The Faculty of Law in Split was founded in the academic year 1960/61 as a study of the Faculty of Law in Zagreb and has existed for 50 years. It was formally established on 13 October 1961, when the Decision on the establishment of the Faculty, taken by the National Committee of the Split District, was confirmed by the then Executive Council of the Parliament of the People's Republic of Croatia

However, we can assume that the Faculty has been operating since 1960, since the Faculty of Law, founded a year earlier, was actually its beginning, and the Faculty itself took over the first and second years of student generation from the Faculty of Law.

The foundation of the Faculty had its basis in several factors. It was explained by the lack of legal personnel for Dalmatia and Split, the need to relieve the Faculty of Law in Zagreb, which was the only law faculty in Croatia at the time, the need to reduce the material costs for Dalmatian law students, the need to provide professional legal assistance and to strengthen and affirm Split as a cultural centre and, above all, the need to improve and develop scientific legal thinking in the field.

Thus, with the establishment of the Law Faculty, the long, rich tradition of legal studies and their practise in the Mediterranean region of Croatia was revived, which opened the space for creative thoughts that historically solved the intellectual elite of Dalmatia. From the very beginning, the peculiarities (especially the programmatic ones) have classified the Faculty of Law in Split as one of the modern higher education institutions. From the very beginning, the study of law in Split had a special orientation towards the classical study of law. Its differentia specifica was manifested mainly in the limited number of students, the intensification of the teaching process, its diversity and the students' obligation to participate in the implementation of these processes.

This form of specificity included the form of knowledge review as a result of the assessment of each student's various activities during the academic year. The final grade included: the evaluation of the work on the exercises, the evaluation of the seminar work and the evaluation of the colloquial material. Finally, this form of study obliged the student to study year after year. The work thus developed has led to another peculiarity in the life of our Faculty, expressed in the special quality of relations between teachers and students, which in its entirety can be described as a true universitas studiosorum et professorum. The Faculty of Law in Split has thus proven itself with its study results. The quality of the graduates proved freshness by coming into practise, because they listened, analysed and practised significant actions in the process of education.

The results of the study show that the first generations of students completed their studies within the designated four-year period or slightly beyond in more than 50% of the enrolled number. The outstanding quality of graduates from this faculty is already proverbially enviable. Former students of the Faculty of Law in Split hold prominent positions in many areas of law: in the judiciary, in the legislature, in administration and in business. Of course, the above-mentioned results of studying law in Split are the result of the enthusiasm of many people outside and inside the faculty, especially the teaching staff. With their knowledge and diligence, they have managed to organise and set up all the important facilities necessary for the functioning of the university, such as: the dean's office, the student office and the library.