Government Law College, Ernakulam

Government Law College, Ernakulam is formerly known as His Highness Maharajas Law College. The Government Law College Ernakulam is first Law College in Kerala founded in 1874 in the heart of Metropolitan city Kochi. Those law classes continued as such till 1894 when the institution was re organised entirely on a different footing.The college was raised to the status of an independent college under the designation of His Highness the Maharajah`s Law College, Thiruvananthapuram with W.T.A. The history of Government Law College, Ernakulam[3] goes back to 1874 when legal education set its root in Kerala by the Maharajah of Travancore sanctioning the Organisation of a Law Class in connection with His Highness College Thiruvanathapuram (present University College Trivandrum). This was with a view to enable candidates from Travancore to present themselves for the law examination of Madras University. Those law classes continued as such till 1894 when the institution was re organised entirely on a different footing.The college was raised to the status of an independent college under the designation of His Highness the Maharajah`s Law College, Thiruvananthapuram with W.T.A. Cosby, bar-at-law (judge of the High Court of Travancore who was appointed as professor of law in 1892) as the first principal. A complete set of rules was formulated by the government for the control and regulation of work in the college. The rules prescribed the qualification prescribed for the members of the teaching staff. The college was maintained by the His Highness the Maharajah of Travancore from the very start and managed till 1909, in which year the college was placed under the Direction of the Public Instruction. In 1910, the college came under the High Court of Travancore. With the inauguration of the Travancore University in 1938, the college was transferred to the control of the university. In 1957 the Kerala University was formed and the college came under it. In 1983, with the establishment of Mahathma Gandhi University at Kottayam, the college became a constituent college of that university and is now affiliated to it.