Occupational risk and a clean record

Born into a good family in 1917, Simone David could have become a pianist, as her parents had hoped. But the young woman wanted to enroll in the Faculty of Law. This was to be a linguistic sojourn on the other side of the Channel as a year of reflection. She would return with a perfect command of English and the same fixed idea. She was well advised. A brilliant student, Simone David-Constant spent her entire career at the University of Liège. In 1942, she became the first woman assistant at the Faculty of Law, in Professor Paul Horion's department, before becoming the first woman to defend an agrégation thesis in 1957 and being appointed - again a first - full professor in 1961. "Simone David-Constant was a pioneer at a time when women were in the extreme minority at university. Today, female students are in the majority in the Faculty of Law and women are more present in the academic body, as well as being very numerous in the legal profession. But we mustn't lose sight of what this represented at the time," comments Christine Biquet, who now teaches the Law of Obligations course that Simone David-Constant taught for over twenty years.

Unusual for the time, her double name testifies to a de facto modernity, the result of her atypical career path. "She married Attorney General Jean Constant in 1963, at a time when she was already famous under the name Simone David, which she kept, adding her husband's," explains Christine Biquet. With so many leading roles, it's tempting to see Simone David-Constant as a feminist figure. However, as Christine Biquet points out,"this would be in spite of herself, who never claimed to be a feminist, nor did she fight such a battle. She approached the question with finesse and a high viewpoint". Thus, in her inaugural lecture for the Suzanne Tassier Chair 1970-1971, entitled "La condition juridique de la femme - Histoire d'une 'décolonisation'", Simone David-Constant made it clear from the outset:"It is ... in a climate of serene objectivity that I would like to situate our forthcoming discussions. Our environment is that of a university chair, not a battle platform. What'smore, feminists and anti-feminists easily find other ways of gaining access to public opinion" (Lesson in Selected Texts, p. 156).

In 1957, Simone David defended what was then known as the agrégation thesis (the title of "doctor" was awarded to all law graduates). She was 40 years old, with 15 years of work and reflection behind her, as well as a year's study at Strasbourg University and seven years' experience as a lawyer. "It's a work of great maturity, open to comparative law (French and English law in particular), which she defended with resounding success", continues Christine Biquet. The subject she chose - compensation for accidents at work - was nonetheless one of the most arid. "At the time,accidents in the workplace were still governed by an old, highly technical 1903 law that had been somewhat neglected by the doctrine," explains Christine Biquet. Going back to the foundations and principles of lump-sum compensation, Simone David-Constant confronts them with the basic principles of civil liability under ordinary law. "The principle of liability under common law is that there must be a fault, damage and a causal link between the fault and the damage. You have to find a fault and a wrongdoer to obtain compensation for your damage. Now, when we talk about automatic compensation, we forget the idea of fault in favor of a sort of "deal": it will be automatic, but at the same time it will be lump-sum. It's a very topical issue that can be found in many other fields, such as compensation for road accidents." If Simone David-Constant chose this research theme, it was explicitly for its practical interest - litigation is rife - and because she sees law not as an abstract science, but on the contrary as a discipline open to economic and social realities. "She was also attracted by the human dimension of research, since the economic capacity of workers was at stake. Even if, at all times, she was careful to place herself on the side of both employer and worker," explains Christine Biquet.

In so doing, Simone David-Constant explores multiple lines of thought that have lost none of their relevance. "Alongside fault-based liability, what is the place of hypotheses of no-fault liability? What is the basis for admitting no-fault or risk-based liability? Does the employer have risk-based liability because of the profit generated? Or is it because he has authority over his workers that he must compensate them? Should we prefer automatic compensation through compulsory insurance, as is currently the case (notably) for industrial accidents? Should lump-sum compensation, which may be incomplete, give way to full compensation if the employer is proven to be at fault?" asks Christine Biquet. This dissertation has won acclaim as much for its relevance as for the bridges it builds between labor law and the law of obligations, a concern for interdisciplinarity that will never leave its author: "In her foreword, she writes: "At the very least, we believe that our attempt will not have been in vain if it can convince civilists and labour lawyers of the need to work together more closely; the former would then be offered a rapidly expanding subject and renewed contact with social realities; the latter, a rigorous method that would be as useful for the application of existing texts as it would be for the development of tomorrow's law.

In her other contributions, Simone David-Constant is similarly concerned with the impact of social security law on family law, arguing that the subsistence of "non-legitimate" children should be guaranteed in the same way as that of legitimate children. "In the name of what moral rule would we disavow this solution?" she asks, recalling Loysel's quotation: "Whoever makes a child must nourish it" ("Social security, a factor in the transformation of private law, particularly family law", Textes choisis). With her characteristic unfailing rigor, she also examined the legal and social status of women, pointing out the anachronisms of Belgian law, which in 1971 still enshrined the preponderance of the husband in the system of legal community. He also focused on the modernization of the law of obligations. "All his texts are marked by his great literary and historical culture, and his perfect command of the language", adds Christine Biquet.

A faithful reflection of his personality, the Fonds David-Constant, created in 2003 in accordance with his will, focuses on three areas: the protection of disadvantaged children, support for the restoration of Liège's heritage, and the promotion of studies and research in the field of law in Liège. In particular, the Fund has enabled the creation of the David-Constant Chair within the Faculty of Law, the establishment of scholarships and scientific stays, participation in international mooting competitions, the organization of conferences and the award of the David-Constant Medal. "Simone David-Constant was adored by her students for her oratorical and pedagogical skills, the clarity of her thinking and her choice of the right word: she said that to teach was to explain complicated things without pedantry, and to choose to say only what was important to say. She established a connivance with her students, for example by staging them in case studies, while always maintaining a certain distance. In short, she was a perfect blend of classicism and modernity," concludes Christine Biquet (quoting I. Moreau-Margrève, "En hommage à Simone David-Constant", Ann. Dr. Liège, 1984/4, p. 261 and J. Hansenne, "Préface", in Textes choisis).

A text written by Julie Luong

see the biography of Simone David-Constant 

Consult Simone David-Constant's scientific publications

References

(1) (1) "Civil liability and professional risk: thesis for the agrégation de l'enseignement supérieur", 1957 "In tribute to Simone David-Constant: selected texts", 1984