The Faculty of Law of Charles University () is one of the original four faculties of

Charles University Charles University (CUNI; , UK; ; ), or historically as the University of Prague (), is the largest university in the Czech Republic. It is one of the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, oldest universities in the world in conti ...

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

, Czech Republic. Founded in 1348 by Charles IV on the basis of a bull of

Pope Clement VI Pope Clement VI (; 1291 – 6 December 1352), born Pierre Roger, was head of the Catholic Church from 7 May 1342 to his death, in December 1352. He was the fourth Avignon pope. Clement reigned during the first visitation of the Black Death (1 ...

, it is the oldest law school in the Czech Republic and

Central Europe Central Europe is a geographical region of Europe between Eastern Europe, Eastern, Southern Europe, Southern, Western Europe, Western and Northern Europe, Northern Europe. Central Europe is known for its cultural diversity; however, countries in ...

History and notable people

In 1372, the faculty separated into an independent university of law, which was dissolved at the beginning of the

Hussite Wars The Hussite Wars, also called the Bohemian Wars or the Hussite Revolution, were a series of civil wars fought between the Hussites and the combined Catholic forces of Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor, Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund, the Papacy, a ...

. The law school was not reestablished until 1624. The present law school derives its form from the division of the entire university into Czech and German parts in 1882. Among the school's notable academics, scholars and graduates are Alois von Brinz, Joseph Unger, Eduard Herbst, Emil Sax,

Leopold Hasner von Artha Leopold Hasner von Artha (15 March 1818, Prague – 5 June 1891, Bad Ischl) was an Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federa ...

Hans Kelsen Hans Kelsen (; ; October 11, 1881 – April 19, 1973) was an Austrian and later American jurist, legal philosopher and political philosopher. He is known principally for his theory of law, which he named the " pure theory of law (''Reine Rechts ...

Josef Kaizl Josef Kaizl (10 June 1854, Volyně – 19 August 1901, Myslkovice) was a Czech professor, economist, and politician in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He was a member of the Imperial Council, and also Cisleithanian finance minister (1898–1899). K ...

Alois Rašín Alois Rašín (18 October 1867 – 18 February 1923) was a Czechs, Czech and Czechoslovak politician, economist, one of the founders of Czechoslovakia and first Ministry for Finance. He was the author of the first law of Czechoslovakia and creat ...

, presidents of Czechoslovakia

Edvard Beneš Edvard Beneš (; 28 May 1884 – 3 September 1948) was a Czech politician and statesman who served as the president of Czechoslovakia from 1935 to 1938, and again from 1939 to 1948. During the first six years of his second stint, he led the Czec ...

and

Emil Hácha Emil Dominik Josef Hácha (; 12 July 1872 – 27 June 1945) was a Czech lawyer, the president of Czechoslovakia from November 1938 to March 1939. In March 1939, after the breakup of Czechoslovakia, Hácha was the nominal president of the newly ...

Milada Horáková Milada Horáková (born: Králová, 25 December 1901 – 27 June 1950) was a Czech politician and a member of the underground resistance movement during World War II. She was a victim of judicial murder, convicted and executed by the Communis ...

prime ministers of the Czech Republic A prime number (or a prime) is a natural number greater than 1 that is not a product of two smaller natural numbers. A natural number greater than 1 that is not prime is called a composite number. For example, 5 is prime because the only ways ...

Petr Pithart Petr Pithart (born 2 January 1941) is a Czech politician, lawyer and political scientist who served as Prime Minister of the Czech Republic (then a federal region of Czechoslovakia) from 6 February 1990 to 2 July 1992. He was also the Senator fo ...

and

Stanislav Gross Stanislav Gross (; 30 October 1969 – 16 April 2015) was a Czech lawyer and politician who served as the prime minister of the Czech Republic and leader of the Czech Social Democratic Party from 2004 until 2005 when he resigned as a result of ...

Vice-President of the European Commission A Vice-President of the European Commission is a member of the European Commission who leads the commission's work in particular focus areas in which multiple European Commissioners participate. Currently, the European Commission has a total of ...

Věra Jourová Věra Jourová (; born 18 August 1964) is a Czech politician and lawyer who served as Vice-President of the European Commission for Values and Transparency from 2019 to 2024, and as the European Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equa ...

, presidents of the

Constitutional Court of the Czech Republic The Constitutional Court of the Czech Republic () is the Supreme court, supreme constitutional Judiciary of the Czech Republic, court in the Czech Republic and the ''de facto'' highest and most powerful court in the land. It has its basis in ...

and Czechoslovakia

Karel Baxa Karel Baxa (24 June 1863 – 5 January 1938) was a Czech politician in Austro-Hungarian Monarchy and then in Czechoslovakia. He is most known for his long term position as mayor of Prague (''Primátor hlavního města Prahy''). Advocacy Baxa, neph ...

Pavel Rychetský Pavel Rychetský (born 17 August 1943) is a Czech Republic, Czech lawyer and former politician who was the 3rd President of the Constitutional Court of the Czech Republic. The Senate of the Czech Republic, Senate confirmed him on 16 July 2003 and ...

and

Josef Baxa Josef Baxa (born 31 December 1959) is a Czech lawyer. He is the 4th President of the Constitutional Court of the Czech Republic since 2023. Before joining the Constitutional Court, Baxa was the President of the Supreme Administrative Court of t ...

. Honorary members of the lawyers' association based on the faculty include

Václav Klaus Václav Klaus (; born 19 June 1941) is a Czech economist and politician who served as the second president of the Czech Republic from 2003 to 2013. From July 1992 until the dissolution of Czechoslovakia in January 1993, he served as the second ...

, former

president of the Czech Republic The president of the Czech Republic, constitutionally defined as the President of the Republic (), is the head of state of the Czech Republic and the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of the Czech Republic. The presidency has largely bee ...

, and Sir

Roger Scruton Sir Roger Vernon Scruton, (; 27 February 194412 January 2020) was an English philosopher, writer, and social critic who specialised in aesthetics and political philosophy, particularly in the furtherance of Conservatism in the United Kingdom, c ...

Organization of study

The school offers a five-year

magister degree A magister degree (also magistar, female form: magistra; from , "teacher") is an academic degree used in various systems of higher education. The magister degree arose in medieval universities in Europe and was originally equal to the doctorate; ...

program in law, which is completed by a state examination and the defense of a thesis. Teaching takes the form of lectures, seminars,

moot court Moot court is a co-curricular activity at many law schools. Participants take part in simulated court or arbitration proceedings, usually involving drafting memorials or memoranda and participating in oral argument. In many countries, the phrase ...

s and internships. After passing the state rigorous examination, which includes the defense of the ''rigorous thesis'', the graduates can receive the academic degree

Doctor of Law A Doctor of Laws (LL.D.) is a doctoral degree in legal studies. The abbreviation LL.D. stands for ''Legum Doctor'', with the double “L” in the abbreviation referring to the early practice in the University of Cambridge to teach both canon law ...

(''JUDr.''). Students can continue their studies in the four-year doctoral program, graduates of which receive the

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''doctor'', meaning "teacher") or doctoral degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' licentia docendi'' ("licence to teach ...

(''Ph.D.''). The school also offers postgraduate specialized

Master of Laws A Master of Laws (M.L. or LL.M.; Latin: ' or ') is a postgraduate academic degree, pursued by those either holding an undergraduate academic law degree, a professional law degree, or an undergraduate degree in another subject. In many jurisdi ...

(''LL.M.'') courses for both Czech and foreign lawyers, including five specializations in English: ''The Law and Business in the Czech Republic and Central Europe'', ''International Human Rights Law and Protection of Environment'', ''Health and Law'', ''International Disputes Settlement'' and ''Competition Law''. As of 2024, the school is ranked 1st in the Czech Republic and 176–200 in the world by ''

Times Higher Education ''Times Higher Education'' (''THE''), formerly ''The Times Higher Education Supplement'' (''The THES''), is a British magazine reporting specifically on news and issues related to higher education. Ownership TPG Capital acquired TSL Education ...

''.

International cooperations

The school cooperates with dozens of law schools and universities in student and academic exchanges. In addition to Erasmus Programme and European universities, the school has cooperation agreements with

Tel Aviv University Tel Aviv University (TAU) is a Public university, public research university in Tel Aviv, Israel. With over 30,000 students, it is the largest university in the country. Located in northwest Tel Aviv, the university is the center of teaching and ...

Bar Ilan University Bar-Ilan University (BIU, , ''Universitat Bar-Ilan'') is a public research university in the Tel Aviv District city of Ramat Gan, Israel. Established in 1955, Bar Ilan is Israel's second-largest academic university institution. It has 20,000 ...

National University of Singapore The National University of Singapore (NUS) is a national university, national Public university, public research university in Singapore. It was officially established in 1980 by the merging of the University of Singapore and Nanyang University ...

Soochow University Soochow University or Suzhou University may refer to: *Soochow University (1900–1952) (), a university in Suzhou (Soochow), Jiangsu, China *Soochow University (Taiwan) (, 1951–present), a university in Taipei, Taiwan, founded by faculty from th ...

University of San Francisco The University of San Francisco (USF) is a Private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit university in San Francisco, California, United States. Founded in 1855, it has nearly 9,000 students pursuing undergraduate and graduate degrees ...

Nova Southeastern University Nova Southeastern University (NSU) is a Private university, private research university in Florida with its main campus in Fort Lauderdale-Davie, Florida, Davie, Florida, United States. The university consists of 14 colleges, offering over ...

and

South Texas College of Law South Texas College of Law Houston (STCL or South Texas) is a private law school in Houston, Texas. It was founded in 1923 when the YMCA made the decision to establish a law school with a focus on offering night classes for working professi ...

, among others.

Faculty building

The law school is housed in a listed Neoclassical building constructed between 1924 and 1931 on the bank of the

Vltava The Vltava ( , ; ) is the longest river in the Czech Republic, a left tributary of the Elbe River. It runs southeast along the Bohemian Forest and then north across Bohemia, through Český Krumlov, České Budějovice, and Prague. It is com ...

River, a significant architectural landmark designed by

Jan Kotěra Jan Kotěra (18 December 1871 – 17 April 1923) was a Czech architect, artist and interior designer, and one of the key figures of modern architecture in Bohemia. Biography Kotěra was born in Brno, the largest city in Moravia, to a Czech fath ...

. Its marble main hall has become a popular location for domestic and foreign filmmakers. The building served as headquarters of the

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

authorities in a couple of films and was actually the headquarters of the

Waffen-SS The (; ) was the military branch, combat branch of the Nazi Party's paramilitary ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) organisation. Its formations included men from Nazi Germany, along with Waffen-SS foreign volunteers and conscripts, volunteers and conscr ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. It has appeared in scenes featuring

Karel Čapek Karel Čapek (; 9 January 1890 – 25 December 1938) was a Czech writer, playwright, critic and journalist. He has become best known for his science fiction, including his novel '' War with the Newts'' (1936) and play '' R.U.R.'' (''Rossum' ...

's lectures and

Joseph Goebbels Paul Joseph Goebbels (; 29 October 1897 – 1 May 1945) was a German Nazism, Nazi politician and philologist who was the ''Gauleiter'' (district leader) of Berlin, chief Propaganda in Nazi Germany, propagandist for the Nazi Party, and ...

' speeches.

References

External links

* {{Public universities in the Czech Republic Charles University Educational institutions in Prague

1340s establishments in the Holy Roman Empire 1348 establishments in Europe Law schools in the Czech Republic