Harvard Law School (also known as Harvard Law or HLS) is one of the professional graduate schools of Harvard University, and is among the most prestigious institution of legal education in the world. It was founded in 1817, nearly two hundred years later than Harvard College. Despite this, it is still the oldest continuously-operating law school in the United States. Like many law schools in the United States, Harvard Law School offers three major degrees: JD (Doctor of Jurisprudence), LL.M (Master of Laws), and S.J.D. (Doctor of Juridical Science).

哈佛法学院是哈佛大学的专业研宄生学院之一，也是世界上最权威的法学教育机 构之一。它始建立于1817年，大约是哈佛学院建立之后的200年。尽管如此，它仍是美国最早持续办学的法学院。踉美国的其他许多法学院一样，哈怫法学院有3个专业学位：法学博士、法律硕士以及司法学博士。

The Law School is in the northwest of the Harvard Yard, and is close to Kennedy School of Government and Harvard-Yenching Library.

法学院位于哈佛园的西北角，靠近肯尼迪政治学院和哈佛燕京图书馆。

The Law School traces its origin to Isaac Royall, who in 1781 left from his estate in nearby Medford to Harvard University, with the proceeds intended to “endow of a Professor of Laws at said college, or a Professor of Physics and Anatomy.” Harvard took the opportunity to fund its first chair in law, and the Roy-all chair continues to support an HLS professor today, more than 200 years later. In 1806, Royall’s heirs sold the rest of his estate and used the funds to establish a school of law at Harvard University. The Royall family coat-of-arms-three stacked wheat sheaves beneath the university motto, Veritas, was adopted as the school’s shield.

法学院的起源可以追溯到它的创始人艾萨克•罗亚尔，他于1781年在哈佛大学附 近的梅德福去世并留下遗产。他打算用这些收入来资助一个法学教授或物理和解剖学 教授。哈佛利用这个机会来资助首席法律主席。而罗亚尔首席这一职位在200多年后， 到了今天都还在继续支持哈佛的教授。1806年，罗亚尔的继承人卖掉了他剩余的遗产， 用这些基金来建立哈佛大学的一个法学院。罗亚尔家族盾形纹章——哈佛大学校训“真 理”和下面的三束小麦——成为学院的院微。

In 1827，the struggling young law school was down to only one faculty member and one student. In this year, an enterprising alumnus stepped in to save the school by establishing the Dane Professorship of Law, and insisting that the chair be given to Joseph Story, the nation's youngest Supreme Court justice. Story believed in the concept of an elite American law school, based on merit and dedicated to public service: a tradition that continues today. A second critical figure in the development of the Law School arrived on the campus in the 1870s. Dean Christopher Columbus Langdell believed that the study of law should be an interactive and disciplined form of education, in which students were challenged directly by teachers, and through which they learned to analyze cases for themselves. In 1872, Langdell introduced the Socratic Method to HLS. This Socratic method of instruction demanded new teaching spaces, and Austin Hall was built on the north side of Harvard Yard to accommodate the School’s new vision.largest library in North American.

在1827年，这个处在萌芽期努力奋斗的法学院，只剩下了学院里面的一个教员和一名学生。在那一年，一名有事业心的校友插手干预了这件事，通过设立戴恩法律教授来拯救这间学校，并且坚持要把首席这个头衔给国家最年轻的最高法院法官约瑟夫•斯托里。斯托里相信美国精英法学院这个概念，其基础是功绩 和为公众服务，这个传统一直持续到今天。在法学院 发展过程中起到关键作用的第二个人物是在19世纪70年代来到哈佛的。兰格尔主任 相信学习应该是一个互动的和经严格训练的教育形式。这样学生就会直接由教师进行 挑战和考验，这样他们就可以学到如何自己分析案例。1872年，兰格尔把苏格拉底教 学方法引进法学院。该方法要求新的教学空间。为满足这一要求，学院在哈佛园北边修建了奥斯汀大堂。