Тема: «The Faculty of Law of the Cambridge University» Text 4
1. The University of Cambridge has attracted many of the best minds since 1209, when a group of scholars left Oxford to set up a new institution in Cambridge. It’s one of the oldest and most prestigious universities in the world. Today the University has grown to around 17,500 students (7,000 of whom are graduate students), and 3,000 teaching and administrative staff. Fifty per cent of the graduate students come from overseas, and well over a third are women. The University and its Colleges are now spread throughout the city. The College system of the University gives a student an environment in which one can meet people from other disciplines and participate in a wide variety of cultural, sporting and social activities. The contact with College staff and fellow students provides an excellent opportunity for broadening students’ interests and horizons, getting involved in University life, and making new friends.
2. Law has been studied and taught at Cambridge University since the 13th century. The core subjects of legal study in all European universities at that time were the Roman law and the Canon law of the Church. Early graduates of the Cambridge Faculty of Canon Law held the highest judicial positions in Europe. The Faculty of Canon Law was closed in 1535, and in 1540 King Henry VIII appointed the first Professor of Civil Law. English law was added to the curriculum in 1800. Examinations in law for the Bachelor’s Degree began in 1858. Since then the Faculty has grown steadily in size and in the range of its interests.
3. Today, the Faculty has more than seventy teaching staff. There are at present 16 professors, 10 readers, and over 70 other University, Faculty and College Teaching Officers. They include specialists in almost every aspect of English law and its history, the laws of other countries (especially European), European Community law, public and private law, Roman law, legal philosophy, and criminology. The Law Faculty also has a long-standing research tradition in such areas as international and comparative law, jurisprudence and legal history. Some Faculty members collaborate with other related faculties such as Economics, Philosophy, Land Economy, History, and Social and Political Sciences.
4. The number of students, which is one of the largest of any law school in the United Kingdom, comprises about 750 undergraduate students and 250 graduate students. Graduates from the Faculty are prominent in academic life, in the judiciary, and in both branches of the legal profession. A lot of famous jurists have been among the University's graduates and the Faculty has many connections with the legal profession at all levels. Most of those who do not enter the academic profession become practicing lawyers, or go into closely related fields such as banking, insurance, accounting and brokerage.
5. The new building of the Law Faculty was opened in 1995. It brings together on one site the Squire Law Library that contains one of the largest legal collections in the UK, the Faculty's lecture and seminar rooms and the administrative offices. It has increased the space for readers of the library and it also provides a focus for Faculty activities, such as formal meetings, informal gatherings, and moots. A new building for the Institute of Criminology was completed in the summer of 2005.
6. The Faculty houses a number of research centres with particular specializations. The Faculty's research centres include the following: Institute of Criminology, Centre for International Law, Centre for European Legal Studies, Centre for Corporate and Commercial Law, Centre for Public Law, Centre for Intellectual Property and Information Law, Centre for Business Research, Centre for Tax Law, Cambridge Forum for Legal and Political Philosophy, Cambridge Socio-Legal Group.
7. Under the SOCRATES/ERASMUS programme, the Cambridge Law Faculty has signed an agreement with the Universities of France, Germany, the Netherlands and Spain. The scheme permits between 10 and 15 law students from Cambridge and the same number from partner Universities to participate in exchange each year. The first exchange with the Faculty of Law started in 1992. This programme is to promote student mobility in Europe.
8. The famous Cambridge University Law Society is open to all members of the University, and especially to all law students. The Society, whose principal officers are themselves law students, meets weekly during term to hear guest speakers (including judges, political figures and visiting scholars). Barristers' and solicitors' evenings are organized so that students can meet members of the legal profession informally. The Society also organizes moots, which are imaginary cases designed to provide elementary practice in advocacy.