Southeast University’s law discipline enjoys a long-standing historical tradition and a profound cultural heritage. Its roots can be traced back to the Department of Law of the Social Sciences College of National Fourth Sun Yat-sen University in 1927. In May 1928, the school was renamed National Central University, and a Law School was established under the first dean, the celebrated jurist Professor Xie Guansheng. The Law School was located at what is now the Sipailou campus of Southeast University. At that time, the Central University Law School was a gathering place for humanistic scholarship and illustrious figures—it was widely regarded as a pinnacle of legal studies in China. Distinguished academics and political figures such as Han Zhongmo, Qian Duansheng, Yang Zhaolong, Mei Zhongxie, Shi Shangkuan, Liu Kejuan, Zeng Shaoxun, Huang Zhengming, Jin Guoding, Fan Xixiang, and Han Depei either taught or studied there, creating a glorious legacy for decades.

In August 1949, National Central University was renamed National Nanjing University. During the 1952 nationwide reorganization of colleges and departments, the law discipline was merged into the newly formed East China University of Political Science and Law. At the same time, Nanjing Institute of Technology was established on the former Central University campus in Sipailou, and the law discipline was discontinued for forty-three years.

In 1995, to achieve its goal of becoming a comprehensive university, Southeast University reinstated the law major and founded the Department of Law. After its reconstruction, the department emphasized practice-oriented teaching, committed to cultivating legal professionals urgently needed by socialism with Chinese characteristics. In 2000, Southeast University merged with Nanjing Railway Medical College and Nanjing Transportation College, enriching the faculty of the Law Department, and established a medical law track within its undergraduate program. Since 2000, it has successively obtained master’s degree authorization in Constitutional & Administrative Law, Civil & Commercial Law, and Jurisprudence. On September 19, 2006, the School of Law was formally established. The School has been led by distinguished scholars, including Professor Zhou Youyong, a “Changjiang Scholar” of the Ministry of Education and one of the “Top Ten Outstanding Young Jurists in China” (6th cohort), and Professor Liu Yanhong, also a “Changjiang Scholar” and a “Top Ten Outstanding Young Jurist” (7th cohort). In 2007, the School’s Professional Master of Law (JM) program was approved; in 2008, it began admitting PhD candidates in Marxist Fundamental Theory with a specialization in law; in 2011, it obtained the first-level master’s degree authorization in law; in 2012, its law major was recognized as a “Jiangsu Province Specialized Major” and was selected as a key undergraduate major in Jiangsu’s “12th Five-Year” plan; in 2016, it gained the first-level doctoral degree authorization in law and was designated a key discipline in Jiangsu Province; in 2019, the law major was selected for the first batch of “National First-Class Undergraduate Program Construction Sites”; and in June 2020, it was admitted into the second phase of Jiangsu province’s flagship undergraduate program construction.

Over more than twenty years of development, the School of Law has continuously increased its scale and improved its quality, becoming one of the key bases for legal talent cultivation in China. It now offers a full legal education spectrum, including a Bachelor of Law, Master of Law, Professional Master of Law, Doctor of Law, and a post-doctoral research station. Its disciplinary structure is built on traditional strengths such as Constitutional & Administrative Law, Criminal Law, Civil & Commercial Law, Jurisprudence, and International Law, while featuring interdisciplinary areas such as Digital Law, Network & Information Law, Engineering Law, Human Rights Law, Transportation Law, and Medical Law. The School also offers a dual-degree program in “Cybersecurity + Law” and follows an educational philosophy that emphasizes “interdisciplinarity, teamwork, and practice.” By doing so, it has forged a distinctive path for training legal professionals within a university with strong engineering and science capabilities, aligning its disciplinary strengths and educational style with Southeast University’s status as a “Double First-Class” institution.

According to the latest rankings published by ShanghaiRanking (formerly known as RUIS), Southeast University’s law discipline has consistently ranked among the top ten in China. In the Ministry of Education’s Fifth Round of Discipline Evaluation in 2023, the law discipline at Southeast University achieved an A– grade nationally.