Osgoode Hall Law School is the second oldest common law school in Canada, the oldest being the McGill University Faculty of Law. The Law Society of Upper Canada established Osgoode Hall Law School in 1889.
For its first seven decades, Osgoode Hall Law School was located near the University of Toronto. Despite this, the two law schools remained separate. The university's faculty of law was established in the same year as the Osgoode Hall Law School. However, the Law Society of Upper Canada maintained control of professional legal education in Ontario until 1957. Thus the University of Toronto has traditionally had a small undergraduate student body in comparison with Osgoode Hall.
In 1969 the Osgoode Hall Law School moved to York University. The buildings known as "Osgoode Hall" (the earliest dating from 1832) remain the headquarters of the Law Society. When the law school moved the buildings were renovated and reopened in 1973.
Osgoode Hall Law School is the largest faculty of common law in Canada and, until 1957, was the only accredited law school in Ontario. The school was at the centre of the debates over the principles of modern legal education in the 1950s. It was, and remains, a truly national law school. Its graduates have entered practice in each of Canada's common law provinces. Osgoode Hall Law School provided many of the founding members of the bar in the Prairie Provinces. It has one of the most diverse student bodies in Canada.
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