University of Oslo Faculty of Law
The Faculty of Law of the University of Oslo is Norway's oldest law faculty, established in 1811 as one of the four original faculties of The Royal Frederick University. Alongside the law faculties in Copenhagen, Lund and Uppsala, it is one of Scandinavia's leading institutions of legal education and research. The faculty is the highest-ranked institution of legal education in Norway and is responsible for the professional law degree, one of the most competitive programmes at any Norwegian university. Those admitted to the law programme at the University of Oslo tend to have an average high school grade that is higher than the highest grade, and are usually the best in their class at high school level.
Prior to 1811, the University of Copenhagen was the only university of Denmark-Norway, and the curriculum of the new law faculty in Christiania was based on that of the University of Copenhagen Faculty of Law and long retained strong similarities, even after the dissolution of the Dano-Norwegian union in 1814. As the only faculty of law in Norway until 1980, it traditionally educated all lawyers of Norway and remains the country's most important law faculty, educating around 75% of all new legal candidates in Norway. Its law programme is one of the most competitive programmes to get into at any Norwegian university, with an acceptance rate of 12%. The faculty offers education and conducts research in both law and in related areas such as criminology and sociology of law, and historically also in economics.
The faculty occupies the old university campus in the centre of Oslo, near the National Theatre, the Royal Palace, and the Parliament, constructed 1841–1851 by Christian Heinrich Grosch with the assistance of world-famous Prussian architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel in Schinkel's neoclassical style, with strong similarities to Schinkel's famous museums on the Museum Island in Berlin. The old campus includes three main buildings, called Domus Academica, Domus Media and Domus Bibliotheca, centered on the University Square and facing Karl Johans gate. It is complemented by the new building Domus Juridica in the opposite direction, located between the Old National Gallery and the Museum of Cultural History, facing the old campus.
The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded in the atrium of the central building of the old campus, Domus Media, 1947–1989 and in 2020. The Parliament of Norway convened in the Old Ceremonial Hall in Domus Academica 1854–1866. The faculty publishes several academic journals, including the English-language journal Oslo Law Review.
History
The University of Copenhagen was founded in 1479. As there was no university in Norway itself, the University of Copenhagen served both Denmark and Norway during the countries' personal union, and the University of Copenhagen had both Norwegian students and teachers. With the rise of absolute monarchy and a more professional civil service, legal education became of central importance by the early 18th century. During the Napoleonic Wars, and after years of discussion, The Royal Frederick University in Norway was established in 1811 and named in honour of Frederick VI of Denmark and Norway, and the Faculty of Law was one of the four original faculties, ranking second after the Faculty of Theology and before the Faculty of Medicine and the Faculty of Arts. In 1816, its first lecturers were appointed by the government: Lorents Lange was appointed Professor of Jurisprudence, and Henrik Lauritz Nicolai Steenbuch was appointed Lecturer in Jurisprudence.As a sovereign kingdom, Norway always had its own laws, but in 1687, Norway received its Norwegian Code, which was nearly identical to the Danish Code, and parts of which remain in effect until this day. Norway and Denmark hence shared a common legal tradition and in fact many of the same laws. The curriculum of the Faculty of Law in Christiania was hence to a large degree a direct continuation of the curriculum and traditions of the University of Copenhagen. Similarities exist until this day, although they have gradually been weakened.
The field of economics as an academic discipline in Norway evolved at the Faculty of Law. In 1840, a chair in "Jurisprudence, Economics, and Statistics" was created by the King; it was first held by Anton Martin Schweigaard.
Programmes and degrees
Principal law programme
The most important programme of the Faculty of Law is the 5-year legal education leading to a Master of Laws degree, known in Norwegian as master i rettsvitenskap, which is a protected title under Norwegian law. The programme replaced the former six-year programme leading to a Candidate of Law degree, which was created in 1736 at the University of Copenhagen and retained at the Royal Frederick University from 1811.The Master or Laws or the former Candidate of Law are the only degrees qualifying for legal work in Norway. The graduates have a monopoly on a number of occupations, such as advocate, judge and, traditionally, all the high ranks of the Norwegian Police Service and a number of senior civil servant positions. Norway has a united legal profession and all persons working in legal occupations have the same education. Alongside the programme in medicine, the programme in law in Oslo is one of the most competitive to get into at any Norwegian university with an acceptance rate of 12%.
Although students do not receive a formal degree before they have completed the five-year programme, the first four years correspond to an American J.D. degree. In the fifth year, students usually write a thesis corresponding to one semester and take advanced courses of their choice also corresponding to one semester. Alternatively, they may choose to write a longer thesis, corresponding to a full year. Parts of the fifth year, or even the full year, may also be taken abroad. The fifth year leads to the Master of Laws degree.
Other degrees
From 1840 to 1966, the field of economics was part of the Faculty of Law, and most of the professors of economics until the mid 20th century had a background in law. Prior to 1966, the Faculty of Law conferred the degree cand.oecon., created in 1905, which was originally a 2-year supplementary degree in economics intended for those already holding a cand.jur. degree, and which in 1934 evolved into an independent five-year degree in economics.The Faculty of Law also offers degrees at all levels in criminology and a master's degree in sociology of law.
In recent years, a number of specialized master's degree programmes in law, so-called LL.M. degrees, have been established. The Faculty of Law offers 1,5-year master's degrees in international public law, international criminal and humanitarian law, international economic law, international environmental and energy law and human rights. These degrees are intended for those already holding a law degree, whether foreign or Norwegian. They do not qualify for legal work in Norway, however, and very few Norwegian students obtain such degrees, as the basic legal education in Norway already leads to a degree at the LL.M. level. These programmes are hence mostly attracting foreign students.
Doctoral, licentiate and PhD degrees
The former doctorate in law, doctor juris, created with the establishment of the University of Copenhagen in 1479 and retained by The Royal Frederick University from 1811, was gradually replaced by the new degree philosophiae doctor, created in 2003. The faculty also confers the doctoral degree doctor philosophiae, created in 1824, traditionally to doctoral candidates who are not legal professionals or to scholars with a background in law who write a dissertation in a different field than law, and today to doctoral candidates who are not enrolled in the structured doctoral programme, but hand in their dissertation following independent research only. Traditionally, a doctoral degree was not a prerequisite for employment as a researcher, and was usually obtained after many years of research, often by researchers at the associate professor level. The Faculty of Law confers doctorates in law and in other relevant disciplines such as criminology, sociology of law, philosophy of law, and formerly in economics.Prior to 1845, the licentiate degree also existed at The Royal Frederick University, as a degree below the doctorate but above the professional degrees. The licentiate degree was reintroduced in 1955 at the Faculty of Law and was awarded until 2003. It corresponds to a PhD degree.
Prior to the Bologna Process, the degree system at the University of Oslo Faculty of Law mirrored that of the University of Copenhagen, and Denmark in general. In Denmark, both the dr.jur. degree and the ph.d. degree exist today. The ph.d. degree, conferred following a 3-year programme by those already holding a cand.jur. degree, is considered equivalent to and a direct continuation of the licentiate degree, whereas the dr.jur. degree is considered a doctorate in the proper sense, also referred to as a higher doctorate. Often the dr.jur. degree is obtained by those already holding a cand.jur. and a ph.d. degree.