Face-to-face , first term, 60 hours of theory.

First term
Tuesday from 13:00 to 15:00 at 119 Marais 2100
Wednesday from 10:45 to 12:45 at 119 Marais 2100

English

How can we understand the laws that regulate our lives as (inter)national citizens? Who produces these constantly evolving standards and which social realities do they create? This course addresses these questions in a thematic and chronological way.
The course offers a historical analysis of the development of Belgian law in an increasingly globalized world since the 19th century. It aims to present and confront different genealogies and narratives of law and jurisprudence in order to shed light on the superposition and hybridization that constitute contemporary legal systems. Indeed, continental legal codes, the Anglo-American common law tradition, the Belgian process of constitutional reforms, European legal history and international law all offer strong competing narratives of linear progress towards an ever more complete and coherent articulation of individual and collective rights. However different they may be, the course will highlight their encounters and analyse the major shifts in these legal traditions over the 19th and 20th century. Looking at the complete “chain of legitimacy” (Bourdieu, 1986) from law-making to the interpretation of the law, the course also considers alternative voices to these norms and examines the history of justice on a local, national as well as international scale.
The course emphasizes different historical approaches to the law. It therefore also aims to develop historical skills and interpretation through the examination of core concepts of the modern legal order and of primary sources.
The purpose of the course is to enable to:
- Identify main shifts in the legal orders of the 19th and 20th century;
- Analyse key concepts such as codification, sovereignty, the rule of law, in a historical and global perspective;
- Describe the interactions between socio-political and legal dynamics;
- Identify the actors of legal change;
- Apply concepts such as human rights, citizenship, equality, transitional justice in different geographical and chronological settings;
- Describe the legal framework of the colonial order;
- List milestones in the construction of the laws of war;
- Critically analyse texts and sources.

For the Bachelor in Law :

None

The course focuses on five themes: The subjects of the law; Writing the law; Experiencing the law; Law of war, Law at war; and Legal truths, Historical truths.
(1) The subjects of the law. The first part of the course discusses how the law frames society, in its political, social and economic dimensions. It examines the question of inclusion and exclusion, of rights and duties and of citizenship. This section thus questions the framing of the modern legal subject and the “politics of difference” (Cooper, 2010). It offers an historical overview of the sense of the “rule of law” (Bingham, 2010).
(2) Writing the law. The second part explores the actors and the dynamics of law-making in a twofold perspective: The amendment of the law as the outcome of political struggles and debates on the one hand; and the law as a shared language within professional networks of lawyers and militants on the other hand. It is devoted to the formal construction of norms and to those norms springing from the practices in the field.
(3) Experiencing the law. Getting back to the separate regimes of rights applied to women, foreigners, immigrants, refugees, colonial subjects, vagrants, inmates of prisons or the army described in the first part, the third theme will focus on how citizens experience the law and interact with the process of law-making, as victims, perpetrators, or as a society as a whole. By doing so, it offers a reflection on the interpretation of the law in historical perspective.
(4) Law of war, Law at war. The fourth section is devoted to the history of the laws of war and of a shared project of justice and peace rooted in the 19th century. It examines the peculiar position of Belgium in this history. Indeed, over the 20th century, Belgium has debated and adapted its legal framework in the context of two successive occupations and in the aftermath of the two World Wars and of the Cold War.
(5) Legal truths, Historical truths. The last section looks into the “legal construction of facts” (Salmon, 1987) by the law. It discusses the debate between “legal truth” and “historical truth” in an interdisciplinary perspective. This theme also introduces the concept of transitional justice.

Lecture course, including three invited lectures.
Class discussion will be encouraged through the analysis of diverse written and audio-visual material, including jurisprudence, legal sources, academic literature and archives.
The course material will:
- Enable a reflection and discussion on the proposed themes;
- Offer support for the lectures;
- Provide direct access to primary sources and selected scientific articles

Written exam including:
(1) A multiple-choice part;
(2) An open questions part;
(3) An analysis of a source examined during the course.

Online supporting material consist in:
(1) PowerPoint slides;
(2) Texts and sources.