Grant Gilmore (1910 – 1982) was an American law professor who taught at

Yale Law School Yale Law School (Yale Law or YLS) is the law school of Yale University, a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was established in 1824 and has been ranked as the best law school in the United States by ''U ...

, the

University of Chicago Law School The University of Chicago Law School is the law school of the University of Chicago, a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. It is consistently ranked among the best and most prestigious law schools in the world, and has many dist ...

, the College of Law (now

Moritz College of Law The Michael E. Moritz College of Law is the professional graduate law school of the Ohio State University, a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. Founded in 1891, the school is located in Drinko Hall on the main campus of the ...

) at the

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...

, and

Vermont Law School Vermont Law and Graduate School (VLGS) is a private law and public policy graduate school in South Royalton, Vermont. It offers several degrees, including Juris Doctor (JD), Master of Laws (LLM) in Environmental Law, Master of Environmental Law a ...

. He was a scholar of

commercial law Commercial law, also known as mercantile law or trade law, is the body of law that applies to the rights, relations, and conduct of persons and business engaged in commerce, merchandising, trade, and sales. It is often considered to be a branc ...

and one of the principal drafters of the

Uniform Commercial Code The Uniform Commercial Code (UCC), first published in 1952, is one of a number of Uniform Acts that have been established as law with the goal of harmonizing the laws of sales and other commercial transactions across the United States through UC ...

. Gilmore attended

Boston Latin School The Boston Latin School is a public exam school in Boston, Massachusetts. It was established on April 23, 1635, making it both the oldest public school in the British America and the oldest existing school in the United States. Its curriculum f ...

and then went on to

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

, where he earned a PhD in

Romance languages The Romance languages, sometimes referred to as Latin languages or Neo-Latin languages, are the various modern languages that evolved from Vulgar Latin. They are the only extant subgroup of the Italic languages in the Indo-European language fam ...

. Prior to his career in law, he taught French at Yale University. He authored a number of books on various areas of commercial law, including

secured transactions In finance, a secured transaction is a loan or a credit transaction in which the lender acquires a security interest in Collateral (finance), collateral owned by the borrower and is entitled to foreclose on or repossess the collateral in the even ...

admiralty law Admiralty law or maritime law is a body of law that governs nautical issues and private maritime disputes. Admiralty law consists of both domestic law on maritime activities, and private international law governing the relationships between priva ...

, and

contract A contract is a legally enforceable agreement between two or more parties that creates, defines, and governs mutual rights and obligations between them. A contract typically involves the transfer of goods, services, money, or a promise to tran ...

law, and also drafted Article Nine of the Uniform Commercial Code. Perhaps his most famous work is his survey and criticism of contract law, ''

The Death of Contract ''The Death of Contract'' is a book by American law professor Grant Gilmore, written in 1974, about the history and development of the common law of contracts. Gilmore's central thesis was that the Law of Contracts, at least as it existed in the 2 ...

''. Gilmore is also known for his quote:

Law reflects, but in no sense determines the moral worth of a society…. The better the society, the less law there will be. In Heaven, there will be no law, and the lion will lie down with the lamb…. The worse the society, the more law there will be. In Hell, there will be nothing but law, and due process will be meticulously observed.

Selected publications

*Gilmore, Grant. ''Security Interests in Personal Property'' (2 Volumes). 1st edition, Little, Brown & Company, 1965; 2nd edition, The Lawbook Exchange, 1999. *Gilmore, Grant. ''The Death of Contract''. The Ohio State University Press, 1974, 2nd edition 1995, Ronald K.L. Collins, editor: *Gilmore, Grant & Black, Charles. ''The Law of Admiralty''. Foundation Press, 1975. OCLC 1228473. * (second edition, with new foreword and final chapter by

Philip Bobbitt Philip Chase Bobbitt, (born July 22, 1948) is an American author, academic, and lawyer. He is best known for work on U.S. constitutional law and theory, and on the relationship between law, strategy and history in creating and sustaining the S ...

, Yale University Press, 2014. )

References

External links

Article on Gilmore's book ''Security Interests in Personal Property''
from

Time magazine ''Time'' (stylized in all caps) is an American news magazine based in New York City. For nearly a century, it was published weekly, but starting in March 2020 it transitioned to every other week. It was first published in New York City on Mar ...

, 12 January 1968
A reproduction of the announcement of Grant Gilmore's memorial service
from the

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

Finding aid for Grant Gilmore, Papers
Harvard Law School Library 1910 births 1982 deaths American legal scholars American legal writers Boston Latin School alumni Yale University alumni Yale Law School faculty Scholars of contract law University of Chicago Law School faculty Yale Sterling Professors 20th-century American non-fiction writers {{US-legal-academic-bio-stub