Constitutional Law I

Teacher(s)

Clarenne Julian (compensates El Berhoumi Mathias); Dumont Hugues; El Berhoumi Mathias;

Language

French

Learning outcomes

At the end of this learning unit, the student is able to :

This course is the first part of the Constitutional Law course, which will be completed in second year by a further 60 hours of lectures and six tutorial sessions. Ideally, at the end of the “Constitutional Law I” course, students should essentially be able: a) to understand and assimilate the meaning or meanings of the elementary legal concepts studied in class, mainly the following ones: public law, constitutional law, State, sovereignty, institutionalised power, legal person, constitution, original constituent power, derived constituent power, rigid constitution, flexible constitution, delegation of authority, constitutional custom, declaration of revision of the constitution, law, special law, decree, ordinance, regulation, norm, administrative act, general principles of law, nation, nationality, sub-nationality, citizenship, subjective law, right of people to self-determination, territory, political community, competence, organ, region, community, linguistic region, administrative constituency, administrative district, electoral college, electoral constituency, decentralisation, devolution, unitary model, federal model, regional model, confederation of States, functional duplication, residual competence; b) to show rigor and precision in the presentation of these concepts; c) to understand the links that connect these fundamental concepts to each other; d) to understand the epistemological presuppositions of the science of public law : distinction between the legal analysis of the State, political science and political philosophy; distinction between the description, explanation, evaluation and prescription registers; e) to understand and assimilate the following political science concepts : institutional and political system, civil society, consociative, consociational or consensual democracy, pillarisation, highly institutionalised State, weakly institutionalised State, nation, nationalism; f) to understand and assimilate certain rules of positive law of Belgium (including the rules for the revision of the Constitution, the rules for the jurisdictional control of the constitutionality of laws, decrees, ordinances and regulation, the rules of nationality law, and the rules governing the organisation of Communities and Regions in Belgium) and situate them in their historical and political context; g) to handle the codes containing the texts of positive law studied in class; h) to provide elements of critical evaluation of the legal systems studied in class; i) to analyse the political news reported in the daily press in the light of the concepts and rules studied in class; Again, ideally, this course should prompt students to “think further”, which is exactly what the student is invited to do in the sections entitled: “to think further” as well as with the bibliographical references of the syllabus.

Content

The course plan is composed of:
First part: The State, notions and foundations:
Chapter I: The notion of State
Chapter II: The State and the Constitution
Chapter III: The State and the nation
Chapter IV: The State and the territory

Second part: The divisions and structures of the State:
Chapter I: The divisions and structures of a State in general
Chapter II: The Belgian State and its divisions
Chapter III: The Belgian State and its structures
Third part: The exercise of power in the State and the democratic requirement
Chapter I: The democratic requirement
Chapter II: The different forms of democracy
Chapter III: The separation of powers and political regimes

Teaching methods

- Essentially theoretical ex cathedra lecture;
- The teacher will be receptive to answer any questions during breaks or after sessions;
- A tutorial (optional) of sources and principles of law and constitutional law is given by Ms. Maïlys Verhaegen during the second term to help students achieve the objectives set out above.
- A question and answer session is held at the end of the semester.

Evaluation methods

Oral examination with a preparation time.

Other information

Didactic supports proposed to the students: a syllabus that has to be completed by the students’ notes. This syllabus includes bibliographical information, invitations “to think further”, doctrine articles, maps and diagrams. The maps and diagrams are shown on screen during the lectures. Reference manuals are recommended;

Bibliography

Voir le précis et le syllabus.

Faculty or entity

DRTB