Course 2023-2024

Law of obligations II [DROIB211]

  • 8 credits
  • 75h+15h
  • 2nd quarter
Language of instruction: French / Français

Learning outcomes

Specific skills

- To make the student understand that the law of obligations is based on a diversity of interdependent sources (contract, civil liability, etc.).

- To develop the ability to understand complex legal phenomena and, through rigorous analysis, to think critically about the law of obligations.

- To move from the abstraction of the norm to the concrete fact and, conversely, to develop the ability to ask relevant legal questions, in particular through the resolution of cases and practical work.

- Improve and mobilise language skills in Dutch legal terminology, at least in a receptive way. Cross-cutting competences

- Be aware of the relative and evolving nature of legal solutions and the controversies they may generate.

- Defend a point of view in an argumentative manner.

- Use the French language as a tool for legal thinking and master legal terminology.

Objectives

- To train the student in a legal discipline considered essential for a good understanding of the whole of private law, by ensuring rigorous mastery of the learning outcomes.

- To inculcate in the student the concepts, principles and institutions of the law of obligations, to confront him with the legal texts and the principal jurisprudential decisions in the matter, to make him perceive the evolutions in progress and their range, finally to develop his aptitude to apply the principles and texts to concrete cases.

Content

The DOB I course, a co-requisite of the DOB II course, focused on legal facts and extra-contractual liability.

The course of DOB II studies the juridical act, the general regime of the obligation and endeavours to expose a theory of the proof. As the contract is the most common form of legal act, the first part is devoted to conventional obligations. What is a contract? How is it formed? What are its effects between parties and vis-à-vis third parties? How are incidents in its execution settled, taking into account, if necessary, the clauses provided for by the contracting parties?

As an extension of the DOB I course, a specific part is also devoted to the examination of the relationship between extra-contractual liability and the contract. The general regime applicable to all types of obligations also receives attention. The modalities and transmission of obligations, the execution and extinction of obligations are examined. Finally, the course explains the principles of the law of evidence, taking care to adapt them to the developments of modern techniques.

 

The course incorporates all the legislative changes introduced by the Acts of 13 April 2019 and 28 April 2022.


Co-requisites

Droit des obligations I [DROIB103]

Teaching methods

Oral presentation. The teaching is lectured.

The two teachers (P. Colson and F. George), when the subject matter is appropriate, invite the students to participate in the course by discussing contractual clauses or case law decisions.

 

Students are provided with a manual (to be published) and a folder containing most of the case law cited or commented on in the oral course.

Practical work also allows students to apply the principles seen in the course to concrete situations. 

Evaluations

Formula:

a) written examination in June and/or September;

b) the examination lasts three hours and includes four types of questions:

- four true or false questions with explanation (to check the assimilation of the concepts);

- four focused and limited questions which require small answers ; 

- one reflection questions: comparing similar notions, explaining a theory, commenting on a decision extract, a contractual clause or a doctrinal opinion, ... (to test critical thinking and the ability to synthesise)

- one or two case studies (to check the ability to apply them).

Evaluation criteria :

a) the emphasis is on

- the precision of the answers

- the rigour of the reasoning and its legal justification (reference to the Code in particular)

- the conciseness of the answers (it is not a question of restating the whole course);

b) the quality of the expression is taken into consideration as well as the structuring of the answer

c) the ability to refer to the Code and to the main jurisprudential decisions in order to base one's answer is essential.

 

The examination can test the assimilation of the Dutch legal terminology contained in the course (translation from Dutch to French and vice versa).

At the examination, students have their Code and any other legal or regulatory texts at their disposal. They may not be annotated, subject to article-to-article cross-referencing. No other documents are allowed.

The final mark is not purely arithmetical and depends on the teachers' overall assessment of the paper.

Recommended readings

- Manual to be published in 2023 updated with respect to books 5 and 8 of the (new) Civil Code

- Syllabus on Evidence Law (available on webcampus)

 - Documentation folder (available on webcampus) 

- Civil Code and Economic Law Code

Language of instruction

French / Français

Location for course

NAMUR

Organizer

Faculté de droit
Rue de Bruxelles, 61
5000 NAMUR

Degree of Reference

Undergraduate Degree
BlockCredits
Bachelier en droit28