History

Moolam Thirunal Rama Varma

The history of Govt Law College, Ernakulam goes back to 1874 when legal education set its root in Kerala by the Maharajah of Travancore sanctioning the Organisation of a Law Class in connection with Hiss Highness college(Present University College) Thiruvanathapuram. This was with a view to enable the candidate from Travancore to present themselves for the Law Examination of the Madras University. Those law classes continued as such till 1894 when the institution was re organised entirely on a different footing. The college was raised to the status of an independent college under the designation of "His Highness the Maharajah's Law College, Thiruvananthapuram with Mr W.T.A.Cosby, Bar-at-Law (Judge of the High Court of Travancore who was appointed as Professor of Law in 1892) as the first Principal. A complete set of rules was also formulated by the Government for the control and regulation of work in the college. The rules prescribed the qualification prescribed for the members of the teaching staff.

In 1929 on the recommendation of a commission from the University of Madras which inspected the institution, the Government sanctioned the conversion of the college from part time to full time working from 10 AM to 4 PM from the academic year 1931-32.

In August 1949 the college was shifted to Ernakulam to fit it with the new set up arising out of the integration of the erstwhile States of the Thiruvithamkoor and Kochi and the consequent shifting of the Travancore-Cochin High Court from Thiruvananthapuram to Ernakulam. The College is housed int he old Assembly building Kochi State at Ernakulam since its shifting to this place in 1949. The College celebrated the centenary of Legal Education in 1975.In July 1954 a secont Law College was started at Thiruvananthapuram.

To commemorate the shifting of Law College to Ernakulam the College Celebrated it's Golden Jubilee in 1999. In the year 1967-68, the three year LL.B course was started and the nomenclature of the Degree of M.L was changed to M.L. During the year 1968-69 the two year B.L Degree course was abolished. Part-time course for he 3yr LL.B started during 1968-69 but was abolished in 2002.

Sir Sri Rama Varma XV

The college is at present offering both 5yr and 3yr courses for the LL.B degree. At present the college is offering instructions in two branches of law in the LL.M degree viz. 1) Mercantile Law, 2) Law of Crime and Tort. Admission to both LL.B and LL.M courses is through entrance examination conducted by Commissioner of Entrance Examination, Kerala.

In the rolls of the college there are seven hundred students for the LL.B course and thirty students for the LL.M course.

The college was maintained by the His Highness the Maharajah of Travancore from the very start and managed till 1909, in which year the college was placed under the Direction of the Public Instruction. In 1910, the college came under the High Court of Travancore. With the inauguration of the Travancore University in 1938, the college was transferred to the control of the university. In 1957 the Kerala University was formed and the college came under it. In 1983, with the establishment of Mahathma Gandhi University at Kottayam, the college became a constituent college of that university and is now affiliated to it.

View Larger Map