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University of Pretoria
Faculty of Law

Former names	Transvaal University College (1908–1930)
Type	Public Law school
Established	1908
Dean	Elsabe Schoeman
Location	Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa
Campus	Hatfield
Colours	Blue, Gold and Red
Nickname	Tuks or Tukkies
Affiliations	University of Pretoria
Mascot	Oom Gert
Website	Faculty of Law

The University of Pretoria Faculty of Law was established in 1908. It consists of six academic departments, six centres, two law clinics and the Pretoria University Law Press (PULP). This faculty has Departments of Jurisprudence, Mercantile Law, Private Law, Procedural Law, Public Law and Centre for Human Rights. The faculty offers the undergraduate LLB degree, and postgraduate LLM/MPhil and LLD/PhD degrees. 

The Oliver R Tambo Law Library houses the faculty's collection of legal materials and the Law of Africa collection.

The faculty organises the annual African and World Human Rights Moot Court Competitions. In 2006, the faculty's Centre for Human Rights received the UNESCO Prize for Human Rights Education. Since 1997, the university has produced more research output every year than any other institution in South Africa, as measured by the Department of Education's accreditation benchmark.

History

The proposal for a university for the capital, first mooted in the Volksraad in 1889, was interrupted by the outbreak of the Anglo Boer War in 1899. In 1902, after the signing of the Peace of Vereeniging, the Normal College for teacher training was established in Groenkloof, Pretoria, and in 1904, the Transvaal Technical Institute, with an emphasis on mining education, opened in Johannesburg. In 1906, the Transvaal Technical Institute changed its name to the Transvaal University College (TUC). On 4 March 1908, when Transvaal University College (TUC) transferred its arts and science courses to its newly established Pretoria Campus, the precursor to the university was established, initially offering courses in languages, sciences, and law.

In November 2019, Elsabe Schoeman became Dean of UP Law. Since August 2020, the Deputy Dean for Teaching and Learning has been Professor Charles Maimela, the youngest and first black Deputy Dean at UP Law.

UP Law currently employs approximately 70 dedicated full-time academics.

Global ranking

UP Law got a global 78th-placed ranking in 2023 and 60th in 2022, making it the highest ranked Faculty of Law on the African continent.

The faculty conferred 179 masters' and 35 doctoral graduates in 2017, 173 master's and 27 doctoral graduates in 2018, and 18 doctoral and 246 master's degrees in 2019.

Centres and institutes

Centres and institutes in the faculty include the Centre for Advanced Corporate & Insolvency Law, Centre for Child Law, Centre for Human Rights, Centre for Intellectual Property Law, Centre for Medicine & Law, Institute for International and Comparative Law in Africa and Sports Law Centre in Africa.

Centre for Human Rights

The Centre for Human Rights at the University of Pretoria, South Africa, founded in 1986, is an organisation promoting human rights on the continent of Africa through educational outreach, including multinational conferences, seminars and publications such as Human Rights Law in Africa, the African Human Rights Law Journal, the African Human Rights Law Reports and The Constitutional Law of South Africa. The centre, which was founded during Apartheid, helped adapt a Bill of Rights for South Africa and contributed to creating the South African Constitution. In 2006, the centre received the UNESCO Prize for Human Rights Education.

Institute for International and Comparative Law in Africa

The Institute for International and Comparative Law in Africa (ICLA), established at the beginning of 2011, is a research institute in the Faculty of Law with Professors Erika de Wet and Christof Heyns (the United Nations Special Rapporteur for extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions) being appointed as co-directors.

The ICLA coordinates the Oxford Constitutions Online African country reports and collaborates with the Centre for Human Rights to coordinate the Oxford Reports on International Law in Domestic Courts (ILDC) Online African case law.

Centre for Child Law

The Centre for Child was established in 1998 and is recognized as a law clinic by the Law Society. Established in 2003, the centre's Children's Litigation Project acts as amicus curiae in litigation in relation to children's rights by appearing in several cases before the North and South Gauteng High Court, Supreme Court of Appeal and Constitutional Court.

Moot court competitions

Pretoria University Law Press

The Pretoria University Law Press (PULP), within the Faculty of Law, publishes and distributes scholarly legal texts in English, Afrikaans, French, Arabic and Portuguese. PULP publishes a series of collections of legal documents related to African public law and legal textbooks from other African countries and is a member of the Publishers' association of South Africa.

Student activities

Law students participate in the following activities:

• The Constitutional Tribunal is the judicial body of student governance and adjudicates disputes primarily between student organisations, and its judges sit on the panel of student disciplinary hearings.
• The Pretoria Student Law Review (PSLR), published by PULP, is a student-driven and administered initiative providing an interactive student platform to discuss topical legal matters.
• Law House provides a platform for social engagement, community outreach and student engagement with the faculty.
• Several internal and external moot court competitions through the Moot and Debating Society.
• The Student Disciplinary Advisory Panel (SDAP) may give advice to students appearing in front of student disciplinary hearings regarding the procedure of student disciplinary hearings.

Alumni

This article's list of alumni may not follow Misplaced Pages's verifiability policy. Please improve this article by removing names that do not have independent reliable sources showing they merit inclusion in this article AND are alumni, or by incorporating the relevant publications into the body of the article through appropriate citations. (April 2019)

Well-known alumni include:

Politicians

• Pik Botha, Minister of Foreign Affairs and later Minister of Mineral and Energy Affairs
• Ronald Lamola, Minister of Justice and Correctional Services (since May 2019)
• Nelson Mandela, President of South Africa (1994–1999), honorary doctorate
• Andries Nel, Deputy Minister of Justice and Correctional Services and now Deputy Minister for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs
• J. G. Strijdom, Prime Minister of South Africa (1954–1958)

Justices/Judges

• W. G. Boshoff, former Transvaal Judge President
• Frikkie Eloff, former Transvaal Judge President
• Brian Galgut, retired Deputy Judge President, KwaZulu-Natal High Court
• Louis Harms, retired Deputy President of the Supreme Court of Appeal
• Mabel Jansen, former Judge of the Gauteng High Court
• Johann Kriegler, retired Justice of the Constitutional Court of South Africa (1994–2002)
• Frans Lourens Herman Rumpff, Chief Justice of South Africa (1972–1982)
• Dikgang Moseneke, retired Deputy Chief Justice of South Africa (2005–2016), honorary doctorate
• Piet Streicher, retired Judge of the Supreme Court of Appeal
• Johann van der Westhuizen, Judge of the Constitutional Court of South Africa

Other

• George Bizos, honorary doctorate (died 9 September 2020)
• Christof Heyns, former Director (1999–2006) of the Centre for Human Rights (died 28 March 2021)
• Dire Tladi, Principal State Law Adviser for International Law for the South African Department of International Relations and Cooperation and South Africa Mission to the United Nations
• Anna-Marie de Vos
• Wim Trengove
• Leonora van den Heever

See also

• South African National Schools Moot Court Competition
• African Human Rights Moot Court Competition
• World Human Rights Moot Court Competition
• African Human Rights Law Journal
• African Human Rights Law Reports

Notes

1. History
2. "History of the University of Pretoria". Archived from the original on 1 November 2009. Retrieved 31 August 2009.
3. "Oom Gert". University of Pretoria. Archived from the original on 19 February 2012. Retrieved 12 January 2012.
4. "Pretoria University Law Press (PULP)".
5. ^ "About the ICLA". University of Pretoria. 19 January 2012.
6. ^ Europe Intelligence Wire. (2003-Jan-07) UNESCO awards Czech film festival One World
7. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 February 2012. Retrieved 12 January 2012.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
8. "University of Pretoria Historical Overview". University of Pretoria. Archived from the original on 1 April 2012. Retrieved 12 January 2012.
9. "Universiteit Van Pretoria". Encyclopædia Britannica.
10. "Special Edition in celebration of the 100th Anniversary of the Geology Department at the University of Pretoria". Sajg.geoscienceworld.org. 1 September 2008.
11. "UP welcomes new Dean of the Faculty of Law Professor Elsabe Schoeman | University of Pretoria". up.ac.za. Retrieved 24 January 2021.
12. "UP's Faculty of Law welcomes Prof Charles Maimela as Deputy Dean in historical appointment | University of Pretoria". up.ac.za. Retrieved 24 January 2021.
13. "Faculty of Law | University of Pretoria". up.ac.za. Retrieved 25 January 2021.
14. "World University Rankings 2023 by subject: law". Times Higher Education (THE). 25 October 2022. Retrieved 27 March 2023.
15. "UP's Faculty of Law in top 100 world university rankings". De Rebus. 16 January 2020. Retrieved 24 January 2021.
16. "Record year for UP Faculty of Law | University of Pretoria". up.ac.za. Retrieved 24 January 2021.
17. "UP Law raises the bar again in respect of the number of degrees conferred in 2019 | University of Pretoria". up.ac.za. Retrieved 23 March 2021.
18. UNESCO, Human Rights and Gender Equality Section, Division of Human Rights, Human Security and Philosophy. (2006-Dec-11) University of Pretoria's Centre for Human Rights wins 2006 UNESCO Prize for Human Rights Education portal.unesco.org.
19. "Centre for Child Law". University of Pretoria.
20. "Our Cases". Centreforchildlaw.co.za. 28 September 2012.
21. "Pretoria University Law Press". University of Pretoria.
22. "PASA". Publishsa.co.za.
23. "Pretoria Student Law Review". University of Pretoria.
24. "Alumni". University of Pretoria. 10 July 2012. Archived from the original on 19 February 2012. Retrieved 12 January 2012.
25. "University of Pretoria Centenary".
26. "UP Law alumnus Ronald Lamola named Minister of Justice and Correctional Services | University of Pretoria". up.ac.za. Retrieved 14 October 2020.
27. "Honorary Doctorate Degrees | Article | University of Pretoria". up.ac.za. Retrieved 14 October 2020.
28. "Faculty celebrates opening of Institute for International and Comparative Law in Africa (ICLA) | University of Pretoria". up.ac.za. Retrieved 14 October 2020.
29. "Johannes Gerhardus Strijdom | prime minister of South Africa". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 5 November 2020.
30. "Names in the news: New judges" (PDF). Advocate. 14: 14. 2001 – via General Council of the Bar of South Africa.
31. "TuksLaw alumni and staff members excel | University of Pretoria". up.ac.za. Retrieved 12 November 2020.
32. Motau, Koketšo. "Mabel jansen". ewn.co.za. Retrieved 12 November 2020.
33. Khumalo, Simphiwe. "Justice Johann Kriegler". Centre for Human Rights. Retrieved 12 November 2020.
34. Rumpff, Frans Lourens Herman (1952). "Frans Lourens Herman Rumpff (Chief Justice of South Africa, 1974-1982) : treason trial 1957-1960". hdl:2263/60036. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
35. "University of Pretoria awards honorary doctorate to Justice Dikgang Moseneke | University of Pretoria". up.ac.za. Retrieved 13 September 2021.
36. "Advocate George Bizos received an honorary doctorate at the University's LLM graduations | University of Pretoria". up.ac.za. Retrieved 14 October 2020.
37. "George Bizos obituary". The Guardian. 15 September 2020. Retrieved 30 April 2021.
38. "Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions". University of Pretoria. 27 October 2011. Archived from the original on 16 September 2011. Retrieved 16 September 2011.
39. Probert, Thomas. "Christof Heyns: South African scholar who left his mark on the world's human rights systems". The Conversation. Retrieved 30 April 2021.
40. "Prof Dire Tladi". Sun025.sun.ac.za. Archived from the original on 9 May 2012. Retrieved 28 November 2011.

v t e University of Pretoria Faculty of Law
Centres	Centre for Human Rights
Moot court competitions	World Human Rights Moot Court Competition African Human Rights Moot Court Competition South African National Schools Moot Court Competition
Publications	African Human Rights Law Journal African Human Rights Law Reports
University

v t e University of Pretoria
Pretoria, South Africa
People	Chancellor Wiseman Nkuhlu Vice-Chancellor Cheryl de la Rey Notable academics Notable alumni
History	South African School of Mines Transvaal University College Merensky Library Kya Rosa
Faculties	Gordon Institute of Business Science Faculty of Engineering, the Built Environment and Information Technology Law Theology Veterinary Science
Knowledge	African Centre for Gene Technologies Forestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute Centre for Human Rights Library Special Collections UPSpace Van Wouw Museum Mapungubwe Collection Van Gybland-Oosterhoff Collection Van Tilburg Collection Botanical Garden
Medical facilities	Kalafong Hospital Onderstepoort Veterinary Academic Hospital Steve Biko Hospital Weskoppies Psychiatric Hospital
Student life	Camerata Hatfield Tuks FM University of Pretoria F.C. Tuks Ladies Tuks Women FNB Varsity Cup Tuks Rugby League LC De Villiers Sports Ground Tuks Stadium Tuks Cricket Oval
University People

• University of Pretoria
• Legal education in South Africa