History of the Faculty
The
Faculty of Law has been the leading educational center in Georgia since the day
of its establishment. The faculty was gradually extending its activities and
increasing the number of its students and professors.
Nowadays,
higher education in law is based on the centuries-old national traditions as
well as the best practices and traditions of the world’s best performing educational
systems. Local and foreign specialists work very hard to provide future
generations with the best educational practice.
Raising legal awareness
has always been a priority for the Georgian society. The country’s political
unification and strengthening, economic growth and development created all
necessary grounds for cultural development in Georgia that can perfectly be confirmed
by the existence of cultural-educational centers of Gelati and Ikalto.
The second half of the
XIX century and the beginning of the XX century represent a new stage of higher
education in Georgia. The idea about the establishment of the educational
system emerged in the XIX century and was realized by Assistant Professor of
the St. Petersburg State University,
Ivane
Javakhishvili. Before the establishment of the University,
Ivane Javakhishvili, Petre Melikishvili and
Andria Razmadze set up the Board of Professors with the aim to solve the
most important issue for the University – defining the faculties.
On November 26, 1917, at
the preliminary meeting, the Board decided to set up one faculty – the Faculty
of Philosophy. However, the Board had acknowledged that it was necessary to establish
at least four faculties in order to have the complete university system. One of
the faculties was thought to be the Faculty of Law.
Despite the fact that
the University did not have an independent Faculty of Law, the lectures on the
history and sources of Georgian law were delivered during the very first
semester, in 1918. Furthermore, the economic field, which was one of the means
of studying humanities, covered some law subjects such as the state law, laws
regulating the conduct of officers and employees of the state, commercial law
and the history of Georgian law. Consequently, the establishment of the Faculty
of Law was put on the agenda.
On January 3, 1919, the
Board of Professors discussed the proposal of the Minister of Justice to establish
the Faculty of Law. The Board had to reject the proposal due to the lack of
relevant scientific personnel. However, it decided to establish the faculty in
the near future once the University had the necessary resources.
The University began
searching for the professionals for the Faculty of Law during the very first
year of the University’s establishment. A number of young people were sent to
the European universities to receive education. Most of these young graduates
returned to Georgia and filled the gap in the University’s scientific resources.
On June 16, 1922, upon
the recommendation of the Faculty of Philosophy, the Board of Professors established
the Social-Economic Faculty, which comprised social (legal) and economic
departments. On June 24, 1922, Professor Shalva Nutsubidze was elected the first
dean of the faculty.
By September 1933, the
Faculty of Soviet Construction and Law (Dean- Professor I. Surguladze) was already
operating at the University. Among the taught subjects, students could select general
theory of law, agricultural law, criminal law and the law of Soviet
development. From October 9, 1934, by the Rector’s order, the Faculty of the Soviet
Construction and Law was renamed to the Faculty of Soviet Law.
In 1935-1936, certain
changes were again carried out at the Faculty of Jurisprudence: the Faculty of
Soviet Law was renamed to its current name – the Faculty of Law, while the
Soviet Law that was the previous name of the faculty, was introduced in a form
of the Department of the Principles of Soviet Law in 1977. The Faculty of Law
was gradually forming various departments: the Department of Civil Law (in
1922); the Department of State Law and Theory and the Department of the History
of State and Law (in 1947); the Department of Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure
and Criminology (in 1984); the Department of Law Principles (in 1989).
From 1955, the University
experienced the decrease in the number of students that was reflected in the
quantitative indicators of staff units. To be precise, the position of the Dean
of the Faculty of Law was cancelled and several departments were merged.