The Institute of Legal Sciences

Legal sciences have been taught at the Catholic University of Lublin since the university's inception. The university, founded in 1918, included a Faculty of Law and Socio-Economic Sciences and a Faculty of Canon Law and Moral Sciences. Both faculties operated continuously until the outbreak of World War II. The resumption of the University's activities in 1944 resulted in the rapid development of the Law Section, operating within the Faculty of Law and Socio-Economic Sciences.

This development was interrupted in 1952 by the state authorities. In a letter dated 23 June 1949, the Minister of Education ordered the ‘gradual liquidation of the Legal Section of the Faculty of Law and Socio-Economic Sciences of the Catholic University of Lublin, decided to suspend enrollment for the first year of law studies and announced the gradual closure of subsequent years of study. As a result of these decisions, the Law Section ceased to exist in 1952.

The formal reinstatement of the Law Section, this time as part of the Faculty of Canon Law, did not take place until 1981. This was mainly due to the socio-political changes taking place in the country. In fact, after a break of several decades, law studies began again at KUL in the 1983/84 academic year.

On 1 September 2008, the Institute of Law began operating within the Faculty of Law, Canon Law and Administration. It was created as a result of the merger of four existing organizational units (the Institute of General Legal Studies, the Institute of Public Law, the Institute of Private Law and the Institute of Criminal Law).

On 1 October 2019, the Institute of Legal Sciences began operating as an independent organizational unit within the Faculty. It was created from the merger of the Institute of Law, the Institute of Administration and the Institute of European Studies. Currently, over 100 research and teaching staff members conduct scientific and didactic activities at the Institute of Legal Sciences. They constitute a team of outstanding legal theorists and practitioners. The unit currently comprises 19 departments. The Institute of Legal Sciences is authorized to award academic degrees: doctor and postdoctoral doctor of legal sciences. As part of their scientific and research activities, the employees of the Institute of Legal Sciences conduct extensive research in various fields of law.

The KUL University Legal Clinic

The KUL University Legal Clinic comprises the following sections: Civil Law, Family Law, Criminal Law, Financial Law, Administrative Law, Mediation and Negotiation, Labour Law, and Refugee Law. Within these sections, law students provide pro bono legal assistance to persons requiring legal support, acting under the substantive supervision of the Faculty’s academic staff.