Universities and Online Degrees Guide

University of the Witwatersrand

Bachelor of Laws

The Bachelor of Laws in Law and Legal Studies is offered by University of the Witwatersrand.

Bachelor of Laws (LLB)
The LLB degree provides students with a sound knowledge of the general principles of the South African legal system, and an ability to use legal materials effectively.

If you want to practise law, you need at least an LLB degree. You have several options if you want to study law at Wits. 

• The four-year stream
  Students enter this stream directly from matric.
  The four-year programme comprises mostly law subjects with several Humanity or Commerce subjects at first year level. You must take certain core law subjects if you wish to graduate with an LLB. Other subjects form a set of electives you can choose from.

• The three-year stream
  Students enter this stream after having completed a bachelor’s degree without doing any law courses. Since they have had an opportunity to develop their critical and analytical skills in a first degree, they are equipped to deal with legal studies in an effective manner and may finish the LLB in three years.
  
  
• The two-year stream
  Students enter this stream when they decide to complete a Wits BA(Law) or a BCom(Law) before entering the LLB. Since students are given credit for the law courses completed in the BA or BCom degrees towards the LLB, they can complete the LLB in two years. 

First year

• Law of Persons
• Family Law
• Introduction to Law for LLB students
• (Certificate of Competence in Computer Literacy)

ANDYou must complete one or more courses from any other Faculty in the University, to the value of 36 LLB credits.Second year

• Constitutional Law
• Constitutional Law: Bill of Rights
• Law of Succession
• Criminal Law
• Delict
• Jurisprudence

Third year

• Business Entities
• Contract
• Civil Procedure
• Criminal Procedure
• Ethics and Law: Theory and Practice
• Evidence
• Property
• Public International Law

Fourth year

• Practical Legal Studies
• Administrative Law
• Customary Law
• Insolvency
• Labour Law

AND

• Four electives