University of Glasgow School of Law

The School of Law at the University of Glasgow provides undergraduate and postgraduate courses in Law, and awards the degrees of Bachelor of Laws (Legum Baccalaureus, LL.B.), Master of Laws (Iuris Vtriusque Magistrum, LL.M.), LLM by Research, Master of Research (M.Res.) and Doctor of Philosophy (Philosophiæ Doctor, Ph.D.), the degree of Doctor of Laws being awarded generally only as an honorary degree.

There are forty-nine full-time academic staff and over one thousand students. The current Head of the School of Law is Professor Iain MacNeil.

At the University's foundation in 1451, there were four original faculties: Arts, Divinity, Law and Medicine. Both Canon and Civil Law were taught, however by the sixteenth Century, instruction in both of these had fallen out of practice. It was during this time that James Dalrymple of Stair came to Glasgow to study for an M.A. (1633-1637) and then became a regent (1641-1647) teaching philosophy. He went on to become Lord President of the Court of Session in 1671, and published his Institutions of the Law of Scotland in 1681, the first systematic exposition of Scots Law. The Stair Building, where the School of Law is housed, is named in his honour.

In 1713, Queen Anne endowed the Regius Chair of Law at the University. The first occupant of the Chair (from 1714) was William Forbes, and subsequent notable Professors have included John Millar, William Gloag, David Walker and Joe Thomson. This revived the teaching of Law at Glasgow, and subsequent Chairs included the Chair of Conveyancing, established in 1861 by the Faculty of Procurators; the Douglas Chair of Civil Law in 1948; the Chair in Jurisprudence (1952); in Public Law (1965); and the John Millar Chair of Law in 1985, named for the previously mentioned Regius Professor of Law.