Multilinguism in Legal Practice and Legal Education: The Case of Belgium

Belgium is characterized by a significant linguistic diversity. First of all, it has three official languages—Dutch, German and French. In addition, because of the country’s location in the heart of geographical and political Europe, its population—particularly in Brussels—includes large groups of foreign language speakers (most notably, English-speaking people). It is therefore not surprising that law schools in Belgium devote a large part of their curricula both to foreign language courses, and even legal courses taught in a foreign language. This contribution first recalls the Belgian constitutional rules relating to the distribution of competences in the fields of education and the use of languages. Secondly, the contribution explores the minimum and maximum “legal constraints” that apply to Belgian universities when they want to include in their programs (Bachelor and Master) either foreign language courses and/or legal courses taught in a foreign language. On this basis, this contribution shows how, beyond these legal constraints, or within their boundaries, some legal curricula organized at Belgian law schools have in fact become truly bilingual, or even trilingual. The experience of the Bachelor’s degree courses co-organized by the two universities the authors of this contribution affiliate to, may serve as an illustration.