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

First term
Monday from 17:00 to 20:00 at 43 Botanique 4
Tuesday from 19:00 to 20:00 at 43 Botanique 4

The course is given in French, which does not exclude the possibility that some decisions of jurisprudence may be in Dutch.

Law of obligations is a fundamental discipline, which will serve as a basis for many subsequent courses, among which: contract law, labour law, civil liability law, commercial law…

The students should therefore understand the concepts of the discipline and the legal regime that they fall under.

By the end of the course, the students will be able to apply the studied concepts to concrete situations.

For the Bachelor in Law (Evening Programme) :

None

Most of the subject matter can be found in the articles 1101 to 1381 and 2219 to 2280 of the Civil Code.

The introduction aims to define “obligation” in the legal sense and to define its essential characteristics.

The course outline can be summarised as follows:

Part I. The sources of obligations
Title 1. The contract
Title 2. Offences and criminal negligence (reference)
Title 3. The quasi-contracts
Title 4. Commitment by unilateral will
Title 5. The appearance theory

Part II. The modalities of obligations
Title 1. The term and the condition
Title 2. Multiple object obligations
Title 3. Multiple subject obligations

Part III. The transfer of obligations
Title 1. Assignment of claim
Title 2. Assignment of debt
Title 3. Assignment of contract
Title 4. Other mechanisms

Part IV. Termination of obligations
Title 1. The payment
Title 2. In lieu of payment
Title 3. Novation
Title 4. Compensation
Title 5. Confusion
Title 6. Debt forgiveness
Title 7. Prescription
Title 8. The “Rechtsverwerking”

Part V. Proof of obligations
Title 1. General principles
Title 2. The burden of proof
Title 3. Admissibility of modes of proof
Title 4. The major modes of proof

This course is a lecture, nevertheless the subject matter can be illustrated by the analysis of documents and/or jurisprudential decisions.

The final assessment is an oral examination. It will assess the knowledge of the subject matter contained in the syllabus as well as discussed in class, including the commented jurisprudential decisions.

The first question allows a preparation time. It will concern a decision of jurisprudence commented in class.

During the entire examination, the students may and should refer to the legal and statutory texts. However, these documents may not include any annotations (with the exception of possible cross-references to other legal devices without any further comment).

The syllabus refers to different books, articles or notes according to the studied subject matter.

These references may be completed by:

- J. HANSENNE, Introduction au droit privé, 3e éd., Ed. Story Scientia, 1997.

- M. COIPEL, Éléments de théorie générale des contrats, Ed. Story Scientia, 1999.

- The syllabus (to be completed by personal notes)

- The collection of decisions of jurisprudence (some having been commented in class)

- The legal and statutory texts.

It is imperative to use regularly and frequently the legal and statutory texts in order to get used to their handling.