DDRO 25A74 - Comparative Contract Law

In the French legal system, contract law is the foundation for the comprehension of other fields of law, which often turn to its provisions to resolve complex legal issues that arise in business practice. For this reason, contract law is generally taught in the second year of studies, with the purpose of familiarizing students as soon as possible with legal terms such as “obligation”, “contract”, “liability”, which will be approached from different angles throughout their university education. At international level, the contract remains the most important legal instrument for international transactions and understanding the functioning of contracts in various legal systems is substantial in the globalized world. The teaching of an introduction to Comparative Contract Law in English allows the students to improve their formation in contract law in the language used in international business and to deepen their knowledge in the particularities of French Contract Law by using the comparative method with other legal systems and sources of International Law (Common Law, EU law, legislation of other European countries). References to the rules of law of other states, especially to the ones subject to Common Law, give students the chance to identify similarities and differences in the making and the performance of contracts and develop an international culture in the field. Based on interactive lectures of two hours per week and on material support shared online every week, students are encouraged to think, compare and understand profoundly the contractual techniques and methods. The objective of this course is to provide students with a critical qualification and ability to express themselves in English on sophisticated issues of French and Comparative Contract Law. The recent reform of the French Civil Law in 2016 which has as purpose to render French Contract Law more attractive to international transactions offers an excellent opportunity for profound and comparative thought on fundamental concepts of Contract Law utilized by most of the legal systems all around the globe.

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The validation of this course will be the result of three grades:

• Written group essay (40% of the overall grade) ;
• Attendance note (10% of the overall grade) ;
• Presentation of a case study (50% of the overall grade).