Basic Information
The Palacký University Faculty of Law continues with the centuries-long tradition of higher law education in Olomouc. Its modern history began in 1991, when it was established as the first post-revolutionary faculty of law in contemporary Czechoslovakia. Its mission is to support the values of freedom, democracy and civil society. It was awarded the Hannah Arendt Prize in this regard in 1996.
Out of all Czech the law faculties, it provides the most sophisticated system of competence and practical training. beginning already in the first year of study. Its legal clinics are among the top ones on a European scale.
The Faculty consists of eight departments and two centres (the Centre for Clinical Legal Education, and the Science and Research Support Centre).
Greater internationalization has been enhanced among other things by opening a Doctoral degree program in English and by obtaining accreditation in a new field of study in English. The Faculty of Law has expanded its activities for the public over the years. It participated in launching the first Czech collective online course, focused on family law, in 2015 and also began teaching at the University of the Third Age. Admissions for professional post-graduate LL.M. courses in competition law and intellectual property law began at the Faculty in 2017.
Statistical data
as of 31 October 2018
Total amount of students: 1497
Number of graduates in 2017: 244
Total number of employees: 137
Faculty History
Law has been taught at the University in Olomouc from as far back as 1679. The Faculty of Law was established for the first time in 1778 (as the Directorate of Legal Studies at the Olomouc lyceum). It was established as a full-fledged in the re-established University in 1833.
The onset of neo-absolutism, as well as a significant decrease in the number of students, led to the disestablishment of the Faculty of Arts in 1851; the Faculty of Law was closed at the beginning of the school year 1855–1856. Emperor Franz Joseph I subsequently, disbanded the entire University in Olomouc by a decree of 17 May 1860. The only constituents remaining in Olomouc were the independent Faculty of Theology (until the closing of Czech universities by the Nazis in November 1939), and temporarily (until the school year 1873–1874) the study of medicine-surgery.
Repeated attempts at re-establishment of the University in Olomouc followed; these were successful in 1946. Four faculties were established by law: the Faculty of Theology, the Faculty of Law, the Faculty of Medicine, and the Faculty of Arts. The Faculty of Law only received its first students forty years later, after the Velvet Revolution.
A number of people deserve credit for the opening of the Faculty of Law in 1991, in particular the former Rector of the University Josef Jařab, as well as the first Dean of the re-opened Faculty of Law Miroslav Liberda and his preparatory implementation team.
In a symbolic manner, the seat of the new Faculty of Law was situated in the buildings of the former District Committee of the Communist Party, where it has been located ever since.
Deans in the modern history and their terms in office
doc. JUDr. Miroslav Liberda (1991-1998)
doc. Ing. Jiří Blažek, CSc. (1998-2001)
JUDr. Mag. Iur. Michal Malacka, Ph.D., MBA (2001-2007)
prof. JUDr. Milana Hrušáková, CSc. (2008-2016)
JUDr. Zdenka Papoušková, Ph.D. (2016-2020)
doc. JUDr. Václav Stehlík, LL.M., Ph.D. (since January 2020)