The University of Pretoria Faculty of Law was established in 1908. It consists of six academic departments, six centres, two law clinics, and the Pretoria University Law Press (PULP). This faculty ranked best in Africa for the fourth year in a row with leading Departments of

Jurisprudence Jurisprudence, or legal theory, is the theoretical study of the propriety of law. Scholars of jurisprudence seek to explain the nature of law in its most general form and they also seek to achieve a deeper understanding of legal reasoning a ...

;

Mercantile Law ''Lex mercatoria'' (from the Latin language, Latin for "merchant law"), often referred to as "the Law Merchant" in English, is the body of commercial law used by merchants throughout Europe during the Middle Ages, medieval period. It evolved simi ...

;

Private Law Private law is that part of a civil law legal system which is part of the ''jus commune'' that involves relationships between individuals, such as the law of contracts and torts (as it is called in the common law), and the law of obligations ( ...

;

Procedural Law Procedural law, adjective law, in some jurisdictions referred to as remedial law, or rules of court, comprises the rules by which a court hears and determines what happens in civil, lawsuit, criminal or administrative proceedings. The rules are ...

; Public Law; and Centre for Human Rights. The faculty offers the undergraduate LLB degree, and postgraduate LLM/MPhil and LLD/PhD degrees. The Oliver R Tambo Law Library houses the faculty's collection of legal materials and the Law of Africa collection in the library is the single most comprehensive and current collection of primary legal materials of African countries. The faculty organises the annual

African African or Africans may refer to: * Anything from or pertaining to the continent of Africa: ** People who are native to Africa, descendants of natives of Africa, or individuals who trace their ancestry to indigenous inhabitants of Africa *** Ethn ...

and

World Human Rights Moot Court Competition The Nelson Mandela World Human Rights Moot Court Competition is a moot court competition on international human rights law. In 2009, the University of Pretoria Faculty of Law's Centre for Human Rights, with the assistance of the Office of the Unit ...

. In 2006, faculty's

Centre for Human Rights The Centre for Human Rights at the University of Pretoria Faculty of Law, South Africa, is an organisation dedicated to promoting human rights on the continent of Africa. The centre, founded in 1986, promotes human rights through educational o ...

received the

UNESCO Prize for Human Rights Education The UNESCO/Bilbao Prize for the Promotion of a Culture of Human Rights, created in 1978 as the UNESCO Prize for Human Rights Education to mark the 30th anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, serves to honour the ef ...

.Europe Intelligence Wire. (2003-Jan-07
UNESCO awards Czech film festival One World
/ref> Since 1997, the university has produced more research output every year than any other institution of higher learning in South Africa, as measured by the Department of Education's accreditation benchmark.

History

The proposal for a university for the capital, first mooted in the Volksraad in 1889, was interrupted by the outbreak of the

Anglo Boer War The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the Sout ...

in 1899. In 1902 after the signing of the

Peace of Vereeniging The Treaty of Vereeniging was a peace treaty, signed on 31 May 1902, that ended the Second Boer War between the South African Republic and the Orange Free State, on the one side, and the United Kingdom on the other. This settlement provided f ...

, the Normal College for teacher training was established in Groenkloof, Pretoria and in 1904 the

Transvaal Technical Institute The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (), is a multi-campus South African public research university situated in the northern areas of central Johannesburg. It is more commonly known as Wits University or Wits ( or ). The university ...

, with emphasis on mining education, opened in Johannesburg. In 1906 the Transvaal Technical Institute changed its name to the Transvaal University College. On 4 March 1908 when the Transvaal University College (TUC) transferred its arts and science courses to its newly established

Pretoria Pretoria () is South Africa's administrative capital, serving as the seat of the Executive (government), executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to South Africa. Pretoria straddles the Apies River and extends ...

Campus the precursor to the university was established, initially offering courses in languages, sciences, and law. In November 2019, Elsabe Schoeman became Dean of UP Law. Since August 2020, the Deputy Dean for Teaching and Learning is Professor Charles Maimela, the youngest and first black Deputy Dean at UP Law. UP Law currently employs approximately 70 dedicated full-time academics.

Global ranking

UP Law obtained a global 90th-placed ranking in 2020, 76th in 2019 and 92nd in 2018, making it the highest ranked Faculty of Law on the Africa continent. The faculty has conferred 179 masters' and 35 doctoral graduates in 2017, followed by 173 master's and 27 doctoral graduates in 2018. In 2019, UP Law conferred 18 doctoral and 246 Master's degrees. University of Pretoria Faculty of Law

Old Arts Faculty Building, University of Pretoria

Centres, Units and Institutes

Centres, Units & Institutes in the faculty include the Centre for Advanced Corporate & Insolvency Law, Centre for Child Law, Centre for Human Rights, Centre for Intellectual Property Law, Centre for Medicine & Law, Institute for International and Comparative Law in Africa and Sports Law Centre in Africa. The Centres, Units & Institutes have a research and academic purpose.

Centre for Human Rights

The

at the

University of Pretoria The University of Pretoria ( af, Universiteit van Pretoria, nso, Yunibesithi ya Pretoria) is a multi-campus public university, public research university in Pretoria, the administrative and de facto capital of South Africa. The university was ...

, South Africa, is an organisation dedicated to promoting human rights on the continent of Africa. The centre, founded in 1986, promotes human rights through educational outreach, including multinational conferences, seminars and publications such as ''Human Rights Law in Africa'', The

African Human Rights Law Journal The ''African Human Rights Law Journal'' publishes peer-reviewed contributions dealing with human rights related topics of relevance to Africa, Africans, and scholars of Africa. The journal appears twice a year, in March and October. Indexing T ...

, the

African Human Rights Law Reports The ''African Human Rights Law Reports'' is an annual law journal published by JUTA Law on behalf of the Centre for Human Rights at the University of Pretoria. It contains legal decisions of relevance to human rights law in Africa. These include se ...

and ''The Constitutional Law of South Africa''. The centre, which was founded during

Apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

, assisted in adapting a

Bill of Rights A bill of rights, sometimes called a declaration of rights or a charter of rights, is a list of the most important rights to the citizens of a country. The purpose is to protect those rights against infringement from public officials and pri ...

for South Africa and contributed to creating the

South African Constitution The Constitution of South Africa is the supreme law of the Republic of South Africa. It provides the legal foundation for the existence of the republic, it sets out the rights and duties of its citizens, and defines the structure of the Govern ...

. In 2006, the centre received the

Institute for International and Comparative Law in Africa

The Institute for International and Comparative Law in Africa (ICLA), established at the beginning of 2011, is a research institute located in the Faculty of Law with Professors

Erika de Wet Erika may refer to: Arts and Entertainment * Hayasaka Erika (''Megatokyo)'' * Erika (''Friends'') * Erika (''Pokémon'') * Erika (''Underworld'') * Erika Itsumi ''(Girls und Panzer)'' * ''Erika'' (film), a 1971 Italian thriller film * "E ...

and

Christof Heyns Christoffel Hendrik Heyns (10 January 1959 – 28 March 2021) was a Professor of Human Rights Law, Director of the Institute for International and Comparative Law in Africa at the University of Pretoria and a member of the United Nations Human ...

(the United Nations Special Rapporteur for extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions) being appointed as co-directors. The ICLA co-ordinates the Oxford Constitutions Online African country reports and collaborates with the Centre for Human Rights to co-ordinate the Oxford Reports on International Law in Domestic Courts (ILDC) Online African case law.

Centre for Child Law

The Centre for Child was established in 1998 and is enjoys recognition as a law clinic by the Law Society. Established in 2003 the centre's Children's Litigation Project acts as

amicus curiae An ''amicus curiae'' (; ) is an individual or organization who is not a party to a legal case, but who is permitted to assist a court by offering information, expertise, or insight that has a bearing on the issues in the case. The decision on ...

in litigation in relation to children's rights through, appearing in several cases before the North and South Gauteng High Court, Supreme Court of Appeal and Constitutional Court.

Moot Court Competitions

Pretoria University Law Press

The Pretoria University Law Press (PULP), situated within the Faculty of Law, publishes and distributes advanced scholarly legal texts in English, Afrikaans, French, Arabic and Portuguese. PULP publishes a series of collections of legal documents related to African public law and legal text books from other African countries and is a member of the Publishers' association of South Africa.

Student activities

Law students participate in the following activities: * The Constitutional Tribunal is the judicial body of student governance and adjudicates disputes primarily between student organisations and its judge's sit on the panel of student disciplinary hearings. * The Pretoria Student Law Review (PSLR), published by PULP, is student driven and administered initiative providing an interactive student platform for to discuss topical legal matters. * Law House provides a platform for social engagement, community outreach and student engagement with the faculty. * Several internal and external moot court competitions through the Moot and Debating Society. * The Student Disciplinary Advisory Panel (SDAP) may give advice to students appearing in front of student disciplinary hearings regarding the nature of the procedure of student disciplinary hearings.

Alumni

Well known alumni include:

Politicians

Pik Botha Roelof Frederik "Pik" Botha, (27 April 1932 – 12 October 2018) was a South African politician who served as the country's foreign minister in the last years of the apartheid era, the longest-serving in South African history. Known as a liber ...

, Minister of Foreign Affairs and later Minister of Mineral and Energy Affairs *

Ronald Lamola Ronald Ozzy Lamola (born 21 November 1983) is a South African lawyer and politician, Minister of Justice and Correctional Services, and a member of the African National Congress (ANC). He has also been serving as a Member of the National Assembl ...

, Minister of Justice and Correctional Services (since May 2019) *

Nelson Mandela Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (; ; 18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) was a South African Internal resistance to apartheid, anti-apartheid activist who served as the President of South Africa, first president of South Africa from 1994 to 1 ...

, President of South Africa (1994 – 1999), honorary doctorate *

Andries Nel Andries Carl Nel is the Deputy Minister for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs in the Republic of South Africa. He was the Deputy Minister for Constitutional Development from May 2009 until 9 July 2013 and has been a member of Parlia ...

, Deputy Minister of Justice and Correctional Services and now Deputy Minister for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs * J. G. Strijdom, Prime Minister of South Africa (1954 – 1958)

Justices/Judges

* W. G. Boshoff, Former Transvaal Judge President *

Frikkie Eloff Christoffel Frederik "Frikkie" Eloff SC (31 January 1925 – 10 December 2017) was a South African judge who served as Judge President of the Transvaal Provincial Division of the Supreme Court of South Africa from 1991 until 1998. Early life ...

, Former Transvaal Judge President * Brian Galgut, Retired Deputy Judge President, KwaZulu-Natal High Court *

Louis Harms Georg Ludwig Detlef Theodor Harms (baptised as Ludwig, but called Louis during his life) (1808–1865) was a German Lutheran pastor who was nicknamed the "Reviver of the Heath" (''Erwecker der Heide''). One of the most significant Christian reviv ...

, Retired Deputy President of the Supreme Court of Appeal *

Mabel Jansen Martha Mabel Jansen, DMS (''née'' Pellissier; 1 November 1889 — 8 January 1979) was a South African educator, writer, journalist, cultural leader, politician and pioneer in the promotion of Afrikaans, as well as the spouse of th ...

, Former Judge of the Gauteng High Court *

Johann Kriegler Johann Christiaan Kriegler (born 29 November 1932) is a retired justice of the Constitutional Court of South Africa. Early life Born in Pretoria, he matriculated at King Edward VII School in Johannesburg in 1949. He then attended the South Afri ...

, Retired Justice of the Constitutional Court of South Africa (1994 – 2002) *

Frans Lourens Herman Rumpff Frans Lourens Herman Rumpff, (5 June 1912 – 4 April 1992) was the Chief Justice of South Africa from 1974 to 1982. Early life and education Born in Standerton, Transvaal, Rumpff was educated at the University of Pretoria, where he obtained ...

, Chief Justice of South Africa (1972 – 1982) *

Dikgang Moseneke Dikgang Ernest Moseneke (born 20 December 1947) is a South African judge and former Deputy Chief Justice of South Africa. Biography Moseneke was born in Pretoria and went to school there. He joined the Pan-Africanist Congress (PAC) at the ag ...

, Retired Deputy Chief Justice of South Africa (2005 – 2016), honorary doctorate *

Piet Streicher Pieter Emilius Streicher (born 19 June 1944) is a South African lawyer and retired Judge of Appeal in the Supreme Court of Appeal. He graduated with an LL.B. (''cum laude'') from the University of Pretoria in 1969 and was appointed a judge in t ...

, retired Judge of the Supreme Court of Appeal *

Johann van der Westhuizen Johann van der Westhuizen (born 26 May 1952 in Windhoek, South West Africa (now Namibia) is a former judge of the Constitutional Court of South Africa. Before his judicial appointment, he was a professor at the University of Pretoria Faculty of ...

, Judge of the Constitutional Court of South Africa

Other

George Bizos George Bizos ( el, Γιώργος Μπίζος; 14 November 19279 September 2020) was a Greek-South African human rights lawyer who campaigned against apartheid in South Africa. He was noted for representing Nelson Mandela during the Rivonia T ...

, honorary doctorate (died 9 September 2020) *

, Former Director (1999–2006) of the Centre for Human Rights (died 28 March 2021) * Dire Tladi, Principal State Law Adviser for International Law for the South African

Department of International Relations and Cooperation The Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) is the foreign ministry of the South African government. It is responsible for South Africa's relationships with foreign countries and international organizations, and runs South A ...

and South Africa Mission to the United Nations * Anna-Marie de Vos *

Wim Trengove Wim Trengove SC is a South African advocate best known for his role in the development of South African Constitutional jurisprudence and his involvement in high-profile political cases. Career Wim Trengove has litigated many of South Africa' ...

* Leonora van den Heever

Notes

{{Authority control University of Pretoria Legal education in South Africa