Institute of Global Law

About the Institute

University College London established its Institute of Global Law in 2000. The setting up of the Institute acknowledges the impact of law across national boundaries and the need to deepen inquiry into comparative approaches to law and legal study.

The Institute has received the encouragement of senior legal and governmental figures in the United Kingdom and elsewhere. Its London location gives it unique access to Government, the civil service, the courts and practising lawyers.

The Institute intends to be an active centre of both teaching and research. Its first Chairman is Professor Sir Basil Markesinis, QC, DCL, FBA, a distinguished comparative lawyer, who has close working links with the governments, judiciaries and academic institutions in Europe and the USA. The former Lord Chief Justice, the Rt Hon. the Lord Woolf of Barnes, FBA, has kindly agreed to act as President of the Institute's distinguished Committee of Patronage.

The Institute will continue the emphasis in UCL upon comparative law announced by its first law professor in 1826, John Austin. It will build upon its existing expertise in Russian, Eastern European, African, Japanese, European and International Law and upon its many exchange programmes and attractions to students from over 70 countries across the globe.

The logo of the Institute depicts Aristotle and Plato, the 'fathers' of the comparative study of law and political institutions from 'The School of Athens' by Raphael, part of the Stanza della Segnatura, in the Palazzi Pontifici, Vatican. The Institute has adopted as its motto St Paul's exhortation to the Thessalonians - "Probe everything and retain the best".