Major in Civil Law and Major in Public Law

The Graduate School of Law offers two majors in legal studies: the Major in Civil Law and the Major in Public Law. The Major in Civil Law focuses on research in areas such as civil law, commercial law, civil procedural law, private international law, and intellectual property law. The Major in Public Law covers constitutional law, administrative law, tax law, international law, criminal law, and criminal procedural law. Depending on their individual research themes, students focusing on fundamental legal studies (such as philosophy of law, sociology of law, and legal history), foreign law, social law (such as economic law and labor law), or environmental law may belong to either the Major in Civil Law or the Major in Public Law.

Furthermore, the Master's Program in the Major in Public Law includes the "Space Law Master's Course," established in collaboration with JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) to train legal professionals involved in space activities (for details, please refer to the "Specialized Courses" page).

The instructional policy and educational goals for both the Major in Civil Law and the Major in Public Law are to foster students who have the drive to capture and analyze various social phenomena and problems from a legal perspective and contribute to the progress of society and academia. Students are expected to deepen their legal knowledge in their specialized fields and master the fundamental legal theories and logic that support various legal systems. By allowing a certain degree of enrollment in courses offered by the Law School (which aims to train legal professionals), we cultivate the ability to harmonize theory and practice. In recent years, we have also encouraged interdisciplinary research through the JST (Japan Science and Technology Agency) Support for Pioneering Research Initiated by the Next Generation project at Keio University. We aim to develop legal scholars who possess not only advanced expertise and thinking skills in their own specialties but also a foundation in other fields and fundamental legal studies. Furthermore, by cultivating a "legal mind" to think legally about practical problems in society, we train individuals who can excel as highly specialized professionals in corporate legal departments and other sectors.