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Identical coursesInternational Law and the European Union (B-KUL-C08I6A)
Cannot be taken as part of an examination contractAims
This course examines the international legal order and the place of the European Union within it.
Previous knowledge
The initial requirements coincide with the bulk of the final terms of the bachelor of laws:
a. He/she has a basic knowledge of EU law and international law and a general insight in the relationship between those two legal orders
b. He/she is able to situate law in its social, historical and geographical context and is capable of subjecting the law to a critical, reflective examination
c. He/she has sufficiently practiced and extended his/her ability for abstraction and his/her capability of synthesis and analysis in order to be able to reflect creatively on law and legal issues
d. He/she has mastered legal reasoning and argumentation techniques
e. He/she knows the sources that are specific for this discipline
f. He/she can express him/herself in English, both orally and in writing.
Is included in these courses of study
- Master of Laws (LL.M) (Leuven) 60 ects.
- Master of Laws (LL.M) (Leuven) (International and European Public Law Option) 60 ects.
Activities
6 ects. International Law and the European Union (B-KUL-C08I6a)
Content
The European Court of Justice famously held that ‘the Community constitutes a new legal order of international law for the benefit of which the States have limited their sovereign rights, albeit within limited fields, and the subjects of which comprise not only Member States but also their nationals’ (Case 26/62 van Gend & Loos [1963] ECR 1, 12). Taking this as the starting point for our enquiry, this course examines the international legal order and the place of the European Union within it. In what way can it be said that the Union is a new legal order of international law, and in what way is it a new legal order of international law? Topics to be examined include the sources of the EU law doctrines of primacy and direct effect and of the principle of conferral in international law, the place of international law within the EU legal order and of the EU legal order within international law, the relationship between the EU and the UN legal orders, the relationship between the EU and the WTO and the relationship between EU law and human rights law.
Course material
•Reader
•Recommended: J. Wouters, A. Nollkaemper & E. De Wet (eds.), The Europeanization of International Law (TMC Asser Press, 2008)
Format: more information
Supervised self-study on the basis of selected case-law, legal writing and EU legal instruments, followed by in-depth analysis and synthesis of the underlying legal problems during seminars, offering sufficient opportunities for discussion and interaction, as well as for student presentations.
Evaluation
Evaluation: International Law and the European Union (B-KUL-C28I6a)
Explanation
Students are evaluated on the basis of class participation, including presentations giving during class, and of a paper to be written on the basis of supervised research.