Face-to-face , first term, 30 hours of theory and 9 hours of tutorials with cases.

The lecture course and the practical sessions are in French.
Some court decisions or analysed documents during the practical sessions may be in Dutch (understanding of Dutch is recommended).

DROI1312B - Exercises sessions (with casus) in contract and civil liability law [1 Q. • 9 Ex. • Pond. : 1] N.
DROI1312A - Contract law and civil liability law [1 Q. • 60 Th. • Pond. : 1] Maxime Berlingin, Catherine Delforge, Jérémie Van Meerbeeck

This course provides the students with a general background in special contract (civil) law and extra-contractual 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.

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. Finally, taking place over a period of around two 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 :

None

1° Main course
(a) The first 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 (during the Main course or the practical exercises), as well the main objective liability regimes (article 29bis of the law of 21 November 1989 relating to compulsory insurance for motor vehicles, the law of 25 February 1991 on liability for defective products).
(ii) The second part of the course will be devoted to the study of the main special contracts. It extends the study of the contractual obligations regime based on the contracts named by the Civil Code, and focusing on the sale, lease (“common law” lease and main residence lease) and service contracts (supply of services 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.

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 first tutorial focuses in part on the presentation of the framework and on the explanation of the expected essay.
The tutorials also aim to address specific taught issues (the sales, the contracts of services or supply, the liabilities, etc.) with a practical approach thanks to the resolution of exercises and the review of documents. Specific objective liability regimes based on a particular law will be handled as well.
Planned learning activities and teaching methods:

1° Main course:
This course is taught as a lecture.
2° The exercise sessions (tutorials):
The lecture is supported by practical sessions in small groups supervised by a teaching assistant. Students will be requested to write an essay on one of the topics that have been dealt with during the lecture.
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 to answer any relevant questions from the students and also for the teachers to assess the students' work.
Finally, the students submit a personal written work.
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 lecture is supported by practical sessions in small groups supervised by a teaching assistant. Students will be requested to write an essay on one of the topics that have been dealt with during the lecture.
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 to answer any relevant questions from the students and also for the teachers to assess the students' work.
Finally, the students submit a personal written work.
The tutorials require the compliance with the instructions included in the specifications manual.

1. Topics to be assessed

a) Main course:
This learning activity is assessed on 20 points (ratio 3/4)
In 2018-2019, the assessment consists of an oral exam.

The examination is based on the topics studied during the ex-cathedra lecture (completed by material supports) and on the practical cases.
The examination can consist in pure knowledge question (e.g. definitions of concepts and institutions studied during the course), in questions appealing to critical judgement (comparison exercise or "open" question on theory) as well as in the resolution of a practical case or in the analysis of documents coming from real life.
Students are responsible for the update of the course: the evaluation is of course based on the lessons taught during the academic year during which the examination takes place.
The assessment criteria concerning the written examination are the following: to be able to legally qualify a situation as well as the ability to reproduce the contents of the course with a critical mind. The following abilities will be especially evaluated: the ability to identify the essential from the accessory, the ability to synthesize, the legal knowledge and the ability to reproduce them on a complete and precise way, on the basis of a legal provision or regulatory frame; the thinking capacity (including the ability to argue, taking into account that a situation can call upon different judicial regimes, for which a motivated choice has to be made); the ability to draft.

b) Practical sessions

This learning activity is assessed on 20 points (ratio: 1/4).
The assessment criteria regarding the written examination are the following: in addition to the abilities related to the topics and which are the same as those required for the ex-cathedra lecture (see above), the quality of the intellectual approach the quality of the bibliography and of the reference of the sources; the quality of the drafting; the respect of the instructions in terms of length and deadlines; intellectual honesty (essential to a scientific work).

2. Authorized documents and references
During the examination the students can have their codes (provided that they do not mention case-law summary), as well as special laws in relation with the studied topics (which need to be completely printed).
The authorized documents can:
- be underlined or highlighted (fluo);
- refer to a legal or regulatory provision (e.g. see Article 11.34 Civil Code) and/or to a case-law decision (in this last case, only the seized court and the date of the decision are authorized), no more.

The use of key works and other notes is not authorized except to mention a title contained in the code or in a special legislation.
All documents are inspected at the beginning of the examination. The president of the jury will be informed of any breach of the above mentioned instructions, without consideration of the intention or good/bad faith of the student. The student is the only one responsible for the respect of these instructions.

3. Students having exemptions or who benefit from special arrangements (EBS, etc.)
Students who have officially been exempted of a part of the course are invited to:
- address a en e-mail to C. Delforge (catherine.delforge@usaintlouis.be) two days before the examination at the latest so that particular evaluation modalities can be set up;
- on the day of the exam come with a copy of the exemption official document.
- Only the exemptions that have been accepted by the competent Commission of the Jury of the program of the Bachelor in law: no unofficial exemption will be granted no matter the circumstances or the previously obtained points by the student.

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 teaching team 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.

Those books are « supports » indented to make easier taking notes and the study of the courses. They must be completed by the notes taken during the lectures. The final evaluation is about the content of the lecture courses.

A file resumes the legal texts, jurisprudence and other illustrative documents from the legal activity. This file is part of the contents for the test.

1. Lecture supports

For the course dedicated to the special contracts law:
A. CRUQUENAIRE, C. DELFORGE, I. DURANT, P. WERY, Droit des contrats spéciaux. Ouvrage à l'attention des étudiants du programme en bachelier en droit, Waterloo, Kluwer, 2015, 3e éd. For the course dedicated to the extra-contractual civil liability law:
A syllabus is available at the reprography service of the University and on-line on the intranet.

2. Materials for the practical sessions

A syllabus listing the documents and the formulation of the exercises will be the main support for this learning activity.
The students are requested to come to each session with their civil and economic codes.

3. Legislation material
No support will be made available for the students by the lecturers.
The students are free to choose any code, provided they comply with the instructions above. They can also print the legislations in relation to the course.

4. General remarks
These different supports are meant to make easier the taking of notes and the study of the topics. They need to be completed by notes taken during the ex-cathedra lecture considering that the final evaluation is based on the contents of this lecture (see supra “Assessment”).