Dear Colleagues!
On 11th October 1641, the King of Poland and the Grand Duke of Lithuania, Wladyslaw IV Vasa, granted a privilege to establish the Faculty of Law at Vilnius University. This was the beginning of full-fledged legal studies in Lithuania. However, this beginning would not have been possible without the Lithuanian nobleman Casimir Leon Sapiega, Vice-Chancellor of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, whose generous foundation made it possible to fulfil the dream of studying law in Lithuania at Vilnius University. I am proud and happy that thanks to Casimir Leon Sapiega we are counting and remembering the long history of our Faculty.
The long history of the Law Faculty has been full of ups and downs, bright and dark days. Faculty activities have been limited or halted. Nevertheless, we found the strength to rise up and, together with the entire University community, to continue our journey to the stars. Today, we are strong and respected, and we have much to be proud of in various areas of the Faculty’s life.
We have made our own name and authority. This is a credit to our entire academic community – our students and lecturers, our alumni and social partners, and to everyone who works hard every day in the Faculty. But this does not mean that we can stop, we have many ambitious plans. There are also challenges, and we are stronger for overcoming them. Working together, we can do a lot.
I invite you to recall the words of Leon Sapiega, the founding father of our Faculty, in the preface to the Third Statute of Lithuania for the Lords of Lithuania: “Not only a neighbour and an ordinary citizen of our Homeland, but also the ruler himself, our lord, can have no other power over us than that which the law allows him. Therefore, having in his hands such a good, which no money can buy, every virtuous man must know it well, and, knowing it, he must govern himself and his own whims, and act according to the written law, and must not injure anyone, and if he is wronged by anyone, he must know where to go to seek the intercession of his wronged person and to seek help for him.”
I sincerely encourage you to be proud of our Faculty and to always remember the words of the Student’s Oath: “The Faculty of Law is my Faculty, and from today and always, I will be with it and for it!”
Happy Faculty Birthday!
Haroldas Šinkūnas