Emanating from the Vedas, the Upanishads, and other religious texts, it was a fertile field enriched by practitioners from different Hindu philosophical schools and later by Jains and Buddhists.
Court systems for civil and criminal matters were essential features of many ruling dynasties of ancient India.
After the shift from the Mughal legal system, the advocates under that regimen, “vakils”, too followed suit, though they mostly continued their earlier roles as client representatives.
The doors of the newly created Supreme Courts were barred to Indian practitioners as the right of audience was limited to members of English, Irish, and Scottish professional bodies.
Subsequent rules and statutes culminated in the Legal Practitioners Act of 1846 which opened up the profession regardless of nationality or religion.
To this regard, the Bar Council of India prescribes the minimum curriculum required to be taught for an institution to be eligible for the grant of a law degree.
NLS offered a five-year law course upon the successful completion of which an integrated degree with the title of "B.A., LL.B.
However, despite these specialized law universities, the traditional three-year degree continues to be offered in India by other institutions.
The University Grants Commission approved one-year LLM courses in India on 6 September 2012 and the guideline for the same was notified in January 2013.
The curriculum needs to be regulated and we will have to gradually upscale and upgrade,” confessed erstwhile law minister, Veerappa Moily.
Some traditional universities and affiliated colleges also admits students on the basis of merit in the preceding examination.