Legal practice in Dutch [DROIB340]

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course, students should be able to: • have a sufficient Dutch legal vocabulary in certain subjects; • analyse Dutch-speaking Belgian legislative texts (federal, community or regional), as well as some Dutch texts seen in the course; • analyse Dutch-speaking Belgian case law of a medium level of difficulty, in one of the subjects covered in the course; • to reproduce the main key elements of Dutch judicial decisions that may have been seen in the course; • master the specific legal rules of the Community and the Flemish Region in the topics covered in the course; • master the federal law rules discussed in the course, if necessary from a comparative perspective between the Belgian and Dutch systems; • outline some of the key elements of the institutional and judicial architecture of the Netherlands; • present their knowledge and analysis in Vondel's language in an oral interview with the teachers using the appropriate vocabulary (the linguistic level required will be determined by the language teacher).

Objectives

The course has the threefold objective of introducing students to : • reading Dutch-language legislation and case law, • the expression as lawyers in Dutch; • basic knowledge of some rules of Flemish Community or regional law and Dutch law. It is based on the conviction that the increasing mobility and internationalisation of lawyers increasingly requires them to have at least some basic legal knowledge from another language, another region or Community or another country.

Content

1. The first part of the course should provide students with methodological references and vocabulary, as well as elements of judicial organisation, enabling them to read and analyse a Dutch-speaking judicial or jurisdictional decision. The recurrent headings (chapeau, motivation, dispositif...) and the typical formulas of different decisions will be highlighted through the reading - in Dutch - of emblematic judgments of the Constitutional Court, the Court of Cassation, the Council of State, the Courts of Appeal and judgments of the first degree jurisdictions 1. The second part of the course will be devoted to the resolution of casus by reading Dutch case law on three "privatist" topics of federal competence. 1. The third part of the course will focus on topics that fall within the competence of the Community or the Flemish Region. 1. Finally, the fourth and last part of the course will encourage students to take an interest in legal life overseas. A first session will be devoted to a presentation and an outline of the institutional and judicial systems of the Netherlands. Two other sessions will be devoted to the Belgian federal jurisdiction, will be addressed from a comparative perspective.