Duration
24h Th
Number of credits
| Master in law (120 ECTS) (Odd years, organized in 2023-2024) | 5 crédits |
Lecturer
Language(s) of instruction
French language
Organisation and examination
Teaching in the first semester, review in January
Schedule
Units courses prerequisite and corequisite
Prerequisite or corequisite units are presented within each program
Learning unit contents
The theme of the course can vary from one year to another to account for recent developments in law and society. This year, the course starts from the observation that the legal and economic debates on the debt crisis are characterized by some kind of moral confusion. The central idea will be the interconnectedness between moral, legal and economic thought from the medieval roots of Western legal culture through the ordoliberal foundations of the economic and monetary constitution of the European Union.
Overview of lessons:
1. Economic, legal and moral debt. The financial crisis and the many meanings of debt
2. Back to the origins: theological and canon law roots of Western legal culture
3. Religious law and financial capitalism: legitimizing the market economy
4. A critical reading of Max Weber and his Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism
5. Debt relief in times of consecration of contractual obligation
6. The scholastic paradigm of competition and market regulation
7. The School of Freiburg and the ordoliberal roots of the European economic constitution
8. Debt or Sin? Schuld, Protestant ordoliberalism and German resistance against the crisis measures
Learning outcomes of the learning unit
This course wishes to stimulate students' creative thinking by putting legal challenges in a historical perspective. More specifically, it invites students to investigate central notions in legal science ranging from the law of obligations, economic law, social law to tax law. The student will thus be able to consider challenges in the present from a new angle and be able to develop a critical view of the use of historical argument in contemporary debates.
Prerequisite knowledge and skills
Basic knowledge of law and legal history, general academic interest, ability to read texts in French.
Planned learning activities and teaching methods
The course will not only consist of ex cathedra lectures, which give a general overview of a certain topic, but also of self-study of an anthology of texts and the presentation of personal work. In order to stimulate individual activitiy and critical thinking, students will be expected to write a summary (approx. 1000 words) of one of two texts in the anthology corresponding to a certain class. The collected summaries (approx. 8000 words) shall be submitted to the teacher by the end of the Christmas holidays (6 January 2020 at 6pm). It will form the basis of a discussion between teacher and student during the oral exam. By way of compensation, ten hours of classes will be made available for reading the texts on an individual basis. In the course of December, students will be asked to prepare an oral presentation in which they elaborate upon a subject of their choice that is related to the anthology of texts. The presentation will be followed by a group discussion and will lead to a written text of about 2500 words that has to be submitted before the exam.
Mode of delivery (face to face, distance learning, hybrid learning)
Blended learning
Additional information:
face-to-face; self-study; oral presentation
depending on the number of students enrolled for the course, the approach can be adapted even more to the specific interests of the student
Recommended or required readings
Reading and summarizing eight of the sixteen texts provided in the anthology are obligatory (one text per class). Reading of the other texts is recommended but not required.
Writing of a personal work of about 8000 words by the end of the Christmas holidays (4 January 2021), consisting of summaries of each about 1000 words of eight texts from the anthology - that means one article, to be chosen by the student among the two proposed texts, per class. After the Easter holidays, this work will be followed by an oral presentation on a subject closely related to the anthology of texts but chosen freely by the student. The oral presentation will be supported by a text of about 2500 words that should submitted to the teacher the day before the oral exam at the latest. During the exam period, an oral exam will take place consisting of a discussion about the students' work.
Work placement(s)
Optional Guided Tours
Students will be offered the opportunity to visit the Special Collections of the University of Liège and the State Archives. Both institutions contain exceptional collections of legal documents dating back to the medieval and early modern periods. These guided visits are extra-curricular and not obligatory.
Organisational remarks and main changes to the course
Contacts
wim.decock@uliege.be