Ancient Law Research Articles

Russian Pravda as a primary source of administrative law and process in ancient Russia

Russian Truth is the oldest monument of the law of feudal Rus’. It reflects the growth of princely power and the expansion of the princely court. This study is devoted to identifying the features of law and legal proceedings in this era. Like the ancient Laws of the XII tables in Ancient Rome and the Babylonian laws of King Hamurabi (Hamurabi), to which our study was devoted. Russian Truth is also a judge. In it we meet the rules of law, which we now call administrative law and process. Separate historical epochs are mixed up in Russkaya Pravda, there is no systematization of norms. A separate part of the truth is called “The Court of Yaroslav Vladimirovich.” Russkaya Pravda does not give us a complete account of the organization of the princely court. Separate princely decisions became the norm for subsequent court decisions. So, the prince sets penalties for killing people depending on their position. Pravda Yaroslavichi forbids blood feuds and introduces a fine instead. Litigation under Russkaya Pravda is adversarial, which establishes pre-trial procedures. The relationship between the plaintiffs and the defendants is clarified. This order is called “arching” and “persecution of the trace.” Competitiveness arises from those forms of struggle that existed even in a tribal society, when relations were sorted out by force. The study showed that the law according to Russian Pravda has gone ahead of the primitive customs of more ancient times and represents a developed system, where there was a court, a process, a system of evidence and punishments.

Sir Henry Sumner Maine et les systemes juridiques traditionnels

The birth of comparative law in England is strongly linked with the Ancient Law, its Connection with the Early History of Society and its Relation to Modern Ideas, of Sir Henry Sumner Maine published in 1861. Maine is the first in England to be endowed ‘ad personam’ with the Chair of Comparative Law in Oxford in order to teach legal history and comparative (foreign) law. It is undoubtedly the Roman law that stood in the focus of interest of Sir Henry Sumner Maine serving as basis to carry out comparative legal studies. That approach is in particular manifested in Ancient Law as Maine attributes significance to the various institutions of Roman law. The author draws in particular a comparison between Maine and Bachofen as far as their approach relating to the basis of foreign law related research is concerned. The role that Roman law (ius Romanum), i.e. Civil law (ius civile), played in the development of English law during the centuries is also underlined in this paper, and in its last part, the author emphasizes the contemporary significance of Ancient Law and traditional legal systems for the foreign law related research on the basis of the works of Maine.

Systematization of Ukrainian customary law: historical-legal aspect

The article is devoted to the historical-legal issues of research the systematization of the Ukrainian people's customary law. It was found that the systematization of customary law is a type of systematization of law and can be carried out both by incorporation and codification. Legal customs were recorded and placed in a collection in case of their incorporation. Instead, during codification, customary norms were adapted to the requirements of the form, structure and content of the legislative text. In contrast to simple written fixation, in the course of codification, the legislator had the opportunity to change, narrow or supplement the content of the norm of customary law. Customary law as a codification material played an important role in the process of formation legislation on Ukrainian lands. Norms of customary origin are present both in monuments of Ukrainian law and in low-known acts of local authorities. Based on the existing legal customs in society, the legislators intended to create a law that corresponded to the reality of that time. By studying the texts of ancient laws, there is an opportunity to discover the content of legal customs that were in effect before their adoption. On the other hand, the identification of provisions of the law, which have a customary origin, with legal customs is incorrect and does not correspond to the nature of this phenomenon. Legal customs, which were codified, were transformed into legislative prescriptions. The historical-legal research of the systematization of Ukrainian customary law has a number of problems. First, it is difficult to determine in which case the transformation of a norm of customary law into a provision of the law took place, and in which case - a record in the law book. After all, in ancient times, laws often resembled such law books or were de facto them, had a casuistic and fragmentary character. Secondly, it is sometimes impossible to prove that the corresponding provision of the legislation had a customary origin. Even if this is possible, there are difficulties in proving that this is a norm of the customary law of the Ukrainian people, and not of another nation. As we know, the legal customs of neighboring (and sometimes distant) peoples are often similar or even identical.

Implementation of Pikukuh Karuhun in the Behavior of Baduy Youths at Cibeo after being Exposed to Digital Communication Media

The main purpose of this journal is to describe the cultural change in the practice of Pikukuh Karuhun (The Law of Baduy people that governs their relation with nature). While most of the people of Inner Baduy (locally known as Baduy Dalam) in Cibeo still strongly clings into these ancient laws, the youths of said village have started to use technologies in their daily lives, most often to communicate with guests who planned to visit their village. The researchers of this journal tried to study this change that occurs in Cibeo’s youths, specifically about their stance on Pikukuh Karuhun as a local culture that functions to philosophically guide Baduy people on their daily lives. This study was done with ethnomethodology method which is a part qualitative method and constructive paradigm. The results of this research describe the inconsistencies in the practice of Pikukuh Karuhun by Cibeo’s youths that mostly works as local guides and porters in weekends and holidays. They use social media like WhatsApp to communicate with would-be guests before and after their arrival. Their aptitude in using such apps come from their interaction with outlanders that come to visit Cibeo. In-between their interaction with outside visitors, they autodidactly learn to operate phones and social medias as much as they could. Interestingly, researchers found that while they use technology in the form of mobile phones (something that is forbidden by their ancient laws), they only do so outside their village. They never bring their phones into the village but instead they leave it at the hand of their relatives and friends outside Cibeo.

Professor of Kharkiv University A. M. Stoyanov as a historian of law

Introduction. The article highlights the main milestones of the professional development of Kharkiv University professor A. Stoyanov and his scientific activity in the field of history of law. It was found that modern researchers who, in the course of their scientific research, turned to the analysis of his works, for certain reasons, emphasize primarily the work of the scientist in the field of international law, but usually do not pay any attention to the extremely wide range of historical and legal research of the scientist, which in his scientific creativity, he himself took far from the last place in terms of importance and volume. This is what determined the topic of this article. Summary of the main results of the study. It is noted that one of the most interesting historical and legal works by A. Stoyanov's monograph "History of Advocacy among Ancient Peoples", in which the monuments of law and legal thought of Egypt, India, ancient Jews, Greeks and Romans were analyzed. The embryo of the Institute of Advocacy A. Stoyanov saw precisely in the ancient Greek synegory. His historical and legal studies "Historical analogies and points of intersection of new legislation with ancient law", "The beginnings of family law among primitive peoples", "Family law and inheritance among Jews" and published by the publishing house of Kharkiv University in separate brochures aroused considerable interest among scientists and students of that time, "Family, marriage, and the legal position of women according to the legislative monuments of India", "Customary law in the history of the most important states of Europe and especially France", "Customs of society and courts in France from the end of the 17th century. until 1789". A certain result of this stage of his studies of ancient law was the publication of the author's lectures devoted to the history of the legislation of the countries of the East. Some scientific research carried out by Professor Stoyanov at one time caused heated discussions and controversies. Among these, first of all, we can mention the work "Historical analogies and points of intersection of new legislation with ancient law", which was published in 1883 and was an extremely interesting attempt at diachronic comparative research, one of the first that was carried out in the universities of Eastern Europe. He was an ardent supporter of comparative and especially historical methods of studying legal institutions. He used them widely when writing his scientific works. The scientist published a significant part of his works in the journal "Notes of the Kharkiv University". One of the most interesting historical and legal studies, which has not lost its relevance even today, is the work "Criminal Law of Rome from the earliest times to Justinian inclusive", published here in 1895. Conclusion. The conclusion that A. Stoyanov was a bright representative of that generation of lawyers of the Kharkiv school, whose work created the foundation of the modern national science of the history of law. His works, which during the Soviet era were forgotten for ideological reasons and only briefly mentioned by researchers, contain many layers of valuable historical and legal information and deep scientific conclusions. The merits of the scientist in the future have yet to be fully assessed by the next generation of lawyers.

Return of a Ghost

Abstract As there are hardly any regulations on slavery to be found in early modern German positive law, the impression prevails until today that slave status did not exist in the Old Empire. In such cases, however, Roman law was regularly used as a subsidiary legal source. By studying the plethora of early modern commentaries on the Corpus iuris civilis, which adapted ancient law to contemporary needs, a wholly different picture emerges: Not only did slave status exist as a legal concept and was applied in practice, but by selecting, interpreting, and commenting on it, early modern jurists shaped and reshaped its concrete appearance. Controversies and mainstream positions thus become tangible, as do more profound shifts from religious toward racial alterity as criteria for enslaveability.

Status between Law and Religion: Introduction

AbstractThe juridical status of persons nowadays tends to be discussed only in narrow contexts: civic status (citizen, alien, and various visa statuses), marital status, penal status, employment status, religious or ethnic status within colonial and postcolonial states, status of the fetus, corporate personal status, and so on. In the century and a half since Henry Maine’s 1861 treatise, Ancient Law, in which he discerned a general movement from status to contract in progressive societies, broad discussions of status as a general feature of law are few, so a renewed comprehensive approach to the issue remains a desideratum. This symposium, which has its origins in an interdisciplinary conference held in November 2019 at Washington and Lee University School of Law, is a step in that direction. The articles and essay gathered here illuminate the multifarious ways in which juridical status of persons overlaps with religious conceptions of persona and status. They provide grounds for seeing the religious component as distinctive because of the uniquely privileged authority attributed to divinely mandated status distinctions and the urgency of claims to religious rights. They also show how a juridical status can straddle law and religion, and how legal institutions handle such hybrid forms of status.

Women’s Rights at Hindu Personal Law: A Comparative Study Between Bangladesh and India

Inequality for women in Bangladesh is more of a social issue than a legal one. Inequalities in the application of the law, with the exception of private concerns, are hardly ever observed. Religious rules or conventions, however, govern personal concerns. Since Hindu Law is the most ancient Law in the world, it deviates, changes or modifies immensely. Different schools are explained it in a different way except with basic instruments. It modifies through the commentaries and customs. Although these norms or traditions are classified separately under the heading of “Personal Law” in Bangladesh's legal system but they are not in entire format drawn from (portrayed) religious laws or customs. Laws and Ordinances altered their mode of application. These, however, have not been sufficient to create equality between men and women. Gender norms and regulations hinder compliance with present laws. For easy understanding of the common people, the concerned authority should codify new rules and regulations with proper reference from Shastra Law and keep in mind with International Obligations as well. This paper examines some notable legal constraints on the way to ensure the fruitful implementation of Women’s Rights and put forwards some observations on assuring justice for all the Hindu Women in Bangladesh.

Law in the East Slavic legal-cultural space

The purpose of the study is to determine the main features, institutions and patterns of the development of law in the era of pre-state formations on the example of East Slavic state formations, as well as those state formations and states (the Grand Duchyof Lithuania, Ulus of Jochi, the Kingdoms of Poland and Hungary, Wallachian, and Slavic-Wallachian principalities, etc.), under the influence or power of which the aforementioned Eastern Slavic state formations fell in the studied period of the 9th–15th centuries. The term East Slavic legal-cultural space is used to denote this territorial and political massif. On the basis of a comprehensive analysis of historiography, the main theoretical approaches to the characterization of law at the pre-state and early state stages of the political development of society are determined. The main attention in the work is paid to the characteristics of specifically historical features of law and state power in the East Slavic legal-cultural space of the 9th–15th centuries. It is concluded that the law of Ancient Rus’ state formations is clearly distinguished from both the law of modern states and the traditional/primitive/archaic law, which arose and was formed in a naturally historical way. At the same time, this law is fundamentally different from the law of constituent states, which does not allow it to be classified as corporate law. At this stage, it seems logical to use one of the definitions of the Anglo-American Concepts of early law for this stage of the development of law:primitive or ancient law. Key words: Legal history, East Slavic, Kyivan Rus, Old Rus, state formations, Barbarian state, Medieval Law, Ancient Rus’ Law, Source of Law, oral law, written law, Legal Treaty.

An Overview of Problems with the Act on Imposition of Non-Criminal (Pinai) Regulatory Fines, B.E. 2565 (2022)

As of 22 June 2023, 240 days after the Act on Imposition of Non-Criminal (Pinai) Regulatory Fines, B.E. 2565 (2022; “Pinai Act”) was announced in the Royal Gazette, it has come into effect. Questions remain over definitions of non-criminal (pinai) fines and how the Pinai Act will affect the legal system in Thailand. “Pinai fines” are fines imposed by the state for a new type of offense called “pinai offense.” However, the appellation pinai may obscure the subject matter of the law since the term is not used in current Thai speech. It is a loanword from the ancient Law of Three Seals in which the word pinai means fines charged to the state. This word was also established in the Penal Code of Siam R.E. 127 by the term Pinai-Luang. However, the current Thailand Criminal Code B.E. 2499 (1956) no longer uses the term, unlike the words, Sin-Mai, or “compensation to the plaintiff,” the usage of which continues from the Law of Three Seals to the current law and litigation. When referring to the Pinai Act, the purpose of the law is to create a new type of offense in the Thai legal system that is not a criminal offense, or a decriminalized regulatory offense following a concept prevalent in Germany (Ordnungswidrigkeit). Therefore, the Pinai Act will transform some criminal and administrative offenses into new misdeeds that are no longer considered criminal. This Commentary will discuss issues related to the Pinai Act, including general principles, criteria for distinguishing pinai offenses from criminal or administrative ones, and provide some comments on the Act.

What do We Owe to Romans? The Roman Shift of the Paradigm of Thinking About Law in the Context European Legal Culture

This study shall present the consequences of the paradigm shift in thinking about law that took place in Ancient Rome (primarily, but not exclusively, in the early republic). It will present what distinguished the Roman concept of law from the concept of law present in other ancient laws, and what is still a living heritage of Roman thought, even if we do not realize it on a daily basis. Roman law will be compared with other laws of the European cultural circle, and therefore, apart from ancient Greece, the so-called Eastern despotias and the state (states) of the Jews. However, it is more about ideas than specific solutions. Therefore, in the comparative material will be also included the Muslim law, although it was created after the promulgation of the Justinian Code, considered the final stage in the formation of ancient Roman law. The Muslim law is however - in a sense - an heir of Middle Eastern legislation and expresses an alternative to Roman way of thinking about law. The aim is to show not only what distinguishes Roman law from the laws that precede it or its contemporaries, but what distinguishes Roman law from other possible ways of looking at laws in general. As a research hypothesis is presented the statement that the fundamental for the development of European legal culture were not so much specific Roman normative solutions, but a change in the paradigm of thinking about law: its secularization, understood as a break with divine origin or the sanctioning of law, and its professionalization, understood as the development of a specific category professional people dealing with the analysis and interpretation of law. At the end it is presented an open question why the secularization of the law happened only in Rome and why it ever happened there although in all other analyzed legal systems the connection between law and religion was never surpassed which this did not prevent the formation of a precise and sublime law, as was the case of the Islamic world.

How Icelandic Is French Law? A Few Remarks about the Discovery and Usage of Icelandic Antiquities in French Legal Historiography during the Nineteenth Century

How Icelandic Is French Law? A Few Remarks about the Discovery and Usage of Icelandic Antiquities in French Legal Historiography during the Nineteenth Century

V. Securitas. Die Debatte um Unverletzlichkeit und Immunität in der politischen und Rechtstheorie der Diplomatie vom 13. bis zum 18. Jahrhundert

Summary Securitas. Debating Inviolability and Immunity in the Legal and Political Theory of Diplomacy, Thirteenth to Eighteenth Century. The essay examines the legal aspects of the transformation of the rules governing the protection of diplomatic agents from the ancient law of hospitality into treaties guaranteeing extraterritoriality. The transformation involved the shift of the derivation of these rules from natural to positive law around 1800. In material respects, it entailed the recasting of diplomatic agents catagorised as a specifically vulnerable group of professionals into a group of specially privileged representatives of sovereign states and their perceived interests.

Legis Actio in Rem and Adolf Reinach’s Theory on Social Acts

In an essay published in 2002, Ulrich Manthe analysed the ancient legis actio sacrament in rem in the light of the speech act theory shaped, above all, by John L. Austin (1911–1960). Almost half a century before, Austin Adolf Reinach, an outstanding member of the phenomenological school founded by Edmund Husserl, developed a theory of illocutionary acts from the perspective of realistic legal philosophy. One of the essential elements of the model developed by Reinach is the theory of social acts. In the fi rst step, the paper focuses on the opening part of the legis actio sacramento in rem. It shows that concerning the activity of the parties during the initial ritual of the law enforcement process, we discover the development from the acts of conviction and assertion, which still do not arrive at the state of social acts, to the social act of informing the other party about the claim. The paper also tries to approach the activity of the praetor and the judge through the theory of social acts. The “mittite ambo rem” on behalf of the praetor is qualifi ed technically as the social act of a command. Without arriving at a fi nal result, the paper makes a first attempt to apply the categories of commandment and enactment to the activities of the praetor and the judge. It leaves this item open to further research underlying at the same time that the application of the social acts might contribute to understanding the relationship between the two actors in ancient law.

Tanka je linija što spaja i razdvaja: o nadmudrivanju i prevari u rimskoj klasičnoj prodaji

Th e Roman classical sale is one of the most striking expressions of the Roman legal genius. However, to a large extent, this institute is overshadowed by the infl uence and contribution of foreign ancient (primarily Greek) law, the existence of analogous responsibility of the buyer and seller, diff erent modalities and, fi nally, the specifi c defi nition of the essential elements of the contract, object and price. Th is was particularly evident in the slave and livestock markets, where contracting parties met in order to outsmart each other and achieve the best possible deal by subjectively determining the limit of success. What is a good deal for the seller, for the buyer can be a basis for a lawsuit that was not easy to come by quickly. Where does bona fi des end, where does circumsriptio, and where does dolus begin, what is the role of the contracting parties and what is their liability? Did Roman jurisprudents contribute to solving this problem and to what extent? In this paper, we tried to answer these questions because there is a thin line that connects and separates trickery from fraud.

Formation of Legal Relations for Service Provision in Pre-Classical Roman Law of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation

The article is about formation of legal relations for service provision in Pre-classical Roman Law. The attention to this historical period is bound with a pursuit to designate roots of modern service agreement given intention of its modernization. The article aims to shape features of service provision relation in isolation from its contractual form elaborated in Classical Roman Law. Such approach is confirmed by results of modern discussion about hiring labor in Ancient Law. The author focuses on the person of a wage worker. In the article his socioeconomic position is analyzed with a special attention to disregard for paid labor. This disregard is explained in analyzing of juridical status of a wage worker. Studying of his socioeconomic and juridical positions led to the conclusion that Pre-classical Roman Law is characterized by hierarchical relations between a wage worker and his employer. This feature is tied with diminution of juridical status of a person providing his work for pater familias and entering for this reason into his family. The subjection of a wage worker to his employer is manifested by special jurisdiction over a worker who stole stuff of pater familias as well as by risk distribution in case of accidental impossibility to execute work.

The element of fault in Roman private law

R. von Jhering’s 1867 work Das Schuldmoment im römischen Privatrecht, translated hereby into Russian, is still recommended in basic textbooks on German civil law marked “grundlegend”, which means “fundamental”. And indeed, despite the significant complication of the legal material on this issue since its publication, the work contains fundamental ideas from which one can depart in various directions, but which it is absolutely impossible and unacceptable for an educated lawyer to pass by. From a didactic point of view, the work is remarkable in terms of the accessibility of the language, the clarity of ideas and the illustrative nature of the material supporting them. The work of R. von Jhering, despite its relative brevity, is a full-fledged study and, undoubtedly, is one of the outstanding monuments of legal scholarship not only of the 19th century and Germany alone, but of all time for the whole world. It shows the path that the legal system must overcome from the unsophisticated ancient legal forms to an impartial assessment of what causes the greatest irritation in any person — the wrong committed against him. What is fundamentally important in the work is not that R. von Jhering explained what was already known, but how this work can help not to lose such important ethical values as the principle of guilt, proportionality of punishment, individual assessment of behavior on the further path of development. And much more. It seems that many readers, after reading the work, realize that their ideas about civil liability are much closer to Ihering’s description of ancient law, since the guilt component often goes far into the background compared to the idea that the injured person should be restored in property terms.

„Hoc quidem iuris est” (Coll. 5.2.1.)

The Collatio Legum Mosaicarum et Romanarum, or “Collation of the Laws of Moses and the Romans”, is one of the most perplexing works of late antiquity: a law book compiled in the fourth or fifth century – the date of the work is still a matter of controversy – by an anonymous editor who wanted to show the similarity between laws of Moses and the Roman laws. Citing first laws from the Pentateuchus – especially from the books of Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy which he believed were written by Moses – the anonymous Collator then compared corresponding passages from Roman jurists and from Roman laws to form discussions on sixteen topics such as homicide, adultery, homosexuality, incest, and cruelty towards slaves. While earlier scholars wrestled with dating the Collatio, the religious identity of the Collator, and the purpose of the work, this paper suggests that the Collator may have been a Jew writing in Rome in an attempt to draw pagan lawyers to seeing the connections between the highly esteemed and very ancient laws of Moses, the famous legislator of the Jews whom he called as a priest, and the laws of classical Roman jurists, such as Paulus, Ulpianus, Modestinus, and Papinianus.

Economics of Ancient Law: The Laws of Manu on Contracts

Abstract Ancient law can be analyzed using economic tools. With a renewed interest from the political class to make the ancient Laws of Manu (Manu’s Dharmaśāstra) more relevant to modern Indian law, the economic analysis of the Laws of Manu regarding contracts allows us to look at the issue from an efficiency standpoint. The paper will look at both regular contracts and marriage contracts. Surprisingly, many of the ancient laws are like the modern law of contracts especially in areas of contract breach. However, when considering marriage contracts, the bargaining position of men is stronger than women.

TANZİMAT SONRASINDA YÜKSEK DİN EĞİTİMİNDE ISLAHAT: DARÜLFÜNÛN ULÛM-I ÂLİYE-İ DİNİYE ŞUBESİNİN KURULMASI

Tanzimat, Osmanlı Devleti’nin son birkaç asırda yaşadığı bunalımlardan çıkış için gösterilen çabaların müteselsil aşamalarından birisi olarak yönetim, hukuk, ekonomi ve eğitim alanlarında topyekun bir değişim dönemidir. Gelenek yahut Kanun-ı Kadim’e dayalı çözümün üretilememesi, Devleti, zorunlu olarak ötekinin model alınması sonucuna götürmüştür. Gelinen nokta, devlet ve toplumun gelenekten tamamen kopmasını değilse bile geleneğin yeni baştan anlaşılması ve yorumlanması ile beraber yeni bir düzenin kurulmasını gerektirmiştir. Bu, klasik Osmanlı devlet ve toplum yapısında Meşihat’in sorumluluğundaki hukuk ve eğitimin yeniden düzenlenmesi anlamına gelmektedir. Şu halde Tanzimatla başlayan değişim hareketinin merkezinde ilmiye teşkilatının görev alanları ve sorumluluklarının yeniden belirlenmesi vardır. Bu kapsamda genel eğitim, medrese dışına çıkarılmış, Maarif Nezareti’nin sorumluluğunda merkez ve taşrada yeni bir eğitim teşkilatı kurularak farklı alanlarda yeni mektepler açılmıştır. Genel eğitimin ilmiye teşkilatı dışında yapılanmasından sonra Meşihat’ın sorumluluğunda kalan medreselerdeki eğitimin kalitesi, eğitim anlayışı, program ve öğretim yöntemleri ile ihtiyaca karşılık verebilme gücü tartışılmıştır. Tartışmalar esnasında ileri sürülen gerekçelerin gelenek karşıtlarının ithamlarından ibaret olmadığı, aksine haklılık payının olduğu; hatta tespitlere katılanlar arasında ilmiye mensuplarının sayısının hiç de az olmadığı görülmektedir. Tanzimat sonrasında medreseler hakkında yapılan tartışmalar zaman içerisinde sonuç vermiş, medreseler yeni bir anlayışla, mektep yapısı içerisinde yeniden düzenlenmiştir. II. Abdülhamit dönemi ülkemizde eğitim alanında önemli gelişmelerin kaydedildiği, yeni eğitim sisteminin geliştiği bir dönemdir. Böyle bir ortamda din eğitimi, eğitim alanındaki gelişmelerin dışında kalmamış, hakkındaki tartışmalar da göz önünde bulundurularak medrese dışında yeni bir yapı içerisinde vücut bulmuştur. Bu kapsamda yüksek din eğitimi, II. Abdülhamit döneminde tekrar açılan Darülfünun’da kendisine yer bularak geleneksel medrese sisteminin dışına çıkmıştır. Her ne kadar II. Meşrutiyet döneminde kısa bir süre tekrar eski konumuna dönmüş ise de bu durum fazla uzun sürmemiş Cumhuriyetin kurulması ile İlahiyat Fakültesi adı ile üniversiteye tekrar geri dönmüştür. II. Abdülhamit döneminde 1900 yılında açılan Ulûm-ı Âliye-i Diniye Şubesi, Türkiye’de kurulan ilk İlahiyat Fakültesidir. Şubenin açılması hem din ilimlerinin öğretiminde hem de din eğitimi anlayışında önemli değişmelere yol açmıştır. Şubenin öğretim programında Felsefe ve Dinler Tarihi gibi derslere yer verilmesi geleneksel anlayıştan daha farklı ve geniş bir bakış açısına işaret eder. Amaç sadece mevcut bilginin aktarılması değil, bunun ötesinde dinin insan ve toplum hayatına yansıyan taraflarını öne çıkartarak güncel problemlere çözümler üretebilecek insanlar yetiştirmektir. Diğer taraftan Şubenin kurulması din eğitimi sisteminin yeni oluşturulan genel eğitim sistemi ile uyumlu hale getirilmesi için atılan ilk adımdır. Öğretimin basamaklara ayrılması ve programın hazırlanması, kuruma kayıt ve mezuniyet, başarının ölçülmesi ve istihdam alanları ile ilgili düzenlemeler öğretiminin daha planlı ve düzenli olmasını sağlamıştır. Yüksek din eğitimi alanında atılan bu adım daha sonra II. Meşrutiyet döneminde orta dereceli medreselerin ıslahı ile daha da genişleyerek Cumhuriyet dönemindeki İlahiyat Fakülteleri ile İmam-Hatip Okullarının temelini oluşturmuştur. Çalışmanın amacı ülkemizdeki yüksek din eğitiminin Darülfünun/üniversite yapısı içerisinde ilk defa yerini aldığı Ulûm-ı Âliye-i Diniye Şubesi’nin kuruluş gerekçesi, taşıdığı özellikler ve sonraki dönemlere etkileri üzerinde, döneme ait arşiv kayıtları ile yasal düzenlemelere dayanan bilgiler vermek, bu eğitim kurumunu tanıtarak değerlendirmeler yapmaktır. Böylece günümüzdeki orta ve yüksek dereceli din eğitimi kurumlarının tarihi süreçte ortaya çıkışları ve gelişimleri hakkında gerçekçi ve tutarlı bir bakış açısının oluşmasına katkı sağlayacağımızı umuyoruz.