Introduction to law
General introduction to the Western legal system
The law isn’t about religious beliefs and duties: it’s about how society should be organized
and how people should treat one another, regardless of their beliefs. This is the main
difference between secular law and religious law (ex: Canon Law, Islamic Law).
Canon law is a system that dominates the West since the early Middle Ages. The western
world still “knows” canon law, but this type of law isn’t applied by state courts because the
law should apply to all citizens, regardless of religion and beliefs. This is in fact the principle
of applying secular law.
The law and your rights
You can approach law in an objective and subjective way:
1. Law as a societal phenomenon (objective).
a. It’s a set of general rules for outward behavior of people living in a social
context.
b. The observance of these rules is enforced by the government.
2. Law from an individual point of view (subjective)
a. It’s a claim that a person derives from a legal rule (ex: obligation to do, to
give, to abstain from).
There are two sides to the same phenomenon:
1. “I have rights because my claim is protected by law”.
a. I can claim my property because the law protects the right of personal
property.
2. Rules on property (ex: acquisition, loss, etc) are part of the law.
a. Based on these rules, I can claim personal property (my right).
The law and your rights are intrinsically linked:
“Claim your rights based on the law”.
It’s the fundamental idea when going to court: state a claim and claim your
rights based on the rules.
This distinction highlights the difference between subjective and objective litigation:
1. Subjective litigation is about claiming your rights based on the law (ex: I’m a victim
of a car crash, I suffered physical and emotional damages, therefore I want
compensation).
2. Objective litigation is about challenging the law (ex: the person is a victim of a car
crash and suffered damages, therefore requires compensation, but me as a lawyer I’ll
make the case about how the law isn’t applicable/right to this person’s situation).
, Characteristics of the law
The law is the set of mandatory rules for the outward behaviour of the persons that are
enforced by the authorities. The decisive features of the law system are the following:
1. Law is about mandatory rules.
a. Obligations.
b. Prohibitions.
c. The law encourages you to make your own arrangements but, if it’s not
possible to do so, it will intervene.
2. Legal rules concern outward human behaviour.
a. Not animals or objects.
b. Not thoughts or ideas.
3. Legal rules are general and impersonal.
a. Legal certainty exists in order to ban arbitrariness.
b. The scope of the legal rule is unlimited and the number of applications is also
unlimited.
4. Legal rules are enforced by the public authorities.
a. Government.
b. Bailiff.
c. Police.
d. Prison.
e. Sanctions are typical for any kind of rule: moral rules, religious rules, social
conventions.
Forms of enforcement
1. First step: do I have a subjective right?
a. The court must acknowledge your claim, whether you have a subjective right.
2. Second step: is the subjective right enforceable and how?
a. Enforcement in kind (making sure that what you’re entitled to is given to you)
is the standard rule in Belgium and most of continental Europe, while in the
USA/UK/Canada monetary compensation is more common.
i. For example, if I engaged in a contract with a painter to paint my
house and he refuses to do so, in Belgium the courts will generally
make sure that the house will be painted by someone else (so the
painter will have to pay another painting firm to carry out the work),
while in the US I will receive money for the loss I suffered (which I
can spend on whatever I want).
b. However, not every obligation can be enforced in kind: it depends on the type
of the obligation (see below).
3. Third step: qualify the nature of the legal obligation.
a. Obligation to pay.
i. It’s the easiest obligation to enforce in kind.
ii. Most people comply spontaneously, but if you refuse to do so for
whatever reason (ex: don’t have the money to pay or simply don’t want
to) there are some solutions (to avoid jail time):
, 1. Seizure.
2. Public sale (auction).
3. Interest.
b. Obligation to do/to refrain from doing/to give.
i. A court order (injunction) is possible.
ii. However, actual enforcement in kind isn’t easy (“manu militari”, such
as physical coercion).
iii. Other solutions are possible, such as performance by a third party at
the expense of the debtor, restoration in the original state at the
expense of the debtor, imposing a penalty on the debtor.
Penalties for non-compliance:
They’re used to put pressure on the debtor, which in most cases works.
They’re conditional and provisional in nature.
This means that if you don’t comply, each hour/day/week that passes by, the
penalty will increase.
However, it’s not compensational in nature.
This means that a penalty can be combined with payment of monetary
damages.
It’s not allowed to add a penalty to the enforcement of an obligation to pay.
If we would add an additional penalty for non-compliance there would be an
interest-on-interest system, because interest is typically charged with the
obligation to pay, therefore it would be too severe.
Other sanctions:
Compensation.
It implies payment of compensatory damages.
For a material/physical damage.
For a moral/emotional damage.
It’s rather exceptional in the European continent, as enforcement in kind is
more of a standard practice, and also because it’s difficult to value how much
each object (ex: leg, jacket used for 1.5 years, emotional distress, etc) is worth.
Another issue is with evaluating how much responsibility each has in an
accident.
For example, I spilled hot coffee on you and you got burned, but you
also fell down the stairs.
One might argue that it’s not my fault that you fell down the stairs
because it wouldn’t have happened if you weren’t so close to me or the
stairs.
Enforcement through repression.
The purpose is to set an example in order to prevent a relapse.
This includes criminal punishment:
Imprisonment.
Monetary punishment (ex: fines, disqualification, forfeiture, etc).
Safety measures to protect society (ex: psych ward).
Also includes private punishment:
, Taking away financial benefits.
Procedure to enforce subjective rights
1. There’s a ban on self-enforcement.
a. The public authorities have a monopoly on coercion.
i. They deliver an enforceable title, which is an official acknowledgment
of your claim.
ii. They will then organise an actual enforcement.
b. However, there are some exceptions:
i. Right to self-defence in criminal law.
1. However, self-defence can only be applied when your life is
being threatened, not your belongings.
2. The only purpose is to defend your life, not to counter-attack or
overreact/exaggerate (ex: shooting your fleeing attacker in the
back).
ii. Suspensive measures in private law.
1. Right to suspend performance: in the case of a reciprocal
contract, it allows a party to withhold his own performance and
to ward off a claim for such performance until the other party
has performed his obligations under the contract.
a. This is allowed only if specific requirements are met:
i. Reciprocal contract.
ii. The defendant didn’t perform yet, and has no
contractual duty to do so first.
iii. The defendant didn’t cause the other party’s
non-compliance.
iv. The defendant acted in good faith,
proportionally to the loss he suffered.
v. The suspension shouldn’t render later
compliance impossible.
b. For example, I’m the landlord of an apartment and I’ve
entered a contract with a person to rent the apartment. I
give him the keys to the apartment, but in exchange I
receive payment. If I don’t, I can evict the person from
the apartment.
2. Lien: it’s a security interest granted over an item of property to
secure the payment of a debt or performance of some other
obligation.
a. The rightful possessor of an object that belongs to
another person is entitled to detain it, as long as his
claim with regard to that very object has not been met.
b. For example, my car got towed, and the towing
company will keep the car until I pay the fee.
c. In some occasions, lien and the right to suspend
performance may overlap, but lien is a broader concept.
General introduction to the Western legal system
The law isn’t about religious beliefs and duties: it’s about how society should be organized
and how people should treat one another, regardless of their beliefs. This is the main
difference between secular law and religious law (ex: Canon Law, Islamic Law).
Canon law is a system that dominates the West since the early Middle Ages. The western
world still “knows” canon law, but this type of law isn’t applied by state courts because the
law should apply to all citizens, regardless of religion and beliefs. This is in fact the principle
of applying secular law.
The law and your rights
You can approach law in an objective and subjective way:
1. Law as a societal phenomenon (objective).
a. It’s a set of general rules for outward behavior of people living in a social
context.
b. The observance of these rules is enforced by the government.
2. Law from an individual point of view (subjective)
a. It’s a claim that a person derives from a legal rule (ex: obligation to do, to
give, to abstain from).
There are two sides to the same phenomenon:
1. “I have rights because my claim is protected by law”.
a. I can claim my property because the law protects the right of personal
property.
2. Rules on property (ex: acquisition, loss, etc) are part of the law.
a. Based on these rules, I can claim personal property (my right).
The law and your rights are intrinsically linked:
“Claim your rights based on the law”.
It’s the fundamental idea when going to court: state a claim and claim your
rights based on the rules.
This distinction highlights the difference between subjective and objective litigation:
1. Subjective litigation is about claiming your rights based on the law (ex: I’m a victim
of a car crash, I suffered physical and emotional damages, therefore I want
compensation).
2. Objective litigation is about challenging the law (ex: the person is a victim of a car
crash and suffered damages, therefore requires compensation, but me as a lawyer I’ll
make the case about how the law isn’t applicable/right to this person’s situation).
, Characteristics of the law
The law is the set of mandatory rules for the outward behaviour of the persons that are
enforced by the authorities. The decisive features of the law system are the following:
1. Law is about mandatory rules.
a. Obligations.
b. Prohibitions.
c. The law encourages you to make your own arrangements but, if it’s not
possible to do so, it will intervene.
2. Legal rules concern outward human behaviour.
a. Not animals or objects.
b. Not thoughts or ideas.
3. Legal rules are general and impersonal.
a. Legal certainty exists in order to ban arbitrariness.
b. The scope of the legal rule is unlimited and the number of applications is also
unlimited.
4. Legal rules are enforced by the public authorities.
a. Government.
b. Bailiff.
c. Police.
d. Prison.
e. Sanctions are typical for any kind of rule: moral rules, religious rules, social
conventions.
Forms of enforcement
1. First step: do I have a subjective right?
a. The court must acknowledge your claim, whether you have a subjective right.
2. Second step: is the subjective right enforceable and how?
a. Enforcement in kind (making sure that what you’re entitled to is given to you)
is the standard rule in Belgium and most of continental Europe, while in the
USA/UK/Canada monetary compensation is more common.
i. For example, if I engaged in a contract with a painter to paint my
house and he refuses to do so, in Belgium the courts will generally
make sure that the house will be painted by someone else (so the
painter will have to pay another painting firm to carry out the work),
while in the US I will receive money for the loss I suffered (which I
can spend on whatever I want).
b. However, not every obligation can be enforced in kind: it depends on the type
of the obligation (see below).
3. Third step: qualify the nature of the legal obligation.
a. Obligation to pay.
i. It’s the easiest obligation to enforce in kind.
ii. Most people comply spontaneously, but if you refuse to do so for
whatever reason (ex: don’t have the money to pay or simply don’t want
to) there are some solutions (to avoid jail time):
, 1. Seizure.
2. Public sale (auction).
3. Interest.
b. Obligation to do/to refrain from doing/to give.
i. A court order (injunction) is possible.
ii. However, actual enforcement in kind isn’t easy (“manu militari”, such
as physical coercion).
iii. Other solutions are possible, such as performance by a third party at
the expense of the debtor, restoration in the original state at the
expense of the debtor, imposing a penalty on the debtor.
Penalties for non-compliance:
They’re used to put pressure on the debtor, which in most cases works.
They’re conditional and provisional in nature.
This means that if you don’t comply, each hour/day/week that passes by, the
penalty will increase.
However, it’s not compensational in nature.
This means that a penalty can be combined with payment of monetary
damages.
It’s not allowed to add a penalty to the enforcement of an obligation to pay.
If we would add an additional penalty for non-compliance there would be an
interest-on-interest system, because interest is typically charged with the
obligation to pay, therefore it would be too severe.
Other sanctions:
Compensation.
It implies payment of compensatory damages.
For a material/physical damage.
For a moral/emotional damage.
It’s rather exceptional in the European continent, as enforcement in kind is
more of a standard practice, and also because it’s difficult to value how much
each object (ex: leg, jacket used for 1.5 years, emotional distress, etc) is worth.
Another issue is with evaluating how much responsibility each has in an
accident.
For example, I spilled hot coffee on you and you got burned, but you
also fell down the stairs.
One might argue that it’s not my fault that you fell down the stairs
because it wouldn’t have happened if you weren’t so close to me or the
stairs.
Enforcement through repression.
The purpose is to set an example in order to prevent a relapse.
This includes criminal punishment:
Imprisonment.
Monetary punishment (ex: fines, disqualification, forfeiture, etc).
Safety measures to protect society (ex: psych ward).
Also includes private punishment:
, Taking away financial benefits.
Procedure to enforce subjective rights
1. There’s a ban on self-enforcement.
a. The public authorities have a monopoly on coercion.
i. They deliver an enforceable title, which is an official acknowledgment
of your claim.
ii. They will then organise an actual enforcement.
b. However, there are some exceptions:
i. Right to self-defence in criminal law.
1. However, self-defence can only be applied when your life is
being threatened, not your belongings.
2. The only purpose is to defend your life, not to counter-attack or
overreact/exaggerate (ex: shooting your fleeing attacker in the
back).
ii. Suspensive measures in private law.
1. Right to suspend performance: in the case of a reciprocal
contract, it allows a party to withhold his own performance and
to ward off a claim for such performance until the other party
has performed his obligations under the contract.
a. This is allowed only if specific requirements are met:
i. Reciprocal contract.
ii. The defendant didn’t perform yet, and has no
contractual duty to do so first.
iii. The defendant didn’t cause the other party’s
non-compliance.
iv. The defendant acted in good faith,
proportionally to the loss he suffered.
v. The suspension shouldn’t render later
compliance impossible.
b. For example, I’m the landlord of an apartment and I’ve
entered a contract with a person to rent the apartment. I
give him the keys to the apartment, but in exchange I
receive payment. If I don’t, I can evict the person from
the apartment.
2. Lien: it’s a security interest granted over an item of property to
secure the payment of a debt or performance of some other
obligation.
a. The rightful possessor of an object that belongs to
another person is entitled to detain it, as long as his
claim with regard to that very object has not been met.
b. For example, my car got towed, and the towing
company will keep the car until I pay the fee.
c. In some occasions, lien and the right to suspend
performance may overlap, but lien is a broader concept.
