Osgoode Hall Law School
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See also Osgoode Hall for the downtown Toronto building that originally housed the law school
Osgoode Hall Law School is the second oldest common law school in Canada, the oldest being the McGill University Faculty of Law. The Law Society of Upper Canada established Osgoode Hall Law School in 1889.
For its first seven decades, Osgoode Hall Law School was located at Osgoode Hall at the corner of Queen Street and University Avenue near the University of Toronto. Despite this, the law schools remained unaffiliated with the University and unconnected with the University of Toronto Faculty of Law . The university's faculty of law was established in the same year as the Osgoode Hall Law School. However, the Law Society of Upper Canada maintained control of professional legal education in Ontario until 1957. Thus the University of Toronto has traditionally had a small undergraduate student body in comparison with Osgoode Hall.
In 1969, after a decision by the Ontario Ministry of Education requiring law schools to be affiliated with a university, the Osgoode Hall Law School moved to York University. The decision was controversial and many faculty members refused to make the move and either retired or transferred to the University of Toronto's law school. Osgoode Hall was forced to hire younger professors many of whom were schooled in the 1960s in order to fill the gaps resulting in the school acquiring a progressive and even radical reputation in recent decades.
The buildings known as "Osgoode Hall" (the earliest dating from 1832) remain the headquarters of the Law Society and house the Ontario Court of Appeal. When the law school moved the buildings were renovated and reopened in 1973. The structure at Queen and University is still known as Osgoode Hall.
Osgoode Hall Law School is the largest faculty of common law in Canada and, until 1957, was the only accredited law school in Ontario. The school was at the centre of the debates over the principles of modern legal education in the 1950s. It was, and remains, a truly national law school. Its graduates have entered practice in each of Canada's common law provinces. Osgoode Hall Law School provided many of the founding members of the bar in the Prairie Provinces. It has one of the most diverse student bodies in Canada.
In 2005, Osgoode Hall Law School formally signed a memorandum of understanding with the New York University School of Law. Both schools plan to offer joint-degree programs where students can earn an American JD and Canadian LLB in four years, spending two years at each institution.
External links
- Osgoode Hall Law School (http://www.osgoode.yorku.ca/)
- The Law Society of Upper Canada (http://www.lsuc.on.ca/about/about_history_en.jsp)