Law at the University of Melbourne

Both the Law Library and the University of Melbourne Archives hold materials relating to the history of legal teaching at the University of Melbourne.

The University Council meeting minutes of 8 December 1856 note: 'Upon the motion of the Chancellor it was resolved "that it is desirable that lectures on Law ... be delivered at the University during the ensuing year".' The council requested that Sir Redmond Barry prepare a plan embodying the objects of this resolution, and on 12 March 1857 the Council formally adopted this plan as the Regulations for Law Students.

The first lecturer in Law was Richard Clark Sewell who was appointed to the position by the University Council on 26 January 1857. Sewell resigned after just six months due to ill health, and Henry Samuel Chapman was appointed as his replacement for the remainder of the term. By the beginning of 1858, the need for two lecturers was recognized, and James Wilberforce Stephen and Richard Annesley Billing were appointed to teach first and second year law.

The first Dean of law, William Edward Hearn, was appointed in 1873. Hearn lectured in Constitutional Law and Jurisprudence.

Faculty Of Law

• Faculty minute books, 1873–1974

  Accession Number: 97/140

  Name: University Of Melbourne. Faculty Of Law

  Group:
  University
  Official

  Activity:
  University
  Faculty

  Location: Melbourne

  Historical Note: Law was taught from 1857 at the University of Melbourne, then offering a Practising Certificate at the end of a two-year course. From 1861 this, as the Articled Clerks' course, was extended to four years, and ran concurrently with the new LL.B. four-year course in which Arts subjects formed a large component. The Faculty of Law (the University's first), was established in 1873, with Dr. W.E. Hearn (formerly Professor of Modern History and Literature, Political Economy and Logic who had also acted as Professor of Classics and Professor of Classical and Comparative Philology) as its Dean. The first to bear the title of Professor of Law, and the second Dean, was Edward Jenks.

  Earliest Date: 1873
  Latest Date: 1970
  Access: Restricted
  Quantity: 36 cm. [five volumes]

  Description: Faculty of Law Minutes, 29 August 1873 – 9 December 1970. 5 vol.

  Subjects: Law

  Listed: Yes listed
  UM Number: 76

• Faculty correspondence, 1932–1977

  Accession Number: 84/33

  Name: University Of Melbourne. Faculty Of Law

  Group:
  University
  Official

  Activity:
  University
  Faculty

  Location: Melbourne

  Historical Note: Law was taught from 1857 at the University of Melbourne, then offering a Practising Certificate at the end of a two-year course. From 1861 this, as the Articled Clerks' course, was extended to four years, and ran concurrently with the new LL.B. four-year course in which Arts subjects formed a large component. The Faculty of Law (the University's first), was established in 1873, with Dr. W.E. Hearn (formerly Professor of Modern History and Literature, Political Economy and Logic who had also acted as Professor of Classics and Professor of Classical and Comparative Philology) as its Dean. The first to bear the title of Professor of Law, and the second Dean, was Edward Jenks.

  Earliest Date: 1932
  Latest Date: 1977
  Access: Restricted
  Quantity: 1.2 metres. (10 archives boxes)

  Description: Correspondence relating to course, post graduate education and Faculty administration.

  Persons:
  Cowen, Sir Zelman
  Paton, Sir George
  Ford, H.A.J.
  Clark, S.D.

  Places: Melbourne

  Subjects:
  Law
  Law School
  University

  Listed: Not listed

Faculty Of Law Academics

Professor Peter Brett, 1954–1967
Sir David Derham, 1931–-1964
Professor Harold Arthur Ford, 1966–-1978
Sir William Edward Hearn, 1826–-1888
Sir William Harrison Moore, 1902–-1954
Sir George Paton, 1933–1962
Julian Phillips, 1932–-1988

Student Life

Articled Law Clerks' Society and Articled Law Clerks' Debating Society

Author: Articled Law Clerks' Society (Melbourne, Vic.)
Title: Rules
Published: Melbourne: The Society, 1891
Location: Law Library
Call number: UniM Law RB 347.06 A791

Author: Articled Law Clerks' Society (Melbourne, Vic.)
Title: Report and Balance sheet of the Articled Law Clerks' Society for the Year ...
Published: Melbourne: The Society, 1891-
Location: Law Library
Call Number: UniM Law RB347.06 A791

Law Students' Society of Victoria

Title: The Summons: A Magazine of Legal and General Literature: Issued by the Articled Law Clerks' Society, Melbourne
Published: Melbourne: The Society, 1891-1903
[Vol. 1, no. 1 (Sept. 1891)]-v. 12, no. 3 (May 1903)
Location: Law Library
Call number: UniM Law RB SUMM v.5-10 photocopy; UniM Law RB
SUMM v.11-12 photocopy
Location: Special Collections
Call number: UniM Baill SpC/UM f 371.8434 SUMM v.1-4, v.5-10, v.11-12
Lib. has: v.1, no.1-v.12, no.3(Ba) ; v.1, no.1-v.10, no.6 (Law) Sept. 1891-May 1903 ; Sept. 1891-Dec. 1901, lacks Apr.-May 1896
Phys desc.: 12 v. ; 25-28 cm.
Notes: Quarterly, 1891-1901. Description based on: Vol. 1, no. 2 (Dec. 1891). Other title information dropped circa 1901. Vol. 2, no. 1 (Sept. 1892)-v. 11, no. 1 (Sept. 1901) issued by the Law Students' Society of Melbourne

University of Melbourne Law Students' Society

Author: University of Melbourne. Law Students' Society
Title: Minutes of Meeting
Published: [Parkville, Vic.] : The Society, 1975-78
Location: Law Library
Call number: UniM Law RB 348.07119451 UNIV

Images (from UMAIC, University of Melbourne Archives Image Catalogue)

Title: Law School staff and students, University of Melbourne, circa 1876
Record ID: UMA/I/1532