Faculty of Law, Aligarh Muslim University

The Faculty of Law, Aligarh Muslim University is the law school of the Aligarh Muslim University which has a history of over 100 years of teaching and writing law.

In 2014, the faculty was listed on number 6 in India's best law colleges list compiled by India Today [1] which it retained in 2015[2] and 2016 as well.[3]

History

The teaching of law was introduced in the year 1891. Sir Syed Ahmad Khan was greatly impressed by the programme of legal education in British Universities and was keen to incorporate law as a culminating discipline conducive to the moral, intellectual and material welfare of the students, passing out from the MAO College. A beginning was made with the three local pleaders providing part-time instruction on an honorary basis. Meanwhile, the search for a Law Professor was seriously undertaken by constituting a search committee consisting of Mr. Justice Douglas Straight and Mr. Justice Mahmood of the Allahabad High Court and Sir Arthur Strachey who was a practicing lawyer. The committee recommended Mir Karamat Husain for appointment as the first Law Professor of the MAO College. He joined on 12 July 1891. Justice Syed Mahmood presented his most valuable personal collection of law books to the Department of Law.

After Mir Karamat Husain, Sahebzadah Aftab Ahmad Khan was In-charge of the Department of Law up-to 1906. He was followed by Mr. Abdul Karim Khan, Mr. Syed Ali Naqi, Mr. M. Abdul Khaliq, Mr. M.A. Ishaq Khusro and Professor Hafizul Rahman. In 1960, the Department of Law which till then existed as a Department of the Faculty of Arts was developed into a full-fledged Faculty. Credit goes to late Prof. Hafizul Rahman that he developed a modern curriculum and initiated research. It is one of the oldest and premier faculties of India. Popularly it is known as the mother faculty because many reputed law faculties/institutions in India are flourished by its former students. It has produced innumerable legal icons serving the nation.

Academics

Scholar-in-Residence

The Aligarh Muslim University has appointed N. R. Madhava Menon, father of modern Indian legal education as Scholar-in-Residence in the Department of Law. Prof. Menon was the first PhD produced by the Department of Law at AMU.

Known as one of the long-serving, popular legal educators of the country, an institution-builder, the architect of the five-year integrated LL.B. programme and the Founder Vice-Chancellor of two of the leading law universities of India (National Law School of India University, Bangalore and National University of Juridical Sciences, Kolkata, Prof. (Dr.) N.R. Madhava Menon has endeavoured for nearly five decades to put Indian legal education at par with those of the developed countries.

Menon has also been:

  • A Teacher at Aligarh Muslim University, Faculty of Law.
  • Member of the Law Commission of India,
  • Member of several expert committees including Legal Aid Committee(1973), The Civil Services Examination Reform Committee (2000-2001) and Criminal Justice Reform (2002-2003), appointed by the Government of India.

Memorandum of Understanding

One of the greatest achievements of the Faculty of law is the signing of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between AMU and George Washington University, USA, one of the world's leading higher educational Institutions in law, on 17 February 2010. This remarkable venture facilitates the faculty members and Ph.D or SJD candidates from each other institutions to participate for a semester or two as visiting scholars for the purpose of conducting research.

Publications

The department publishes Aligarh Law Journal.[4]

Programs Offered

The Faculty of Law is currently offering the following courses:

  • Five years integrated Bachelor of Arts & Bachelor of Laws(B.A.,LL.B.),
  • Two Year Master of Laws (LL.M.),
  • Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), and
  • Diploma courses

Facilities

Law faculty building

Faculty of law was earlier situated at Sir Syed Hall which was later on shifted to the present commerce faculty. At present the faculty is situated at Qila road building of the university.

Seminar library

Seminar law library is the oldest seminar library of the faculty. It has around journals and books dating back to 19th century. It has approximately 35000 books including text books, reference books and research books apart from 35 National Journals and 15 International Journals.

Faculty maintains this centre to provide legal guidance and advisement to indigent and poverty ridden litigants by associating students under the supervision and guidance of committed law teachers together with local judiciary.

Law Society

The Law Society is a group of students actively involved in the affairs of the Faculty. It was founded in 1894 as a non-profit student organization. It has long traditional character which always uplifts the students' participation and performance in relation to legal affairs in different arena.

The Dean, Faculty of Law is the President of the Society. The main task of the Law Society is to assist students within the Department of Law with all aspects of their study.

Networking with legal professional forms an important part of work in building a presence for Aligarh Muslim University Law graduates with the legal profession.

The society organizes events, both academic and social, from annual fest to freshers social and farewell party for final year students.

Mohammad Shafi Qureshi former Governor of Uttar Pradesh was the secretary of the society in the year 1953.[5] Arif Jwadder was the secretary for the session 2013-14.[6] Anam Rais Khan was the secretary for the session 2014-15.[7]

It published a review called Aligarh Law Society Review a wholly student reviewed journal.[8] Though it is not published now.

The Society for the first time organised annual festival named 1st Gavel's Buzz in the year 2014.[9][10][11][12] The 2nd Gavel's Buzz was organised in the year 2016.[13] The 3rd Gavel's Buzz was organised on 2017.

Justice Markandey Katju visited the Law Society recently.[14]

The sub-committee on education set up for centenary celebrations Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, in one of its recommendations in the year 1992, suggested for setting up Dr. Ambedkar Chair in different disciplines of different institutions/ universities. In pursuance of the recommendation and followed by the decision, Dr. Ambedkar Chair were set up for undertaking study and research programmes on various aspects of the philosophy, thoughts, ideologies, missions and ideals of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, by Dr. Ambedkar Foundation, the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Government of India, New Delhi.[15]

Ambedkar chair was created by Dr. Ambedkar Foundation, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Govt. of India, New Delhi in 1992. Professor Mohammad Shabbir is the founding director of the Chair.[16]

The Chair to its credit, publishes its well reputed legal journal entitled "Quest for Justice" regularly since 2005-06.

It also organizes National Essay Competition every year to commemorate the birth anniversary of Dr. BR Ambedkar on behalf of government of India.[17]

Rankings

University rankings
Law – India
India Today (2017)[18] 2
The Week (2017)[19] 15

The Faculty of Law, Aligarh Muslim University was ranked second by India Today's "India's Best Colleges 2017",[18] 15th by The Week's "Top Law Colleges 2017".[19]

Notable alumni

The following notable individuals have read law at the Faculty of Law, Aligarh.

Actors and entertainers

Jurists

Academics

Administrator

References

  1. ↑ "Rank 6 - Faculty of Law, Aligarh Muslim University". 2014. Retrieved 16 September 2015.
  2. ↑ "Faculty of Law, Aligarh Muslim University Best Law Colleges 2015 India Today Survey". intoday.in.
  3. ↑ "Faculty of Law, Aligarh Muslim University Best Law Colleges 2016 India Today Survey". indiatoday.intoday.in. Retrieved 2016-05-29.
  4. ↑ http://www.isil-aca.org/journals.htm
  5. ↑ http://upgovernor.gov.in/upgovernor.gov.in/qureshibio1.htm
  6. ↑ http://www.amu.ac.in/about3.jsp?did=9124
  7. ↑ http://www.amu.ac.in/about3.jsp?did=7823
  8. ↑ http://search.library.utoronto.ca/details?5271418&uuid=ea470ca0-6c8f-4754-8057-ffdd386a7ce6
  9. ↑ http://htsyndication.com/htsportal/article/The-Law-Society,-Faculty-of-Law,-AMU-organised-three-day-Law-Fest,--Gavel-s-Buzz-/4480865
  10. ↑ http://www.amu.ac.in/about3.jsp?did=8707
  11. ↑ http://www.batori.in/education/2014/05/09/law-society-organizes-first-fest-gavels-buzz/
  12. ↑ http://www.indiaeducationdiary.in/Uttar_Pradesh/shownews.asp?newsid=29306
  13. ↑ "Aligarh Muslim University || AMU News". www.amu.ac.in. Retrieved 2018-10-06.
  14. ↑ http://twocircles.net/2014dec16/1418751542.html#.VfqNbBGqqko
  15. ↑ http://ambedkarfoundation.nic.in/html/chair.htm
  16. ↑ http://www.amu.ac.in/dshowfacultydata.jsp?did=37&eid=3705
  17. ↑ http://www.ambedkarfoundation.nic.in/html/advtec2015.pdf
  18. 1 2 "India's Best Colleges 2017: Law". India Today. 2017. Retrieved 25 June 2017.
  19. 1 2 Singh, Abhinav (18 June 2017). "The Week - Hansa Research Best Colleges Survey 2017: Top Law Colleges - All India". The Week. Retrieved 8 September 2017.
  20. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 19 April 2015. Retrieved 16 September 2015.
  21. ↑ "Supreme Court of India - Former Judges". supremecourtofindia.nic.in.
  22. ↑ "R". supremecourtcaselaw.com.
  23. ↑ http://www.amu.ac.in/pdf/Alumni.pdf
  24. ↑ "Prof Faizan Mustafa is new VC of Nalsar". India Education Review.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.