Graduate School of Law
Major in Law (Master's Program)Major in Civil Law (Doctoral Program)
Major in Public Law (Doctoral Program)
In addition to nurturing academics, we are also making great strides in the training of professionals in the fields of jurisprudence and legal administration.
Objectives of Education
The Graduate School of Law established a master's program in 1954 and a doctoral program in 1955. The programs, in which our students select a major, cover both main areas of jurisprudence—public law (master 's program and doctoral program) and private law (in civil law in the doctoral program)—and have a total quota of 98 places. In the master's program, the majors in legal studies were combined into one recently in order to eliminate the restriction on students taking courses outside their specialization. These courses provide thorough education and guidance for students with a wide variety of interests in research into law (including the related field of political research), and we have made great efforts to nurture experts in a broad range of jurisprudence-related fields.Up to now, the curriculum of the Graduate School of Law's master's program has aimed principally at the development of scholars, but the majority of our students have sought to deepen their legal knowledge with the goal of becoming members of the legal profession (principally lawyers) or legal administration specialists such as judicial scriveners, licensed tax accountants, experts in corporate legal affairs, legal specialists in the civil service, and so on. To respond to the demands of society that lie behind this shift in our students' objectives, we have worked to reform the School's curriculum.
Reforms of the national judiciary system have necessitated changes in the system for training members of the legal profession. Senshu University established a Law School in April 2004 in accordance with these reforms. Students desiring to enter the judiciary, whether as judges, prosecutors or attorneys, must earn a degree from a law school and complete additional coursework at the Judiciary Training Institute after passing the new judiciary examination. Along with other universities, Senshu University has drastically revised the curriculum of the master's program offered by the Graduate School of Law. The School is now offering a master's level Legal Studies Program, and training of experts in positive law will in the future primarily be offered to students who have completed coursework at the Law School before entering and finishing the doctoral program. However, students desiring to study law or political science, to become professional specialists such as licensed tax accountants, to become central or local government employees or acquire advanced teaching qualifications (specialized certificates), or to otherwise continue with advanced academic studies, are as welcome as ever to enter our master's program. In the doctoral program, students are set fundamental and specific research themes with the goal of giving them high-level theoretical training in the law and politics across a broad range of fields.