University of Dorpat Faculty of Law and its Polish Students up to the year 1918

Abstract

The paper discussess the Faculty of Law of the Univeristy of Dorpat (today the University of Tartu) up to the year 1918, as seen in the context. of the Polish students who studied there. After the November Uprising (1930-1931) Dorpat became a special place for Polish students in the XIX century, it being the only university in Russia where instruction was given in a language other than Russian. Young Polish patriots who did not want to study in Russian, travelled to this liberal German language university situated in the city of Tartu. It was for this reason in XIX century that Dorpat become one of the most important places for educating the future Polish elite – politicians, doctors of medicine, lawyers, etc. Todays in Poland knowledge of this episode in our history is forgotten. The paper presents an overview of the University of Dorpat including in particular the history of its law faculty, outlines the law faculty’s curricula, and references some of the notable Poles who studied [email protected] w Białymstok