6 ECTS credits
150 h study time
Offer 2 with catalog number 4022228DER for all students in the 2nd semester at a (D) Master - preliminary level.
The aim of this class is to provide student with a general overview of the debates having structured, and still structuring, the field of legal theory. The teaching will then consist in an introduction to the main different schools of legal theory - one per session, plus a general introduction: Legal Positivism, Legal Hermeneutics, Legal Naturalism, Legal Realism, Legal Formalism, Legal Process, Law & Economics, Critical Legal Studies, Critical Race Theory, Feminist Jurisprudence, Postmodern Jurisprudence and the Practical Turn in Legal Theory. This introduction will take the form of presentations prepared at home by the students, and discussed in class with the use of specific illustrations taken from various cultural and legal fields. The use of these illustrations will also work as a de facto introduction to Law & Literature and Law & Visual Culture scholarship.
The class is taught during the second semester. The language of the class is English. Each week, students will be required to conduct at home a small personal research on the topic of the next session, as well as to examine a piece of cultural production (movie, short story, piece of music, work of art) related to this topic. This research will provide the basis for the discussion to be held in class, after the presentation of the topic of the week by one randomly selected student. The handbook for this class (and the basis for the conducting of the required research) is Raymond Wacks, "Philosophy of Law: A Very Short Introduction", Oxford UP, 2006.
The purpose of this class is to enhance the students capacity at imagining new legal solutions, and at developing a general vision of law broadening (and maybe sometimes challenging) the one assumed in other legal disciplines. Through the careful examination of the legacy of more than one century of legal theoretical scholarship, students should be able to imagine and defend a personal point of view on law that might enrich their future professionnal career. This link with the actual practice of law will be particularly emphasized by insisting on the concrete legal preoccupations of the different authors and schools of legal theory, as well as the practical accomplishment that they have achieved. At the end of this class, students will then not only gain a precious knowledge in terms of theory and concepts, but also a clearer comprehension of the very conceptual nature of law itself - and the intimacy, in this field, between theory and practice.
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:
The exam takes the form of an oral presentation by the student. This presentation will consist in the critical discussion of a claim defended by one of the schools of legal theory presented during the semester. In order to elaborate his/her discussion, the student will also choose a piece of cultural production (movie, novel, music, etc.) that he/she will use as a tool to develop his/her own conclusion. The selection of the claim to be discussed, as well as of the tool to be used in this discussion, are let to the student. The exam will take place in Dutch or English, depending on the student's preferences.
This offer is part of the following study plans:
Master of Laws: Dual Master in Comparative Corporate and Financial Law (only offered in Dutch)
Master of Laws: Civil and Procedural Law (only offered in Dutch)
Master of Laws: Criminology (only offered in Dutch)
Master of Laws: Economic Law (only offered in Dutch)
Master of Laws: Tax Law (only offered in Dutch)
Master of Laws: International and European Law (only offered in Dutch)
Master of Laws: Public Law (only offered in Dutch)
Master of Laws: Social Law (only offered in Dutch)
Master of Laws: Criminal Law (only offered in Dutch)
Master of Laws: Law and Technology (only offered in Dutch)