Summary Law - Artevelde University of Applied Sciences - 2024/25

LAW
(NO DEFINITIONS FOR THE EXAM)

Contents
LAW..................................................................................................................1
CHAPTER 1: GENERAL INTRODUCTION.........................................................1
CHAPTER 2: (BELGIAN) CONSTITUTIONAL LAW.............................................6
Constitutional Law (public law)..................................................................6
Belgian Constitutional Law........................................................................8
CHAPTER 3: EUROPEAN & INTERNATIONAL LAW........................................14
Council of Europe....................................................................................14
European Union.......................................................................................15
United Nations.........................................................................................18
CHAPTER 4: PERSONS & FAMILY LAW – SUCCESSIONS, DONATIONS & WILLS
...................................................................................................................19
Persons & Family Law..............................................................................19
Successions, Donations & Wills...............................................................22
CHAPTER 5: PROPERTY LAW.......................................................................24
Introduction.............................................................................................24
Main legal sources of property law..........................................................25
Types of property rights in civil law.........................................................25
CHAPTER 6: LAW OF OBLIGATIONS.............................................................27
Contract Law...........................................................................................27
CHAPTER 7: ECONOMIC LAW......................................................................32
Belgian Commercial Law.........................................................................32
European Commercial Law......................................................................37
Risk Insurance.........................................................................................39

CHAPTER 1: GENERAL INTRODUCTION
 Justification

, o Law concerns all of us (buying a coffee / reading the news / media /
traffic)
o Everyone is confronted with law
o What is ‘legal’ is not always what is ‘right’

Short movie: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0VrtY4KWOw

Trump against journalists: censorship / freedom of speech was violated by
Donald Trump

Human Rights: freedom of speech / privacy / education /

UNITED NATIONS (international/worldwide organization that protects human
rights)

Declaration is just a moral standard, a treaty is a legally-binding
international agreement

You can’t become a member of the ‘Council of Europe’ without signing the
‘European Convention on Human Rights’

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Nuremberg Principles: (set of guidelines for determining what
constitutes a war crime)

PRINCIPLE I : any person who commits an act which constitutes a crime
under international law is responsible therefor and liable to punishment

PRINCIPLE II: The fact that internal law does not impose a penalty for an act
which constitutes a crime under international law does not relieve the person
who committed the act from responsibility under international law.

PRINCIPLE III: The fact that a person who committed an act which
constitutes a crime under international law, acted as Head of State or
responsible government official, does not relieve him from responsibility
under international law.

PRINCIPLE IV: the fact that a person pursuant to order of his Government
or of a superior does not relieve him from responsibility under international
law, provided a moral choice was in fact possible to him.

PRINCIPLE V: any person charged with a crime under international law has
the right to a fair trial on the facts and law

PRINCIPLE VI:
The crimes hereinafter set out are punishable as crimes under

,international law:
 (a) Crimes against peace:
 (i) Planning, preparation, initiation or waging of a war of aggression or
a war in violation of international treaties, agreements or assurances;
 (ii) Participation in a common plan or conspiracy for the
accomplishment of any of the acts mentioned under (i).
 (b) War crimes:
 Violations of the laws or customs of war which include, but are not
limited to, murder, ill-treatment or deportation to slave labor or for
any other purpose of civilian population of or in occupied territory;
murder or ill-treatment of prisoners of war or persons on the Seas,
killing of hostages, plunder of public or private property, wanton
destruction of cities, towns, or villages, or devastation not justified
by military necessity.
 (c) Crimes against humanity:
 Murder, extermination, enslavement, deportation and other
inhumane acts done against any civilian population,
or persecutions on political, racial, or religious grounds, when such
acts are done or such persecutions are carried on in execution of or in
connection with any crime against peace or any war crime.



PRINCIPLE VII: complicity in the commission of a crime against peace, a
war crime, or a crime against humanity as set forth in Principle VI is a crime
under international law.

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 What is Law?
= the organisation of just behaviour in a society
o Substantive law and Formal law : 4 types of Substantive Law
 Permission (driving license – permission to drive a car)

, Prohibition (you are not allowed to sell alcohol to minors)
Obligation (you are obligated to pay taxes)
Organizational (all rules regard to administration /
constitutional law)
o Abuse of Right (the exercise of a legal right only to cause
annoyance, harm, or injury to another)

Definition of Law: enforceable / rules of conduct / imposed by the
public authority / structuring civil society

‘Entering into a contract is binding’ -> the principle is a rule of law
‘It is an unwritten rule that one should always arrive on time at an
appointment’ -> the principle is a rule of civility and decent
behaviour



 Distinction
o Mandatory rules of law: laws that purport to apply irrespective of
the law chosen by the parties to govern their contractual relations
 Public Policy Rules (Ordre Public): body of principles
that underpin the operation of legal systems in each state /
addresses the social, moral and economic values that tie a
society together: values that vary in different cultures and
change over time
 Mandatory Protective Rules: rules that purport to apply
with the aim to protect the economic weaker party to a
contract
o Default rules of law: rules of law that can be overridden by a
legally effective agreement (“gap filler”)



 Sources of Law (where can the rules of law be found?)
o Legislation
 Legislation “sensu stricto” = Act of Parliament
 Legislation “sensu lato” = treaties / constitution / acts /
presidential & royal decrees / governmental decisions /
European regulations or directives