Duration
45h Th, 15h Lect.
Number of credits
Lecturer
Language(s) of instruction
French language
Organisation and examination
Teaching in the second semester
Schedule
Units courses prerequisite and corequisite
Prerequisite or corequisite units are presented within each program
Learning unit contents
The aim of the course of legal theory is to present some of the most stimulating answers to the seemingly simple question: what is Law? This apparent simplicity masks the formidable difficulty of any attempt to describe with accuracy the legal phenomenon and its irreducible specificities. Moreover, the multiplicity and disparity of the answers that have been given to this question constitute a stimulating challenge for students learning law: what exactly is the object of their studies? In order to show both the importance and the difficulty of this question and, more broadly, of any somewhat abstract reflection on the law, the teaching is divided into three main parts.
The first part presents the work that most fully sets out the conception of the Liège school of legal theory in this area: Le cap des Tempêtes. Essai de microscopie du droit by Lucien François.
In a second part, other theories, among the most fundamental of those that the twentieth century has bequeathed to us, are synthesized, in order to put them in resonance with the model presented in the first part and to compare the divergent answers brought to the question of the nature of law: the theories of Santi Romano, Herbert Hart, Hans Kelsen, Carl Schmitt and Michel Villey will thus be successively exposed.
In the third and final part, which will be different each year, we shall endeavour to show, with reference to a practical case or a concrete legal debate, the interest of legal theory in measuring all the consequences and, consequently, the insufficiency of positive law to be able to reason rigorously. For the academic year 2022-2023, the third part will be devoted to the national-socialist conception of Law.
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 courses in "Introduction to legal philosophy" and in "Introduction to public law" in the first block of their bachelor's degree
Planned learning activities and teaching methods
"Ex cathedra" course
Mode of delivery (face to face, distance learning, hybrid 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
Examination in two parts:
Part 1: MCT of 40 knowledge questions lasting one hour. Part 2 can only be taken if the student obtains a minimum score of 8/20 on the multiple choice exam. If a lower mark is obtained, this is the final mark of the examination.
Part 2 (in case of a score of 8/20 or higher on the MCT): 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) as well as a brief summary (no more than 15 lines) before each chapter of the book . If the student is allowed to take Part 2, the grade obtained is two-thirds of the final grade, while the result of Part 1 is the remaining third.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.