Face-to-face , first term, 30 hours of theory.

First term
Tuesday from 19:15 to 21:15 at 119 Marais 1300

The course and examination are in French. With the exception of some texts in English, the supports are generally in French.

Beyond giving a presentation of different legal rules, the study of Comparative Law seeks to deepen the reflection that every lawyer should address with regard to the nature of norms and their evolution. This reflection implies a look at the relativity of legal systems in space and time: a concept that seems obvious for one person may be less so - or not at all - for another person. Aware of this « differential quality » (Francis Ponge), lawyers will be able to draw fundamental lessons on the close relationship that links rules of law and a particular culture. In so doing, students will be able to cast a critical eye on their own legal references: “to ward off comparison is to ward off science itself” (« Conjurer la comparaison, c'est conjurer la science elle-même ») (P. Gothot).

Comparative law is linked to the idea of relativity of legal systems but its analysis should also encourage lawyers to look into the systemic nature of the rules of law: the rules and institutions that make up a particular environment belong to a more general set of social, political and economic relations. What role can be given to this environment, and, taking globalisation into account, what credibility (or hope) can be given to possible migrations of legal concepts (legal transplants)?

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After a short introduction, the first part of the course will focus on the scope, method and virtues/drawbacks of Comparative Law. In a second part, students will study the major systems of contemporary law along with past and present classifications. Special emphasis will be granted to the Common Law because of its current importance in the world, but the course will also study more “distant” legal families, including African legal systems, Islamic law, or Hindu national law. The third part of the course will focus on the comparative analysis of two specific issues, the first one relating to private law, and the other to public law.

The course is given as a lecture interspersed with discussions on various texts which the students will have read and analysed in advance. Besides a collection of texts and the course outline, the lecture is accompanied by a PowerPoint presentation.

Assessment is done by means of an oral examination (± 20 minutes) on the definition of specific legal concepts (e.g. the Fiqh), and the analysis of a court ruling studied in class. The evaluation criteria of the examination focus on the understanding of the subjects studied in class, the structure of the reasoning, argumentation as well as on the ability to make connections between the different parts of the course. No documents are authorised at the examination.

The bibliography includes - summarily - the following works:
1. Alan Watson, Legal Transplants. An Approach to Comparative Law (Athens, Georgia: The University of Georgia Press., 1974).
2. Pierre Legrand, Le droit comparé (Paris : PUF (Que sais-je ?), 1999).
3. René David, Les grands systèmes de droit contemporains, 7ème éd. (Paris : Dalloz, 1978).
4. Raymond Legeais, Grands systèmes de droit contemporains (Paris : éditions. du Jurisclasseur, 2004).
5. Arthur Taylor von Mehren et James Russell Gordley, The Civil Law System. An Introduction to the Comparative Study of Law, 2ème éd. (Boston : Little, Brown and Company, 1977).
6. John H. Barton, James Lowell Gibbs, Jr., Victor Hao Li, John Henry Merryman, Law in Radically Different Cultures (St. Paul, Minn. : West Publishing Co., 1983).
7. Omar Mounir, La Moudawana. Le nouveau droit de la famille au Maroc (Rabat : Marsam, 2004).
8. Charles Ntampaka, Introduction aux systèmes juridiques africains (Namur : Presses universitaires de Namur (coll. Travaux de la Faculté de droit, n° 26), 2005).
9. Antoine Garapon et Ioannis Papadopoulos, Juger en Amérique et en France. Culture juridique française et common law (Paris : Odile Jacob, 2003).
10. Jean-Louis Halpérin, Histoire des droits en Europe de 1750 à nos jours (Paris : Flammarion, 2004).

As indicated above, the reading of texts is strongly encouraged in order to facilitate the understanding of the issues addressed in class and the sharing of thoughts. The course professor will answer questions by appointment or electronically at the following address: francois.vandermensbrugghe@usaintlouis.be