Bachelor of Civil Law (abbreviated ‘BCL’ or ‘B.C.L.’) is the name of various degrees in law conferred by English-language universities. Historically, it originated as a postgraduate degree in the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, but many universities now offer the BCL as an undergraduate degree. Reference to civil law was not originally in contradistinction to common law, but to canon law, although it is true that common law was not taught in the civil law faculties in either university until at least the second half of the 18th century. However, some universities in English-speaking countries use the degree in the former sense.
Famous quotes containing the words bachelor of, bachelor, civil and/or law:
“Shall I never see a bachelor of threescore again?”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“Do not let your bachelor ways crystallize so that you can’t soften them when you come to have a wife and a family of your own.”
—Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822–1893)
“There are those who say to you—we are rushing this issue of civil rights. I say we are 172 years late.”
—Hubert H. Humphrey (1911–1978)
“Who to himself is law, no law doth need, Offends no law, and is a king indeed.”
—George Chapman (c. 1559–1634)