Leiden Law School is the law school, and one of the seven faculties, of Leiden University. Teaching and research in the school take place across campuses in Leiden and The Hague in the Netherlands. Instruction in law began with the university's founding in 1575. Alongside the disciplines of theology and medicine, it was considered a 'higher' faculty of great importance. It also established itself as the most international faculty due, originally, to the proportion of academics arriving from Germany in the mid-17th century. The law school has played a substantial role in wider Dutch society from its earliest years, being consulted in an official capacity on all manner of subjects from wills to piracy and privateering.