Specific skills : 1. To become familiar with the concepts, rules and principles governing offences and law enforcement in general; 2. Understand the links with other branches of law and the humanities; 3. From the light of legislative, jurisprudential and doctrinal sources, construct a rigorous analysis and critically reflect on the solutions that criminal law reserves for different situations; 4. To move from the abstraction of the norm to the concrete fact and, conversely, to transform a field problem into legal questions, notably through illustrations drawn from current events and case law as well as the resolution of practical cases; 5. To become aware of the relative and evolving nature of legal solutions and the controversies they may generate in criminal law. Cross-cutting competences : 1. Stimulating group work (preparation of flipped classes) ; 2. Public speaking (especially in flipped classes and practical exercises) ; 3. Defend a point of view in an argumentative manner (when analysing decisions, solving cases and in advocacy exercises); 4. Enriching the subject matter with personal interventions (orally in class); 5. Use the French language as a tool for legal thinking and master legal terminology; 6. Mobilise specific language skills in Dutch, at least receptively; 7. To awaken or reinforce interest in current affairs ; 8. Valuing the commitment to the defence of fundamental rights ; 9. Gradually gain confidence and autonomy in the work.
The objectives of the course are to ensure a rigorous mastery of the learning outcomes by the student.
The teaching of criminal law covers the general principles of criminal law and includes the rules that determine the general conditions of criminality, liability and punishment.
This is a written examination. Students must bring their bac code, which may not contain any annotations. In addition to the content of the General Criminal Law Manual, the examination material includes everything that has been covered in the course, including reversed classes and lectures. The teacher specifies which parts of the book, if any, are not part of the examination material. The distribution of marks is indicated next to each question. The final score is not purely arithmetical and depends on the teacher's overall assessment of the paper. An official answer key is available to students on webcampus. As the course is given in the first and second terms, two evaluations are carried out: the first at the end of the first term, the second at the end of the second term. Before the end of the first term, the teacher presents the modalities of the January examination and comments on the criteria for the assessment. Advice is given to students on how to best prepare for the type of questions that will be asked. The assessment at the end of the first term (January) covers the material covered in the first term. It is worth a quarter of the final mark (i.e. 5 points out of 20). The January examination takes place in a lecture theatre and has a maximum duration of 2 hours. The questions are of the multiple choice or "true or false" type with a brief justification of the answer and indication of the applicable legal basis. More open-ended questions requiring a focused and fairly brief response may also be asked, calling for precision and reasoning skills. The examination may also include a decision analysis (seen in the course or presented in the Manual) or restitution questions such as definitions or a comparison of different concepts. The questions contain several legal terms in Dutch, but the answer must always be given in French. The assessment at the end of the second term (May-June) is worth three-quarters of the final mark (i.e. 15 points out of 20). It takes place in a lecture theatre and lasts a maximum of 3 hours. It is based on the material covered in the second semester. The questions include several legal terms in Dutch but the answer must always be given in French. The students have to solve a case study according to the method used in the practical exercises. This case study is worth a quarter of the final grade of the exam. The other questions are of the multiple choice or "true or false" type with a brief justification of the answer and indication of the applicable legal basis. More open-ended questions requiring a focused and fairly brief response may also be asked, calling for precision and reasoning skills. The examination may also include a decision analysis (seen in the course or presented in the Manual) or restitution questions such as definitions or a comparison between different concepts. The assessment at the end of the third term (August-September) will cover the entire criminal law course. The examination will be 3 hours long and will include the same categories of questions as those of June listed above. The answers to the previous year's exams are available to students on webcampus. Depending on the evolution of the health situation, certain adjustments may be made to the examination format. The evaluation criteria are as follows; • Understanding and mastery of the material, • Ability to solve concrete cases correctly, • Rigour, clarity, precision, coherence and structure of the answer to the question asked.
The course material consists of a textbook written with an essentially didactic purpose (N. COLETTE-BASECQZ and N. BLAISE, Manuel de droit pénal général, 4th ed, Limal, Anthémis, 2019). It is systematically referred to the relevant provisions of the code, which helps the student to become familiar with it in order to easily find the answers in his code. As an illustration of the rules and principles of criminal law, several case law decisions are reproduced in full in the manual. New legislation and case law (some of which may be in Dutch) seen in the course are made available to students on the webcampus, as well as videos, Powerpoint slides and an addendum containing changes to the subject. The most important legal terms in criminal law are translated into Dutch on the Powerpoint slides and can also be found in a French-Dutch lexicon available on webcampus.