(Under)graduate teaching in the field of Law and ICT

General comments in the light of the Bachelor in Law organized by the University of Namur

Robert Queck

http://www.fundp.ac.be/facultes/droit

See also Presentation made at the Lefis General Assembly, Firenze,

February 2006

This presentation concentrates on the Law Faculty. Teachings related to Law

and ICT are also offered by other Faculties of the University (Institute for

Informatics, Faculty of Economic, Social and Management Sciences) of

Namur

LEFIS Working Group 1Oslo 19-20 May 2006

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Outline

I. General objective of a bachelor degree in Law and the issue of

creating a specific bachelor degree in “ICT–Law”

II. ICT and ICT-Law in the context of a bachelor degree in Law

1. Elements of ICT-Law as ingredients of general bachelor’s courses

2. ICT and ICT-Law as subject of specific (optional) courses :

3. ICT as teaching aid

III. References

N.B.: “ICT-Law” is inderstood in a broad sense, integration both,

Information law and legal informatics

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I. General objective of a bachelor

degree in Law and the issue of creating a

specific bachelor degree in “ICT-Law”

N.B.: 1. Decree of French Community of Belgium of 31.03.2004 on defining higher Education and favouring its integration in the European higher education space

2. Bachelor in law = 1st cycle, 3 years, 180 credits

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I.1. General objective of a “bachelor in law” degree

“To train good general practitioners in law”

=> the Bachelor curriculum aims at providing a complete coverage of the necessary basic legal topics = the “basics”

e.g. Constitutional Law, Obligations / Contract Law, Sources and

Principles of Law, Criminal Law, Family Law, Legal Methodology, Legal Terminology, Procedural Law, EU Institutions, property, Administrative Law,

Commercial Law, Social Law, Liberties, Roman Law …

+ a lawyer needs to understand and take into account the environment in which law is created and applied: legal courses are complemented by other disciplines e.g. Economics, Philosophy, Psychology, Sociology, History of Belgian Institutions,…

=> Courses aiming at specialization are in principle reserved for the Master programme, e.g. Tax Law, International Law

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I.2. A specific bachelor degree in “ICT-Law” as such?

NO ?

It is currently not foreseen by French Community Decree

Some questions:

• Would it not provide a knowledge too specific and a too narrow basis

for the education of the student at graduate level?

• Would it not provide a knowledge too specific for giving real chances

on the labour market ?

• Would it not request prerequisites in Law which the students would in

principle not have?

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II. ICT and ICT / Information Society Law

in the context of a bachelor degree in Law

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II.1. Elements of ICT-Law as ingredients of general bachelor courses

The issue:

ICT are increasingly part of every days life: lawyers are confronted

with them as object of analysis or as tools => ICT-Law aspects are

increasingly integrated within general bachelor courses

e.g.: Contract Law – proof and digital signature

Procedural Law – use of ICT in the administration of justice

Intellectual Property - copyright as applied also to software

Criminal Law – computer crime (but maybe rather a specialisation issue?)

…

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II.1. ICT-Law as an element of general bachelor’s courses, ctd.

Consequences of the integration of ICT-Law elements in bachelors courses for (complementary)Master programmes

If only open to students with a legal background:

some courses can draw on elements addressed during bachelor degree and

provide “true master contents”

If also open to students with a non-legal background:

at least for some courses there is a risk of a “digital divide”

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II.1. ICT-Law as an element of general bachelor’s courses, ctd.

The special case of the course on Legal Methodology (30 h teaching – 45 h paper – 7 credits) Objective and contents:

introduction to legal methodology and reasoning, esp. to familiarize students with sources of information materials (acts, case-law, articles,…), to introduce them to the analysis of court rulings and to teach them how to search for documentation

Methodology: - Paper and electronic sources (off-line and on-line) are used

- Regarding electronic sources emphasis is put on both, technical and intellectual control

- Combination of ex cathedra teaching, practical work sessions with computers and writing of an individual paper

Assessment : the paper and its oral presentation to a group of students working in the same field

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II.2. ICT and ICT-Law as a subject of specific (optional) courses

Principles:

Which ones ? - Introduction to legal informatics

- Computer Law

Need, already at the level of a bachelors degree? Yes

Objectives and learning outcomes?

When ?

Optional or mandatory?

Number of ECTS / workload?

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II.2. ICT and ICT- Law as a subject …, ctd.

(Technical) introduction to Legal Informatics• Namur : 30 h – 3 credits – optional - 2nd/3rd year

• Objectives : introduction to computer science terminology and teach law

students to understand and use basic tools (text

processing, legal data bases, internet,…):

- providing them a certain “digital culture”

- support Legal methodology course

• Contents : basic concepts of hardware (how does a computer function?),

software, networks, databases and purchases =>

content to be reviewed with increasing popularization and use of ICT

• Methodology : ex cathedra teaching + practical exercises

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II.2. ICT and ICT- Law as a subject …, ctd.

Computer Law Namur : 30 h – 3 credits – optional - 2nd/3rd year

Objective : provide a general overview of legal issues raised by

development of informatics and communications networks

Need : complementary to the integration of ICT aspects in general bachelors courses as it allows for a more systematic and in-depth approach

Contents : general issues like software protection, liability of intermediary

Internet service providers, advertisement on the web,

electronic signature, computer crime => contents to

evolve with increasing integration of ICT-Law elements into general bachelor courses

Addresses : students in law and computer science (master)

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II.3. ICT as teaching aid

Use of ICT within the courses

Computer pool(s) inside and outside library

Use of ICT after/ beyond the courses

- http://www.fundp.ac.be/etudes/cursus/page_view/bdroi/:

=> description of the different courses (objectives, contents, semester, method of teaching and of practical works)

- http://webcampus.fundp.ac.be/

=> materials (slides, readings, questionnaires, cases,…): towards “e-learning”?

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III. References

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III. References

M. FALLON, « Information et formations juridiques:une question

de méthode », Ann. Dr., 2000, n° 1, p. 103 – 112

R. QUECK, « Technologies de l’information et de la

communication, réglementation et enseignement : des enjeux

pour l’avenir ! », Revue Ubiquité, n° 16/2003, p. 3 - 8