History
The teaching of law at the University of Melbourne began in 1857, when Richard Clarke Sewell was appointed Reader in Law. This was in response to demand from young men wanting to practice law in the colonies, but wanting to stay in Australia to learn. This led to the first degree in law being made available in 1860, and the founding, in 1873, of the Faculty of Law.
The school continued to grow throughout the 19th and 20th century, and underwent its first major transformation with the appointment of Sir Zelman Cowen as Dean in 1951. Sir Zelman shaped the law school after the United States model, reforming teaching, research and academic recruitment. Under his stewardship, full-time academics came to dominate teaching, instead of part-time practitioners. Many prominent international academics were invited to study at the School, and many Australians were given the opportunity to study abroad.
Recent developments in the Law School have seen a shift in emphasis towards postgraduate teaching, which culminated in the 'Melbourne Model', introduced in 2008. Under this model, the study of law is available to postgraduates only, as part of the 'Juris Doctor' program.
Read more about this topic: Melbourne Law School
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“Certainly there is not the fight recorded in Concord history, at least, if in the history of America, that will bear a moment’s comparison with this, whether for the numbers engaged in it, or for the patriotism and heroism displayed.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“The history of literature—take the net result of Tiraboshi, Warton, or Schlegel,—is a sum of a very few ideas, and of very few original tales,—all the rest being variation of these.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Whenever we read the obscene stories, the voluptuous debaucheries, the cruel and torturous executions, the unrelenting vindictiveness, with which more than half the Bible is filled, it would be more consistent that we called it the word of a demon than the Word of God. It is a history of wickedness that has served to corrupt and brutalize mankind.”
—Thomas Paine (1737–1809)