Duration
45h Th, 15h Lect.
Number of credits
Lecturer
Language(s) of instruction
French language
Organisation and examination
Teaching in the second semester
Units courses prerequisite and corequisite
Prerequisite or corequisite units are presented within each program
Learning unit contents
The aim of teaching the theory of law is to form an approach to legal matters based on a collection of concepts and constructions taken from the rich and diverse work of one of the most important philosophers of the 20th century: Michel Foucault. Of course, it is not simply a matter of limiting ourselves to the works of the latter, but to take inspiration from them in order to construct the general framework of an original reflection on law. In the first part, students will be required to synthesize Foucault's store of knowledge in order to use it in the second part - quantitatively the largest part - with regard to the specific object of the course: legal matters. This part aims to apply the hypotheses presented in the first part, by disassociating the law as power, on the one hand, and the law as knowledge, on the other hand, through some of the most important contemporary legal theories: those of Romano, Kelsen, Schmitt, Hart, Viley and Lucien François.
Learning outcomes of the learning unit
To encourage students to have an objective view the field of law while avoiding the pitfalls and pretences that the law, as an instrument of power and knowledge, uses for the needs of its supposed efficiency. More concretely, to encourage students to cultivate virtues as precision, rigour, logic and correct use of the language.
Prerequisite knowledge and skills
Students must have successfully completed the course in "History of the Philosophy and Theories of Natural Law" in the first year of their bachelor's degree
Planned learning activities and teaching methods
"Ex cathedra" course
Mode of delivery (face-to-face ; distance-learning)
Face-to-face course organised in the second quadrimester
Recommended or required readings
Nicolas THIRION, Théories du droit. Droit, pouvoir, savoir, Bruxelles, Larcier, 2011
Compulsory reading: L. FRANCOIS, Le cap des Tempêtes. Essai de microscopie du droit, 2nd ed., Bruxelles-Paris, Bruylant-LGDJ, 2012
Assessment methods and criteria
Oral exam. Two questions. Preparation time: 20 minutes. Oral exam duration: 20 minutes. Possibility to have the book of Lucien François, which can be highlited with a fluorescent pen and which can contain post-it and words or short sentences in the margin of the printed text, which can only serve to refer from a chapter to another (no reference may be done to the other theories). Other informations and advices about evaluation will be given during the oral course.
Work placement(s)
Organizational remarks
Considering the complexity of the course which can no more be organized in two quadrimesters because of an absurd decree, we would advice the students to begin the reading of the book of Lucien François from the first quadrimester.
Contacts
Economic Law and Legal Theory unit.