEN, A.-L. SIBONY, E. GEERKENS et A. ZIANS Méthodologie juridique. Méthodologie de la recherche documentaire juridique, 5nd edition, Bruxelles, Larcier, 2014 ;
- C. de TERWAGNE, I. HACHEZ, I. RORIVE, N. BERNARD, P.-F. DOCQUIR, P. MOREAU, Ph. QUERTAIMONT et A. VAN WAEYENBERGE, Guide des citations, références et abréviations juridiques, 5e édition, P. VANDERNOOT (dir.), Waterloo, Kluwer, 2010.
Assessment methods and criteria :
The course on legal methodology and documentary research will have a single grade out of 20. 
The first session of the part of exam relating to legal documentary research techniques will be organised in January 2016.
The first session of the part of the exam relating to the methodology of application of the law as well as drafting legal references, will be organised in January 2016.
Students who are not present for both parts of the examination will be marked "absent".
Exempt from the second session.- Any student who, in the first session, has presented the two parts of the exam or one of them will be exempt from presenting, in the second session (August-September), the part of the exam for which they obtained a grade of at least 10/20.
Work placement(s) :
Organizational remarks :
Contacts :
Pierre MOREAU, Faculty of Law, Quartier Agora - Place des Orateurs, 3 (Bât. B31), 4000 Liège, Phone number :0032/4/366.30.86, email : pmoreau@ulg.ac.be
Fanny CREVECOEUR, Faculty of Law, Quartier Agora - Place des Orateurs, 3 (Bât. B31), 4000 Liège, Phone number : 0032/43665763,  email : fanny.crevecoeur@ulg.ac.be(pmoreau@ulg.ac.be  )
Victoria PALM, Faculty of Law, Quartier Agora - Place des Orateurs, 3 (Bât. B31), 4000 Liège, Phone number : 0032/43663084, email : vpalm@student.ulg.ac.be