Présentiel, premier quadrimestre, 60 heures de théorie et 9 heures de travaux pratiques avec casus.

Le cours magistral et les séances de travaux pratiques sont dispensés en langue française.
Certaines décisions de jurisprudence ou documents analysés au cours ou lors des exercices pratiques peuvent, cependant, être rédigés en néerlandais.

DROI1312A - Droit des contrats et de la responsabilité civile [1 Q. • 60 Th. • Pond. : 3] Henri Culot, Catherine Delforge
DROI1312B - Travaux pratiques avec casus en droit des contrats et de la responsabilité civile [1 Q. • 9 Ex. • Pond. : 1] N.

1° Main course
This course provides the students with a general background in special contract (civil) law and civil liability law.

The understanding and mastery of the concepts, their application to concrete situations, and the development of a critical mind are the main objectives of the course.

2° The exercise sessions (tutorials)
The exercise sessions (tutorials) allow the students to learn how to find the solution to a legal issue of a practical nature. Therefore, they require a rigorous (a high degree of accuracy is expected) and critical (the students should consider the existing theses with a discerning mind) analysis.

The tutorials enable the mastery of the legal methodology: research and use of the sources of law, structuring of a text, correctness of quotations and bibliographical references.

These sessions also invite the students to discover the advantages and limitations of a collective approach. Indeed, although their written work has to be personal and original, the students are encouraged to work together, especially in the research of sources and the identification of given legal issues. These tutorials enable the students to develop their capacity to express themselves orally on a legal subject.

Finally, taking place over a period of around three months, these sessions allow the students to learn time-management, by meeting deadlines and external constraints such as typing, the number of pages…

Pour le programme de Bachelier en droit :

Aucun

1° Main course :

The first part of the course, the most significant, will be devoted to the study of the main special contracts.

It extends the study of the extra contractual obligations regime based on the contracts named by the Civil Code, and focusing on the sale, lease and service contracts (business and mandate).

Through the analysis of the regime of these contracts, we will draw the students' attention, as a future legal practitioner, on the fact that every specific contract is necessarily at the junction of “general” norms (which constitute what is usually called “common law of contractual obligations” and are intended to govern the conclusion, implementation, interpretation and dissolution of every contract; as confirmed in the article 1107 of the Civil Code) and “special” norms, which constitute more specifically the subject matter of this course.

The aim is also to highlight the practical importance that can exist for the parties to complete, adjust or exclude this “general” or “special” law with the help of even more specific norms. The study of clauses emanating from legal practice enables us to understand the actual implications of contractual freedom and the significance of protective legislative interventions.

This first part of the course will have the following structure:
- A general introduction will review in a structuring and transversal perspective:
• the distinction between nominate and innominate contracts;
• the main principles of the junction between general law and special law of contracts;
• the issue of legal qualification;
• the main legal and doctrinal classifications of contracts;
- The sale and exchange;
- the lease of things, and more specifically, the “common law” lease and the main residence lease;
- the contract for services or contract for the supply of services;
- the mandate.

The second part of the course will be devoted to the study of extra-contractual civil liability.

Initially, the aim will be to define the general frame of such a liability, through a critical assessment of the foundations on which it may rely and by focusing on the evolutions that such a choice necessarily induces: Fault or risk? Individual behaviour or collective risk? Individualism or solidarity? Commutative or distributive justice? Influence of insurance, etc.

The liability regimes based on Civil Code will then be studied in more details (art. 1382-13686bis).
Others specific laws may be studied, as well the main objective liability regimes:
• compensation for the damages suffered by vulnerable road-users (article 29bis of the law of 21 November 1989 relating to compulsory insurance for motor vehicles);
• liability for defective products (law of 25 February 1991)

Generally speaking, the course will insist on the importance of establishing theoretical links between general law and special law of contracts, between special liability regimes and common law, this in order to better understand the concrete implications of the legal rules that affect them and to develop a critical mind.

2° The exercise sessions (tutorials) :

The practical work consists of writing an essay on a concrete issue, relating to some extent to a news topic.

1° Main course :

This course is taught as a lecture.

2° The exercise sessions (tutorials) :

The sessions are organised in different stages in order to allow the professors to mark out the progression of the students. From the beginning of the course, the students have at their disposal the specifications manual, setting out the procedure to follow and providing bibliographical references.

An intermediate stage invites the students to hand in a status report (a review of the research that has already been done), which will enable the professor to adjust the direction taken by the student. Throughout the tutorial sessions, the probationary lecturer will be available each week to answer any relevant questions from the students and also for the teachers to assess the students' work.

Finally, the tutorials will end with a correction session, which allows a positive assessment of the work achieved.
The tutorials require the compliance with the instructions included in the specifications manual.

1° Main course :

This course is taught as a lecture.

2° The exercise sessions (tutorials) :

The sessions are organised in different stages in order to allow the professors to mark out the progression of the students. From the beginning of the course, the students have at their disposal the specifications manual, setting out the procedure to follow and providing bibliographical references.

An intermediate stage invites the students to hand in a status report (a review of the research that has already been done), which will enable the professor to adjust the direction taken by the student. Throughout the tutorial sessions, the probationary lecturer will be available each week to answer any relevant questions from the students and also for the teachers to assess the students' work.

Finally, the tutorials will end with a correction session, which allows a positive assessment of the work achieved.
The tutorials require the compliance with the instructions included in the specifications manual.

Recommended or required reading :

1. Lecture supports:

(a) Main course :

On Contract Law:

A. Cruquenaire, C. Delforge, I. Durant et P. Wéry, Droit des contrats spéciaux, Ouvrage à l'attention des étudiants du programmes de bachelier en droit, Waterloo, Kluwer, 2015, 4ème éd., 528 p.

On Civil Liability :

C. Delforge, Responsabilité civile aquilienne, Support de cours, U. Saint-Louis, 2015.

(b) Exercise sessions :

The resolution of practical case implies the use of different sources: course syllabus, non-exhaustive bibliography of the specifications manual, library research (legislation, doctrine, jurisprudence)...

2°Legislation supports :

C. Delforge et P. Jadoul (coord.), Obligations, Contrats et Responsabilité - Principaux textes juridiques, Limal, Anthemis, 2014, 852 p. (couvre les années académiques 2014-2015 et 2015-2016, moyennant une mise à jour via le site compagnon www.legis.be), disponible au service de reprographie de l'Université.

The code is available at the copy service of the University.

3° Bibliography:

The syllabuses include a deliberately restricted bibliography. The aim is indeed to enable the students who desire to, to have one or two “basic” references in the subject matter.
The professor may also provide some decisions. In this case they are to be included in the subject matter that has to be studied for the final examination.