Law

by Hla Min

Updated : June 2025

Video Broadcast on December 16, 2020

Law Department and Professors

• When Rangoon University was established in December 1920, it had the Department of Law.
• U May Aung served as the first Professor.

U May Aung

• Barrister-at-law, LL.D
• Professor of Law (1920 -1922)
• Rakkhine national
• Later : Home Minister
• Daughter : Daw Mya Sein (Scholar)

Sir Arthur Eggar

• Professor of Law (1923 – 1937)
• Earlier served as Lecturer in the Maths Department at Rangoon College
• Alumnus of Cambridge University
• Author, Egg-Bairn Rowing Style
• Legal Advisor in UK, Middle East & Burma

• Founder (in 1923) & Life President, Rangoon University Boat Club
• Pledged one third of his salary for the operation of RUBC
• Wrote his autobiography (in three installments) for the Guardian Magazine in the mid 50s.
• Several Old Members including me reprinted his autobiography for the 90th Anniversary of RUBC.
  YUBC OMA has copies of the autobiography. It could be of interest to Law students & practitioners.

Dr. Ba Han

• Alumnus of Sorbonne University
• Professor Law for two terms : (1937 – 1942) and (1946 – 1950)
• Rangoon University was closed for a period during the war
• Compiled a dictionary
• Dr. Ba Maw (Adipati, former English Lecturer at RU) is his brother. Both brothers are B.O.B (Brothers’ Old Boys).

U Kyaw Myint

• First in Burma in Matric exam with distinctions in all subjects from Central. He & Dr. Ba Than were selected by Mr. Matthew Hunter (Principal of Rangoon College) to take the entrance exam of Calcutta University. His beloved mother passed away. He requested the Principal that he wanted to pay last respect to his mother. The Principal warned that he would be expelled if he did not show up at the entrance exam. He attended his mother’s last journey and was punished with the expulsion from the College. Worse still, his father threatened to disown him. The story of U Kyaw Myint can be read in a series of blogs by his son Dr. Thane Oke Kyaw Myint and re-printed in my web site hlamin.com
• Professor of Law & Dean of the Faculty of Law (1950 – 1958)
• Earlier : Justice of High Court & Supreme Court, Head of the Tribunal that tried Galon U Saw, Co-founder of a political party with Dr. Ba Maw.
• Later : founded his law firm

• Siblings : elder brother (ICS U Tin Tut), two younger brothers (U Myint Thein & Dr. Htin Aung), and three younger sisters (Daw Khin Mya Mu, Daw Khin Saw Mu & Daw Tin Saw Mu)
• According to Dr. TOKM, his father U Kyaw Myint had full confidence in his students (e.g. Guardian U Sein Win, Sao Hso Holm, U Mya Thein).

Law Professors (for the later periods)

• U Myint (1958 – 1961)
• U Aung Khine (1961 – 1964)
• U Hla Aung (1965 – 1971)
• U Tin Ohn (1971 – 1986)
• U Tin Aung Aye (1986 – 1994)
• Daw Than Nwe (1994 – 2007)
• Dr. Daw Khin Mar Yi (2007 – 2018)

Law Degrees

• BL
  Generally taken after BA or BSc; Taken by several student leaders; Requirement for senior Police and Military Police Officers; Also taken by several BCS e.g. U Khin Maung Gyi, BA, BCS, BL
• LLB
  Under the new Education System, e.g. Daw May Thi Kha (daughter of Saya Kha)
• Master of Law
  e.g. LLM

Laws

They may vary with Place and Time

• National Law
• International Law
• Constitutional Law
• Maritime Law
• Civil Law
• Criminal Law
• Religious Law (in some countries)
• Intellectual Property Law

Miscellaneous

• RU Centennial Celebrations
  by Law Department in March 2020
• Law Practitioners
  Lawyers
  Advocates
  Judges
  …
  RL
  HGP
  Ad hoc (during a period of BSPP regime)

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