Selected Topics of Criminal Procedure Law

6 ECTS credits
150 h study time

Offer 1 with catalog number 4012996FEW for working students in the 2nd semester at a (F) Master - specialised level.

Semester

2nd semester

Enrollment based on exam contract

Possible

Grading method

Grading (scale from 0 to 20)

Can retake in second session

Yes

Enrollment Requirements

NOTE: registration for this course is only possible for working students. Day students can register for courses whose code ends with an R. At Inschrijven / studentenadministratie@vub.be you must be registered at the VUB as a working student for the current academic year.

Taught in

Dutch

Faculty

Faculty of Law and Criminology

Department

Publiek recht

Educational team

Daniel De Wolf (course titular)

Activities and contact hours

23 contact hours Lecture
110 contact hours Independent or External Form of Study

Course Content

This course thoroughly studies the procedure before the sentencing court and more specifically the criminal court. Subsequently, the legal remedies that can be instituted against a judgment of the criminal court are discussed. Finally, the criminal evidence is studied as it is used before the criminal court. In this course, a number of rules and principles are repeated on the one hand. On the other hand, the knowledge and understanding of this part of criminal procedural law will be further deepened.

The course consists of three parts:

Procedure in first instance (cfr. Magistrate courts): Study of the regarding the procedure followed before the court in first instance. These are the rules regarding the court as an institution and part of the judicial organization and the rules that determine the procedure from the beginning of the case until the judgment.
Remedies: Appeal (Procedure in absentia only the decisions where a remedy is possible)
Criminal law of evidence: : on the basis of a number of key concepts (burden of proof, value of evidence, free evidence, respect to the written, unlawful (obtained) evidence), the legal rules regarding the evidence are rehearsed and further explored. This again concerns the provisions of the law of evidence before the court in first instance. The focus is on the rule of law and therefore less on a theoretical approach of the (criminal) law of evidence. Further the relationships between the different core concepts are explained.

Course material

Handbook (Required) : Handboek correctioneel procesrecht, D. De Wolf, laatste editie, Intersentia, 9789400004696, 2023
Practical course material (Required) : Wetboek van Strafvordering
Practical course material (Required) : Gerechtelijk Wetboek
Digital course material (Required) : Bijwerkingen handboek, 2023

Additional info

None

Learning Outcomes

General competencies

• The student has thorough knowledge of the criminal procedure, including legal remedies and criminal law of evidence .

• The student has a good understanding of the evolution of the law based on the views in case law and legal doctrine.

• The student is able to analyze the relationships between procedural rules, to recognize the existence of relationships between rules and to understand the reasons for the existence of a rule.

Grading

The final grade is composed based on the following categories:
Oral Exam determines 100% of the final mark.

Within the Oral Exam category, the following assignments need to be completed:

Mondeling examen with a relative weight of 100 which comprises 100% of the final mark.

Additional info regarding evaluation

Oral with written preparation. Three short questions about the whole of the course.

Based on the assessment of the learning objectives regarding the criminal procedure, the student is expected to know and understand the rules of the criminal procedure sufficiently for the student to be able to know and understand the rules of the criminal procedure. A student who appears not to have the intended sufficient knowledge cannot pass the exam. The exam grade indicates the degree of lack of knowledge or understanding.

Specific provisions regarding the use of tools and instruments during exams:

The "Additional regulations regarding the use of tools during exams" applies except the exceptions listed below.
Exception to art. 3, § 1, first and second al.: With the exception of the Larcier-codes, the use of annotated codes (eg TWS, Keure annotated code, Larcier Law & Interpretation) or printing annotated texts from databases (eg Jura) are not allowed.
Special provision article art. 3, § 1, second and third al.: The use of material for indexing (post-it etc.) and the use of fluorescent indications is admitted to find the offences more quickly. This should however not go so far that the various elements of the offences are somehow indicated (eg fluorescent highlighting, underlining, numbering, etc.).

Allowed unsatisfactory mark

The supplementary Teaching and Examination Regulations of your faculty stipulate whether an allowed unsatisfactory mark for this programme unit is permitted.

Academic context