Biography

A leading legal theorist and historian of the development of modern American legal thought, Thomas C. Grey (BA ’63) has written extensively on the development of such strains of legal thought as pragmatism, formalism, and realism with particular attention to the jurisprudence of Oliver Wendell Holmes. Earlier in his career, he wrote significant articles on constitutional law, history, and theory, including a classic work on the unwritten constitution. In addition, he has taught torts to first-year students for over 30 years.

Professor Grey is a fellow in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and is the recipient of an honorary law degree from Chicago-Kent Law School. Before joining the Stanford Law School faculty in 1971, he served as a clerk to Justice Thurgood Marshall of the Supreme Court of the United States and Judge J. Skelly Wright of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

Key Works

• Thomas C. Grey, Accidental Torts, 54 Vanderbilt Law Review 1225-1284 (2001).
• Thomas C. Grey, The Disintegration of Property, in Liberty, Property and the Law, edited with introductions by Richard A. Epstein, 2000.
• Thomas C. Grey, Do We Have an Unwritten Constitution, in A Constitutional Law Anthology, 2nd edition, Michael J. Glennon, Donald E. Lively, Phoebe A. Haddon, Dorothy E. Roberts, and Russell L. Weaver, eds., Cincinatti: Anderson Publishing, 1997.
• Thomas C. Grey, Holmes and Legal Pragmatism, 41 Stanford Law Review 787-870 (1989)
• Thomas C. Grey, Langdell's Orthodoxy, 45 University of Pittsburgh Law Review 1-53 (1983).

Courses & Programs

Courses

• Torts

Publications & Cases

Recent Publications View All

• Thomas C. Grey, Accidental Torts, 54 Vanderbilt Law Review 1225-1284 (2001).
• Thomas C. Grey, Cover Blindness in Prejudicial Appearances: The Logic of American Antidiscrimination Law, Robert C. Post, et. al., Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2001.
• Thomas C. Grey, Robert C. Post, K. Anthony Appiah, Judith Butler, and Reva B. Siegel, Prejudicial Appearances: The Logic of American Antidiscrimination Law, Durham: Duke University Press, 2001. 169 pages.
• Thomas C. Grey, Cover-Blindness, 88 California Law Review 65-75 (2000).
• Thomas C. Grey, Higher Law, in Encyclopedia of the American Constitution, Second Edition, Leonard W. Levy and Kenneth L. Karst, eds., New York: Macmillan Reference, 2000. p.1286-1289.
• Thomas C. Grey, Holmes on the Logic of the Law, in The Path of Law and its Influence: The Legacy of Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., Steven J. Burton, ed., Cambridge, England; New York : Cambridge University Press, 2000. p. 133-157.
• Barbara Allen Babcock and Thomas C. Grey, In Honor of Paul Brest, 52 Stanford Law Review 261-266 (2000)
• Thomas C. Grey, The Disintegration of Property, in Liberty, Property and the Law, edited with introductions by Richard A. Epstein, 2000.
• Thomas C. Grey, The Disintegration of Property, in Modern Understandings of Liberty and Property, edited with introductions by Richard A. Epstein. New York: Garland, 2000.
• Thomas C. Grey, The Hermeneutics File (Reprinted from 58 Southern California Law Review 211), Law and Language, edited by Thomas Morawetz. Burlington, Vmt: Ashgate Publishing, 2000. p.141-166.

Affiliations & Honors

Honors and Awards

• Honorary LLD, Chicago-Kent Law School, 1998
• Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Sciences