European private and comparative law

The content of the course is subject to changes from one year to the other as the content of European law or private law itself can change and the course aims to follow those changes as to be up to date. As an example, the following topics might be adressed:

1. Short historical introduction (ex cathedra) explaining the origins of the most influential civil codes as well as a special focus on the historical development of the English legal system;

2. Formation of contracts(based on case law and student papers) - What are the conditions to form a contract, with a special focus on the French theory of the causa and the English doctrine of consideration. Notion of offer and acceptance and the question of the offer adressed to the public.

3. Non performance of contracts (based on case law and student papers) - Specific performance or breach of contract ? Performance of a judgment. Liquidated damages clause.

4. Proposal of a european regulation on sales law - (I) formal approach Private law and consumer protection: how should european law deal with consumer protection ? How to deal with the technical aspects of european harmonization ? Analysis of the topic through the experience of the Vienna Convention and through the principles of Unidroit.

5. Proposal of a european regulation on sales law - (II) content based approach(based on case law and student papers) - Choice of topics regarding sales law : how will the rules of the proposed regulation affect national laws - Comparison with the Vienna Convention and with the principles of Unidroit.

6. Transfer of title(based on case law and student papers) - Comparison of the main legal systems in the field of movables and immovables.

7. European principles of tort law(based on case law and student papers) - Analysis of French, German and English tort law. Confrontation of those legal systems with the european principles of tort law. Main difficulties in harmonizing tort law.

8. Trust and fiduciary agreements(based on case law and student papers) - Comparison of the English trust with continental fiduciary agreements. Influence of the english trust on continental fiduciary agreements. International recoginition of trust.

9. Conference of a foreign professor

10. Concluding discussions

The course tends to familiarize students with different legal systems in the field of private law as well as with the increasing interactions between national private law and european law. This goal will be achieved by 3 different methods :

(1) the students will get a short historical introduction about the main european legal systems in the field of private law and the main interactions between the different national sources of private law. This introduction does not only aim to explain the origins of the different legal systems, but also to familiarize the students with the legal terminology

(2) the study of case law whereby cases will be analyzed through different legal systems so as to determine to what extent they produce similar results or not

(3) the study of several european initiatives in the field of private law and the question what can be expected from european harmonization of private law.

The course will be given as a seminar. Attending the lectures is therefore compulsory as the students will be assessed on the basis of their participation and preparation of each lecture and based on group assignments. There is therefore no exam attached to this course. The number of participants is therefore limited. Given the format of this course and in accordance with art. 138, al. 2, of the Décret de la Communauté française of November 7th, 2013, there is only one assessment for this course during an academic year and no retakes are being organized since this is a attendance based seminar.

Support(s) de cours

• Université virtuelle

Informations complémentaires

The course takes place from February until May

Contacts

 Please read the above informations carefully before sending any questions. If needed, the professor can be contacted on the Université virtuelle.

Campus

Solbosch

Méthode(s) d'évaluation

• Travail personnel
• Travail de groupe
• Autre

Travail personnel

Travail de groupe

Autre

There is no exam for this course. Students will be assessed throughout the course (attendance is compulsory) on the following basis :

• Participation (preparing and discussing the reading materials as well as the topics raised by the professor or by other students);
• Papers to be written by small groups of students;
• European legislative project (large group of students);

Construction de la note (en ce compris, la pondération des notes partielles)

Students will not be assessed on their level of English. They should however have at least a B1+ level (CEFR scales) meaning that they should feel comfortable in taking part in discussions, be able to give a prepared presentation and to give reasons in support of or against a particular point of view. Students can take follow up questions, but may have to ask for repetition if the speech was rapid.

Langue(s) d'évaluation

• anglais