Master of Laws. The course is now a one-year post-graduate course, known until 1981 as the LLB. By retrospective legislation, those who have proceeded LLB in earlier years are permitted to have their degrees designated LLM. In its previous form the LLM was created in response to a Report of the Studies Syndicate in 1854 (see reference under LLB), and was conferred on LLBs without further examination, three years after graduation, precisely as the MA came to be conferred on BAs. The LLM was at that time also available to BAs and to MAs. From 1865 candidates for the LLM, who were already BAs, were examined in the Commentaries of Gaius and the fourth volume of Blackstone’s Commentaries (the texts were varied in 1875), except that, from 1870, those who had achieved honours in the Law and History Tripos could proceed to the degree without further examination. There were attempts to change the regulations once again in 1885 (see numberous papers in University Archives: CUR 28.3.1), and from 1886 Honours BAs could proceed to the LLM on taking one or other part of the now divided Law Tripos. In 1896 the requirement was added, not without opposition, that candidates for the LLM should submit a dissertation, and professional qualifications be taken into account. The degree in this form was abolished on the re-titling of the LLB in 1981.
