Aberystwyth University Department of Law

The beginnings of the Law Department at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth can be traced to a meeting held in London during 1899. The meeting was convened to discuss calls for the establishment of a law department at the college. Those supporting the plan declared their ambition to be the creation of a law school for the provision of a broad education in legal principles, as opposed to the narrow professional training provided by other colleges. The plan gained a great deal of support, but finances proved problematic, as they had done throughout the early history of the University of Wales. Committees were thus established to raise both awareness and funds on the Bar circuits of North and South Wales, and amongst London Welshmen. As a result of these efforts, the College committed itself to the establishment of a faculty of law in 1901.

Applications were considered for the Chair of Law. Amongst the most prominent applicants were Thomas A Levi, a former Aberystwyth student with a double first from Oxford, and son of the Revd Thomas Levi, "king of the Cardiganshire Methodists". W Jethro Brown, former professor of law at the University of Tasmania and University College London, also impressed the selection board. The former was therefore appointed Professor of English Law, and the latter Professor of Constitutional and Comparative Law.

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