Face-to-face , first term, 60 hours of theory and 9 hours of tutorials with cases.

French

French (and understanding of Dutch is recommended)

HDDR1314A - Personal, family and matrimonial regime law [1 Q. • 60 Th. • Pond. : 3] Jehanne Sosson, Fabienne Tainmont
HDDR1314B - Exercise sessions in individual law, family law and antenuptial agreement law [1 Q. • 9 Ex. • Pond. : 1] Ophélie De Cuyper

Programmed since the Bologna reform in the third year programme of the Bachelor of Laws, the “law of persons and family law” course has two aims: as a bachelor course, to provide a general training to law students in a particular discipline of positive law; and, as a third year course of the bachelor of Laws, to continue to develop a proper legal competence allowing students to apprehend in a precise, rigorous and in-depth manner the meaning and scope of certain rules of law.

This course, will therefore be presented from a double angle:
- On one hand, to initiate the student to the understanding of the main issues for Western society raised by the considerable evolutions which affect the status of the individual human being as well as the family and emotional relationships; and in the same way, to bring the student to reflect on the legal answers which are or may be given to these problems in Belgium or Europe, specifically taking into account the socio-political stakes of these responses;
- On the other hand, to allow the student to learn and assimilate the rules of positive Belgian law in the principal subjects of law of persons and family law.

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 capability 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…

For the Bachelor in Law (Evening Programme) :

None

This course is named: “Law of persons, family and matrimonial property law”.
Indeed, it studies the rules of law that govern on the one hand the status of a human person and on the other hand the organisation of family relationships.

Although these two issues can today be distinguished from one another, there was, at the time of the Napoleonic Code, a close link between the status of a human person and his/her family affiliation, in such a manner that the rules relating to the state of persons and personal family relationships were grouped in a single book of the Civil Code, the first Book entitled “Of Persons” (art. 7 to 715 C. civ.).

That is the reason why the law of persons and the law of personal family relationships are generally taught together in a same course.

The authors of the Napoleonic Code had, however, placed the rules that set patrimonial family relationships in the Book III of the Civil Code: matrimonial regimes, successions and donations.

During the Bologna reform, it was agreed among the five Law faculties within the French Community of Belgium to incorporate matrimonial property and legal cohabitation law (title V and title Vbis of the Book III of the Civil Code) into the “law of persons and family law” course, taught in the bachelor, because these laws refer specifically to couple law. It was also agreed to transfer the “law of successions and donations” course to the master of laws (titles I and II of Book III of the Civil Code) due to its highly technical nature.

We can however neither entirely dismiss the issue of successions while studying law of persons and family law, nor dismiss law of persons and family law while studying successions and donations law.

Therefore, this course is made up of three distinct parts:

1) A general introduction to the theme of family, family law and the anthropological, social and cultural evolutions that contribute to the radical change in the approach of the human person and family relationships status;
2) The analysis of the legal status of the human person
3) The study of actual family law (or family relationships law), which is made up of:
- Legal status of couples: married couples (marriage, divorce, matrimonial regimes) and non-married couples
- Filiation law

So, the course outline will be:

- Title I: General introduction - Family and law of persons and family law
- Title II: The status of the human person
- Title III: Marriage and divorce - Matrimonial regimes
- Title IV: Matrimonial regimes
- Title V: The non-married couple
- Title VI: Filiation and adoption

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

As a basic course in the third year of Bachelor, the law of persons and family law course will be taught primarily as a lecture, that is to say, a presentation of the essential and minimal knowledge of the discipline taught by teachers both in oral sessions and through "syllabi" made available to the students (6 syllabi, of varying size, for each of the six titles of course).

However, this classical teaching method will be completed by two other approaches that are an integral part of this course:
- the work achieved individually by each student: reading and comprehension of several excerpts of works relating to the evolution of the status of a human person and of family relationships (collected in the appendix of syllabus I);
- the exercise sessions (tutorials) that will be lead by a scientific staff member of the university.

These two complementary approaches aim to stimulate the students' personal learning skills both for the theoretical deepening of the subject matter and critical reflection, and for the understanding and concrete application of family law rules.

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.

The knowledge and competences acquired during the lecture, through the syllabi written by the two professors of the course and also through individual work of reading and comprehension of texts made available for the students in the syllabus I, will be assessed during the exam period in a written examination composed of four questions.

During the correction of the written examination, special attention will be paid both to the students' capacity to express themselves with rigour, clarity and precision while explaining the rules of law, and to the students' capability to critically comprehend the socio-political stakes of the major issues of law of persons and family law.

During the entire examination, the students may refer to the legal and statutory texts, which are allowed at the examination. These documents cannot contain any annotations but can be underlined or highlighted by the students.

When the practical work is finalised, the students are marked out of 20 points.
The evaluation criteria are: the quality of the intellectual approach and the resolution of the practical case, the structure of the written work, the rigor both in substance and in form, the bibliography and the correct use of sources, compliance with instructions, spelling and participation in class.

The texts appended to syllabus I.

See the specifications relating to the tutorials

Six syllabi corresponding to the six title of the course.

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)...