Doctor of Laws
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Doctor of Laws (Latin: Legum Doctor, LL.D) is a doctorate-level academic degree in law.
In the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand, the degree is a higher doctorate usually awarded on the basis of exceptionally insightful and distinctive publications that contain significant and original contributions to the study of law. Some universities, such as the University of Oxford, award a Doctor of Civil Law degree instead. In Canada, LL.D and Doctor of Civil Law degrees are awarded as substitute of Ph.D. in law. In South Africa, the LL.D. is awarded by many university law faculties as the highest degree in law, based upon research and completion of a Ph.D. equivalent dissertation. The LL.D. may also be awarded as an honorary degree based upon a person's contributions to society.
In Malta, the LL.D. is a post-graduate doctoral degree requiring at least three years of full time study at the University of Malta[1], Malta's national university. Students are required to complete coursework in a number of core areas of law, as well as to submit a thesis which is to be "an original work on the approved subject or other contribution to the knowledge showing that he/she has carried out sufficient research therein" [2]. It confers the title of Doctor, which in Malta is rigorously used to address a holder of the degree. The LL.D. is also required for admission to the profession of advocate in Malta.
In Malta, practising lawyers are of three designations - legal procurators, notaries and advocates. A one-year full time taught post-graduate diploma of Notary Public (N.P.) is required for admission to the profession of notary public, while a taught post-graduate diploma of Legal Procurator (L.P.) is required for admission to the profession of legal procurator. A legal procurator is a lawyer in Malta that has rights of audience in the lower courts, a profession that was existent in Malta as early, and even prior to 1553[3]. The Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.) degree, also offered by the university, is a graduate degree that of itself is not sufficient for admission into any of the legal professions. All three professions also require members to be holders of a warrant issued by the President of Malta, obtainable after a minimum of one year of work experience in that profession, and examination. It is not possible for a Maltese lawyer to hold a warrant in more than one of the professions at a time.
In the United States, the LL.D. is almost always an honorary degree. The Doctor of Juridical Science (S.J.D. or J.S.D.), sometimes awarded as Doctor of the Science of Law, is the degree awarded for research in the form of a dissertation, the equivalent to a Ph.D. in law.
Most people who pursue the SJD intend upon a career as a law professor or other legal scholar, as the Juris Doctor (JD) is the professional degree required for contemporary law practice in the United States and the SJD is not required for professional practice, but as a JD and usually an LLM are prerequisites, individuals aspiring to the SJD already possess the JD in some form. Moreover, lower graduate (not professional) degrees in law (e.g., LL.M.) exist for further study of specific areas of law, such as taxation or intellectual property. Therefore, most scholars who take the doctoral graduate degree intend study in a very specific field of law or to continue work beyond what research experience a Master of Arts would provide. Legal scholars who intend to teach in the United States but who were educated elsewhere are attracted to the doctoral degree because many hold degrees that would be considered equal to the bachelor's rather than a master's or JD in the United States.
Plural abbreviations in Latin are formed by doubling the letter, hence the double "L."
[edit] See also
- Juris Doctor (J.D.)
- Master of Laws (LL.M.)
- Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.)
- Doctor of Canon Law
It must be noted that in Italy, Doctor of Law is the title, given to anybody who graduates from the university having finished a normal university degree studies. These can be compared to the British-system Bachelor of Laws degree.
