Call Number: Ua 43, Pc 139, Tc 87, Mc 18 (A.96-57, A.96-85, A.97-30)

Title: Faculty of Law fonds.

Dates: 1877-1998.

Extent: 12 m of textual records and other material.

Administrative history: The University of Manitoba first became involved in legal education in 1885 when it established a three-year course of studies leading to the LL.B. degree. This course did not include instruction; it simply prescribed a reading program, with three annual examinations, which articled law students couId follow concurrently with the course prescribed by the Law Society. In the years 1911-12 the Law Society was prompted by the Law Students Association to provide a short series of lectures. In 1913, H.A. Robson, then Manitoba's Public Utilities Commissioner and a former judge of the Court of King's Bench, organized a considerably improved course of lectures and began to lay the plans for the establishment in the following year of a permanent law school modeled after the Osgoode Hall Law School of the Law Society of Upper Canada.

The Manitoba Law School was jointly sponsored by The University of Manitoba and the Law Society of Manitoba. Both bodies took part in the planning from the beginning. In the summer of 1914 they entered into an agreement, subsequently endorsed by legislation, which provided for the creation of the School, offering a three-year course consisting of lectures and apprenticeship leading to both an LL.B. degree and a call to the Bar and admission to practice. Expenses of the School were shared equally by the two parent bodies, and its operations were supervised by a jointly appointed Board of Trustees. This arrangement between The University of Manitoba and the Law Society of Manitoba continued until 1966 when the Law School became the Faculty of Law of The University of Manitoba.

The Faculty of Law presently offers programs of study leading to two degrees, the LL.B. and the LL.M. The latter degree program was brought into existence in 1949 by the Manitoba Law School. It was substantially revamped by the Faculty of Law in 1968.

Custodial history: The records of the Faculty of Law fonds were donated to University of Manitoba Archives & Special Collections in several accessions by the Faculty of Law in 1996 and 1997.

Scope and content: The records of the fonds detail the formation of the University of Manitoba's Faculty of Law from its establishment as a course at the University of Manitoba in 1885, to the formation of the degree-granting Manitoba Law School, to the creation of the Faculty of Law. The records date from 1877 to 1998 and include textual records, photographs, sound recordings, video recordings, and cartographic material. The fonds has been divided into thirty-seven series. The series entitled Dean's Papers has been divided by each Dean's administration and has been organized accordingly into sub-series.

Source of supplied title: Title based on provenance of fonds.

Restrictions: Several files are confidential and have been labeled "Restricted."
Please contact Archives staff for information on how to access these
records.

Accruals: Further accruals to this fonds are expected.

Finding aid: A printed finding aid is available in the Archives & Special Collections reading room. An electronic version of the finding aid is available at the link below:

UA 43, PC 139, TC 87, MC 18 (A.96-57, A.96-85, A.97-30).

We greatly acknowledge the financial support of the Manitoba Department of Culture, Heritage and Tourism and the Heritage Grants Advisory Council in the creation of this finding aid.