GRACE - The Law Mind Legal Dictionary

GRACEAuthored

The Law Mind • 1251 words

Definition

In law, grace means favor or indulgence extended as a matter of discretion rather than legal entitlement. It operates in contrast to right: where a party has a right, performance or recognition is compelled; where something is granted as a matter of grace, it is given voluntarily and cannot be demanded.

Grace appears in several distinct legal contexts:

1. MATTER OF GRACE (equity): Historically, a category of equity jurisdiction encompassing subjects that courts of chancery handled exclusively — not because a party had a cognizable right at common law, but because the chancellor could, in conscience and discretion, grant relief. Equity's foundations were largely matters of grace before equity hardened into a body of precedent with its own rules of right.

2. DAYS OF GRACE: A fixed period allowed by law or custom beyond the stated maturity date of a negotiable instrument — a bill of exchange, promissory note, or draft — during which the obligor may make payment without the instrument being subject to protest for dishonor. Traditionally three days in most jurisdictions. The term has been substantially displaced in modern commercial law by the Uniform Commercial Code, which eliminated mandatory days of grace for most instruments.

3. ACT OF GRACE: A legislative pardon, amnesty, or general indulgence granted by parliament or a sovereign legislature. Distinguished from an executive pardon in that it operates by statute and applies collectively rather than individually. In English history, acts of grace were periodically issued at the opening of a new reign or following political upheaval.

4. FACULTY, LICENSE, OR DISPENSATION: In ecclesiastical and administrative usage, grace can denote a permission or dispensation — something granted as favor by an authority that was not otherwise obligated to grant it.

---

Common Language

Modern common usage (Wiktionary): To adorn or dignify; to honor by an act of favor; to supply with heavenly grace.

Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): The exercise of love, kindness, or mercy; disposition to benefit another; divine favor toward man as distinguished from divine justice; a state of acceptance with God.

The common meanings of grace — divine mercy, aesthetic elegance, social charm — share the same conceptual root as the legal meaning (voluntary favor beyond what is owed) but diverge in application. The legal term is precise and transactional: it identifies a specific category of discretionary power or allowance, stripped of theological or aesthetic connotation. A researcher encountering "grace" in older legal texts should not import notions of mercy or morality; the word functions there as a technical term of art meaning favor-as-opposed-to-right.

---

Common Confusion

Grace vs. right: The most important distinction in historical usage. A matter of grace could become a matter of right once equity courts developed consistent doctrine. The evolution from grace to right tracks the maturation of equity from a discretionary chancellery function into a body of enforceable precedent. Conflating the two in historical research will distort the nature of early equity relief.

Days of grace vs. grace period: In modern consumer and contract contexts, "grace period" has become a general term for any extension of time before a penalty or default triggers. This usage is imprecise and much broader than the historical "days of grace," which was a specific, fixed commercial law concept tied to negotiable instruments and protest procedure. The two should not be treated as synonyms when working with pre-UCC commercial sources.

---

Recognized Forms

/SUBTYPES

DAYS OF GRACE: The most heavily documented subtype. Traditionally three days added to the face maturity of a negotiable instrument. Eliminated or made inapplicable as a matter of right under the UCC for most domestic instruments, though parties may contract for similar extensions.

ACT OF GRACE: Legislative pardon or amnesty. Distinct from executive clemency. Carries its own body of historical authority in English and early American sources.

MATTER OF GRACE (equity): Category of early equitable cognizance. Primarily a historical concept; modern equity does not use this framing.

---

Why It Matters in Research

Corpus researchers will encounter grace in at least three distinct legal registers — equity jurisdiction, negotiable instruments, and legislative pardon — and the word behaves differently in each. Misreading which register is operative is a common source of interpretive error.

In pre-nineteenth-century equity sources, "matter of grace" is a classification of jurisdiction, not a description of the chancellor's mood. When a source says equity intervened "as a matter of grace," it is explaining why no common law remedy existed — not offering a moral characterization of the outcome. This framing largely disappears once equity doctrine consolidates, making it a marker of early sources.

For negotiable instruments research, days of grace are a significant trap across pre-UCC commercial materials. Sources from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries assume days of grace as a background rule; post-UCC sources assume their abolition. A contract dispute or dishonor analysis that spans this transition will require careful attention to which regime governed.

Acts of grace appear in early constitutional and parliamentary history and carry implications for the separation of legislative and executive power over pardon. Researchers working on clemency, amnesty, or post-conflict legal settlements should distinguish acts of grace from executive pardons — the authority, mechanism, and legal effect differ.

The Latin root gratia and the Law French grace appear interchangeably in medieval and early modern sources. Burrill's notation of plus de grace q' de droit (more of favor than of right) from Britton is a useful touchstone for understanding how the term functioned in early pleading and equity theory.

---

Historical Dictionary Support

The historical dictionaries agree on the core: grace means favor or indulgence as opposed to right. Black's (both editions), Anderson's, Burrill's, and Bouvier's converge on this formulation without meaningful divergence.

Black's and Anderson's give the most useful contextual glosses. Black's traces the equity usage to the Statute of 22 Edward III and the chancellor's instruction to take cognizance of matters of grace — a historically significant reference that explains the jurisdictional origins of chancery's equitable reach. Anderson's is useful for the negotiable instruments context, noting that "in common speech this period is termed grace" — suggesting that even in the nineteenth century the commercial usage was shifting toward ordinary language.

Burrill adds the Latin and Law French register and the citation to Britton, useful for researchers working in medieval sources.

What the historical dictionaries underemphasize: the long-run arc by which matters of grace hardened into matters of right in equity, and the UCC-era displacement of days of grace in commercial law. Neither development appears in the shelf sources, which reflect nineteenth-century doctrine at their latest.

---

Jurisdictional Note

Days of grace have been abolished or rendered inapplicable for most negotiable instruments in UCC jurisdictions (effectively all U.S. states), but the concept persists in international commercial practice and in some civil law systems. English law similarly modified the days of grace rule by statute. Researchers working across jurisdictions or with older instruments should not assume uniform abolition.

---

Encyclopedia Cross-Reference

Law Mind Encyclopedia — Days of Grace
Law Mind Encyclopedia — Acts of Grace
Law Mind Encyclopedia — Equity Jurisdiction (Historical Development)

---

GRACEmain

Black's Law Dictionary • 1891

This word is commonly used in contradistinction to "right." Thus, in St. 22 Edw. III., the lord chancellor was instructed to take cognizance of matters of grace, being such subjects of equity jurisdiction as were exclusively matters of equity. Brown. A faculty, license, or dispensation; also general and free pardon by act of parliament. See ACT OF GRACE. GRACE, DAYS OF. Time of indul- gence granted to an acceptor or maker for the payment of his bill of exchange or note. It was originally a gratuitous favor, (hence the name,) but custom has rendered it a legal right.

GRACEmain

Anderson's Dictionary of Law • 1890

Favor, indulgence, toleration; opposed to right, strict right: as, that a thing done in court is allowed as a matter of grace. Act of grace. An act of pardon or amnesty, qq. v. Days of grace. Certain days, in addition to the time specified in a bill or note, in which payment may be made, before it can be lawfully protested. " In common speech this period is termed grace;" as in saying that "grace" is or is not allowed on a particular instrument. Originally allowed by the custom of merchants as a matter of favor or indulgence. This custom received the sanction of the courts, and so grew into law. The statute of 3 and 4 Anne (1705), which made promissory notes negotiable, also conferred this right to days of grace. That statute has been generally adopted in our States. In the absence of an express contract to the contrary, the allowance now enters into every bill or note of a mercantile character, and forms a part of it, so that the paper, in fact and in law, is usually due on the last day of grace. Demand is made on the last day, and interest is charged on all the days. If the last day is Sunday or a legal holiday, the paper is due the preceding day. Checks are not entitled to the favor; nor are sight drafts, nor judgment notes.¹ The number of days varies from three to thirty. Three is the limit in the United States; except in Vermont, where, it seems, no grace at all is allowed. In Louisiana, an inland bill or note is due without grace for purposes of set-off. In New York, bills on bank corporations are not entitled to the favor. In Great Britain and Ireland, Berlin, and Vienna, the number of days is three; in Frankfort-on-the-main, 1 See Byles, Bills, 209, 210; Bank of Washington v. Triplett, 1 Pet. *31-35 (1828), cases, Marshall, C. J.; Cookendorfer v. Preston, 4 How. 326 (1846); Bell v. First Nat. Bank of Chicago, 115 U. S. 379-83 (1885), cases. four; in Sweden, six; in Bremen, and Denmark, eight; in Hamburg, twelve; in Spain, fourteen on foreign bills. No grace is recognized in Amsterdam, Antwerp, France, Genoa, Germany (generally, since 1871), Leghorn, Leipsic, or Naples. 1 The law of the place of payment is regarded. He who claims the benefit of a foreign law or usage must prove the existence of the law. See PLACE, Of payment; MATURITY, 2. Grace widow. A widow by a decree of a court of divorce. Corrupted into grass-widow.

GRACEmain

Burrill's Law Dictionary • 1867

L. Fr. and Eng. [Lat. gratia.] Favor or indulgence, as distinguished from right. Acts of parliament granting pardons are called acts of grace. 1 Bl. Com. 184. Plus de grace q' de droit; more of favor than of right. Britt. c. 69. GRACE, Days of See Days of grace. GRADALE, Graduale. L. Lat. canon law. A book pertaining to the offices of the Romish church, and enumerated among its furniture in the Provinciale Anglicanum. Lyndewode Prov. Angl. lib. 3, tit. de eccles. ædific. c. 2. Spelman. Plowd. 542.

GRACEn.

Websters Unabridged Dictionary (1913) • 1913

The exercise of love, kindness, mercy, favor; disposition to benefit or serve another; favor bestowed or privilege conferred. To bow and sue for grace With suppliant knee. Milton. The divine favor toward man; the mercy of God, as distinguished from His justice; also, any benefits His mercy imparts; divine love or pardon; a state of acceptance with God; enjoyment of the divine favor. And if by grace, then is it no more of works. Rom. xi. 6. My grace is sufficicnt for thee. 2 Cor. xii. 9. Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. Rom. v. 20. By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand. Rom. v.2 The prerogative of mercy execised by the executive, as pardon. The same prerogative when exercised in the form of equitable relief through chancery. Fortune; luck; -- used commonly with hard or sorry when it means misfortune. [Obs.] Chaucer. Inherent excellence; any endowment or characteristic fitted to win favor or confer pleasure or benefit. He is complete in feature and in mind. With all good grace to grace a gentleman. Shak. I have formerly given the general character of Mr. Addison's style and manner as natural and unaffected, easy and polite, and full of those graces which a flowery imagination diffuses over writing. Blair. Beauty, physical, intellectual, or moral; loveliness; commonly, easy elegance of manners; perfection of form. Grace in women gains the affections sooner, and secures them longer, than any thing else. Hazlitt. I shall answer and thank you again For the gift and the grace of the gift. Longfellow. Graceful and beautiful females, sister goddesses, represented by ancient writers as the attendants sometimes of Apollo but oftener of Venus. They were commonly mentioned as three in number; namely, Aglaia, Euphrosyne, and Thalia, and were regarded as the inspirers of the qualities which give attractiveness to wisdom, love, and social intercourse. The Graces love to weave the rose. Moore. The Loves delighted, and the Graces played. Prior. The title of a duke, a duchess, or an archbishop, and formerly of the king of England. How fares your Grace ! Shak. Thanks. [Obs.] Yielding graces and thankings to their lord Melibeus. Chaucer. A petition for grace; a blessing asked, or thanks rendered, before or after a meal. Ornamental notes or short passages, either introduced by the performer, or indicated by the composer, in which case the notation signs are called grace notes, appeggiaturas, turns, etc. An act, vote, or decree of the government of the institution; a degree or privilege conferred by such vote or decree. Walton. A play designed to promote or display grace of motion. It consists in throwing a small hoop from one player to another, by means of two sticks in the hands of each. Called also grace hoop or hoops. Act of grace. See under Act.  -- Day of grace (Theol.), the time of probation, when the offer of divine forgiveness is made and may be accepted. That day of grace fleets fast away. I. Watts. -- Days of grace (Com.), the days immediately following the day when a bill or note becomes due, which days are allowed to the debtor or payer to make payment in. In Great Britain and the United States, the days of grace are three, but in some countries more, the usages of merchants being different.  -- Good graces, favor; friendship.  -- Grace cup. (a) A cup or vessel in which a health is drunk after grace. (b) A health drunk after grace has been said. The grace cup follows to his sovereign's health. Hing. -- Grace drink, a drink taken on rising from the table; a grace cup. To [Queen Margaret, of Scotland] . . . we owe the custom of the grace drink, she having established it as a rule at her table, that whosoever staid till grace was said was rewarded with a bumper. Encyc. Brit. -- Grace hoop, a hoop used in playing graces. See Grace, n., 13.  -- Grace note (Mus.), an appoggiatura. See Appoggiatura, and def. 11 above.  -- Grace stroke, a finishing stoke or touch; a coup de grace.  -- Means of grace, means of securing knowledge of God, or favor with God, as the preaching of the gospel, etc.  -- To do grace, to reflect credit upon. Content to do the profession some grace. Shak. -- To say grace, to render thanks before or after a meal.  -- With a good grace, in a fit and proper manner grace fully; graciously.  -- With a bad grace, in a forced, reluctant, or perfunctory manner; ungraciously. What might have been done with a good grace would at least be done with a bad grace. Macaulay.

GRACEv.

Websters Unabridged Dictionary (1913) • 1913

To adorn; to decorate; to embellish and dignify. Great Jove and Phoebus graced his noble line. Pope. We are graced with wreaths of victory. Shak. To dignify or raise by an act of favor; to honor. He might, at his pleasure, grace or disgrace whom he would in court. Knolles. To supply with heavenly grace. Bp. Hall.

graceverb

Wiktionary (English) • 2026

Wiktionary contributors • CC BY-SA 4.0 • via Kaikki
Extracted and formatted for display by Law Mind. Source link opens the current Wiktionary page and its contributor history; it is not a frozen copy of this extract.

To adorn; to decorate; to embellish and dignify. | To dignify or raise by an act of favour; to honour. | To supply with heavenly grace. | To add grace notes, cadenzas, etc., to.

GRACEname

Wiktionary (English) • 2026

Acronym of Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment.

Gracename

Wiktionary (English) • 2026

A female given name from English. | A surname. | A placename in the United States: | A minor city in Caribou County, Idaho. | A placename in the United States: | An unincorporated community in Kentucky. | A placename in the United States: | A census-designated place and unincorporated community in Issaquena County, Mississippi. | A placename in the United States: | An unincorporated community in Carroll County, Missouri. | A placename in the United States: | An unincorporated community in Laclede County, Missouri. | A placename in the United States: | An unincorporated community in Silver Bow County, Montana. | A placename in the United States: | An unincorporated community in Hampshire County, West Virginia. | A placename in the United States: | An unincorporated community in Roane County, West Virginia.

Explore the full Law Mind legal research platform.

Subscribe Encyclopedia Sign In