European civil law

Duration

30h Th

Number of credits

Lecturer

Pieter Van Cleynenbreugel

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 law of the European Union extends into an ever increasing amount of domains traditionally shielded from such intervention: family law and the law of persons, the law of property and goods, the law of obligations and contract law. Intervening with different intensities, both the Court of Justice and the legislative institutions of the European Union have come to impose or invite modifications to the civil law of different Member States.
The purpose of the "droit civil européen" course (organised only during the odd academic years 2017-2018, 2019-2020, 2021-2022...) is to offer an overview of the impact the law of the European Union has on the different fields of Belgian civil law, taking the different steps taken at the EU level as a starting point for analysis. In doing so, an analysis of Court of Justice key case law, secondary legislation instruments and legislative or academic projects relating to European civil law will be discussed.
In particular, discussions will center around six main course themes:
1. impact of EU law on the personal (and patrimonial?) status of individuals: questions relating to name, marriage etc.
- the difference between the notion of person in national law and citizen in EU law - EU case law developments in light of the Garcia Avello and Grunkin Paul judgments
- which obligations does EU law impose on Member States wishing to organsie and structure the legal status of marriage and partnership on their territory?
2. impact of EU law on the notion of goods
- what is a good (differences between EU and national law)?
- how does EU law intervene in Member States' property regimes (article 345 TFEU)?
3. Impact of EU law on the law of contract and the principle of autonomy of wills in civl law
- horizontal application of free movement rights in EU law
- product liability law
- legislative proposals relating to the digital single market and their impact on national civil law provisions
4. consumer protection law: a partial harmonisation of national civil law?
- impact of EU consumer law on notions of "ordre public" in civil law
- case law developments
- legislative developments
5. impact of EU law on the organisation of non-contractual liability regimes
- a specific liability regime within the European Union
- towards coherence with Member States' liability regimes?
- EU competition law damages actions
6. contribution of EU law to the development of a proposed European civil code
- dreaming of a European civil code
- the von Bahr-Lando project: draft common frame of reference
- the Walter van Gerven project: common principles - ius commune
- the proposal for a regulation on a common European sales law and other future projects in this realm.

Learning outcomes of the learning unit

Given the extent to which civil law has been and is being europeanised and the limited number of class hours assigned to analyse this influence, the main aim of this course is not to provide an ex cathedra exhaustive overview of EU civil law devvelopments. The course will rather seek to provide an opportunity for students to identify, after four hours of introductory course, a subfield of EU civil law and to work on that field in a more autonomous manner. The field they will work in may be related to their travail de fin d'études (adding a European dimension to it), although this is not necessary at all. From that point of view, the course also aims to offer tools and skills to students that are necessary to enable them to familiarise themselves with the practical skills necessary in the exercise of any legal profession: the identification, in simple and clear terms of a legal problem, the drafting of a legal issues paper, the oral presentation of that paper and the steps to take allowing for constructive feedback to be offered on another person's work.
In this respect, the course envisages to the following learning outcomes to be reached at the end of the course:
In terms of knowledge, the course will:
- enhance the understanding of the ways in which the law of the European Union intervenes or refrains from intervening in different fields of civil law in the Member States and most notably in Belgium;
- offer a structured synthesis of the different ways in which EU law interventions in civil law debates take shape;
- analyse the impact of the law of the European Union on the coherence of civil law within the Member States.
In terms of skills, the course will contribute to students:
- being able to identify a relevant legal problem associated with the impact of European Union law on national civil law;
- taking a position in debates between academics and practitioners on the topic;
- being able to draft a research question, a detailed research plan and a paper of 4000 words offering a nuanced response to the identified research question;
- being able to prepare and present the paper orally in front of other students within a limited timeframe;
- being able to participate in group discussions on the ideas offered by other students' presentations;
- applying the learnings on how to give feedback in a concrete setting by giving comments on another student's paper, enabling that student to improve the flow of the arguments presented.
In terms of critical reflection skills, the course allows for students to:
- choose a subject they would like to work on and enable them to do so;
- improve their writing skills, offering an environment in which the writing of a paper will be supervised closely and directly, which may result in improved writing skills for the travail de fin d'études.

Prerequisite knowledge and skills

Droit matériel européen - droit institutionnel européen
Some knowledge of basic principles of civil law (law of obligations, law of property and goods and law of persons and family law) will be required

Planned learning activities and teaching methods

The course will take the format of an intensive academic seminar spread out over the course of the semester:
9/2/2018: cours d'introduction - droit civil européen + themes importants
16/2/2018: pas de séance prevue: option de feedback individuel sur sujet de travail à rédiger- contacter le professeur afin d'organiser une réunion
23/2/2018: droit civil européen - question ouvertes - séance interactive
27/2/2018: remise de la question de recherche individualisée via eCampus, à 11h00 au plus tard
2/3/2018: question de recherche: feedback individuel - horaire via eCampus
6/3/2018: remise d'un plan détaillé et d'une table de matière préliminaire via eCampus, à 11h00 au plus tard
9/3/2018: plan détaillé: feedback individuel - horaire via eCampus
16/3/2018: séance sur le feedback - feedback optionnel sur la matière du travail
20/3/2018: remise d'une première version du travail écrit, à 11h00 au plus tard - reception d'un travail afin d'y offrir un feedback, le soir même
23/3/2018: remise du travail de feedback, via eCampus à 11h00 au plus tard - séance commentaire feedback, suivi d'un feedback individuel sur votre feedback
17/4/2018 : remise du travail écrit version definitive, via eCampus à 11h00 au plus tard - une version papier doit également être remis, au plus tard à 12h30, auprès de Mme Caroline Langevin, B33, 2ème étage
20/4/2018: presentations - la liste sera communiquée via eCampus
27/4/2018: presentations - la liste sera communiquée via eCampus
4/5/2018: feedback individuel sur les presentations - horaire via eCampus

Mode of delivery (face-to-face ; distance-learning)

This course will not be taught in a classical ex cathedra manner. It will be organised rather as an intensive seminar, in which students will work autonomously under the close and frequent supervision of the professor throughout the different stages of writing and refining of the written work requirement. Following types of class sessions are foreseen:
- two ex cathedra sessions: the specific aim of those sessions is, in contrast to more introductory courses, not to offer all answers or a complete picture of the state of European civil law. They rather aim to stimulate reflections on the state of the law and to raise a number of questions that could be used as a starting point for independent written work requirements in the next stages of the course. As a result, the sessions will above all point to open issues and debates in this field of law;
- a dedicated feedback session: one of the skills that do not always appear in the law curriculum is the skill of giving constructive feedback on a colleague's work. Nevertheless, this skill is highly important in professional and academic practice and therefore merits to be taught. The purpose of this session is to show how constructive feedback is offered and what is not to be done in this respect. Doing so will enable students to apply those newly acquired skills when commenting on each other's written work in a later stage of the course;
- five individual feedback sessions: those sessions will enable students to have frequent individual or small group meetings with the professor to discuss their progress, both in terms of content and of writing style. The aim of those sessions is to offer a more individual and intensified supervision process;
- two presentation sessions in which students will present their papers and engage with their fellow students in an informed discussion;
- on top of the regular sessions, the professor will be available for supplementary feedback moments over the course of the semester, in order to make sure every student chooses a topic of their liking and succeeds in developing the topic in a clear and well-structured paper.
The main aim of this mode of delivery is to teach students how to reflect critically on a subject matter and how to take a position in debates surrounding that matter. Inspired by teaching seminars in the Netherlands (called a Privatissimum course, which the professor previously taught at Leiden University), the course above all wants to increase writing and presentation skills of students, better preparing them for the challenges of the professional world.

Recommended or required readings

A reader containing links to reference articles in the field will be made available at the begining of the course.

Assessment methods and criteria

In terms of evaluation, the acquisition of skills necessary for any lawyer (identifying the problem, drafting a written outline, offering comments on developments) will be emphasised. The ex cathedra sessions are limited and replaced by an individual supervision and evaluation system focused on preparing and presenting a written paper.
Every student will be required to prepare a paper on a subject related to the course theme. The paper, which may not be longer than 4000 words (8 or 9 pages), will offer an autonomous analysis of one of the questions/problems touched upon by this course. To that extent, students will first identify a research question, come up with a plan and write a first draft, on which they will receive comments by the professor. The different steps will be evaluated, overall counting for 60% of the final grade in this class.
Each student will also have to offer a constructive feedback in writing on another student's draft version of the written paper. That feedback counts for 10% of the final grade.
Every student will also present his work orally in front of other students. Presentations take place in the two weeks following the Spring break. Students not presenting are expected to take part in a discussion on the paper that has been presented. The presentation and discussion participation will count for 30% of the final grade.
Retake papers will have to be of the same length, to be submitted by August 20 at the latest
No exam will be organised during the exam period.

Work placement(s)

Organizational remarks

Classes will take place in Séminaire 3 on Fridays from 14.00 to 16.00 - some individual feedback sessions may take place at the professor's office (B33, 2/46, IEJE).
The course is held every two years (2017-2018,2019-2020,...)

Contacts

Professor: Pieter Van Cleynenbreugel (pieter.vancleynenbreugel@ulg.ac.be)
Secretariat: Caroline Langevin (caroline.langevin@ulg.ac.be)