A short presentation of the history of legal education in Romania

Abstract

In Romania, the history of legal education dates from ancient times. The historical records show that legal education had appeared on the territory of countries that have later entered into the composition of the Romanian State, after enactment of the first written laws (pravile – or codices), and long before the enactment of legal codes on branches of activity. Thus, the preliminary of legal education in the Romanian countries can be traced back to the practice of writing laws (pravila – or codex) that emerged in the 17th century: in Walachia this was the Govora Code of 1640 and the Matei Basarab’s Code (also known as the reshaping of laws) in 1652: in Moldavia it was the Vasile Lupu Code (also known as the Romanian book of learning) of 1646. However, there are historians who claim that since 1400, an Academy of law or, at least, a course in law, would have been organized at the School of Alexander the Good in Suceava. The first educational institutions were established in monasteries and churches and teachers had a western and Byzantine educational background. In Moldavia in 1648, during the reign of Vasili Lupu, the Great Princely School was founded at Trei Ierarhi Monastry in Iasi. In 1694, under the reign of Constantin Brâncoveanu – in Walachia, the Princely Academy was founded in Bucharest. Thus were laid the bases of Romanian higher legal education. In 1777 in Transylvania, the Romanian territory which for a long time was under Austro-Hungarian domination, by an imperial document called Ratio educationis imperial, an Academy of law was established in Oradea together with another in Bratislava. Over the years, the study of juridical sciences in Romanian countries developed and received systematic organization – especially after the Union of the Romanian principalities in 1859 – being influenced as much by historical realities as by the political, economic and social conditions of the country. This paper aims to provide an overview of the development of legal education in Romania and the contributions to the development of the science of law of the most prestigious Romanian jurists.