Definition
Of grace describes any permission, license, or procedural accommodation granted by a court not as a matter of legal right, but as an act of favor or judicial indulgence. When something is allowed "of grace," the party receiving it has no entitlement to it under the rules — the court extends it as a discretionary courtesy rather than in response to a cognizable legal claim.
The phrase carries two related uses in legal contexts:
1. Judicial permission or license: An act by a court allowing something that the rules or law do not compel it to allow. The recipient cannot demand it; they may only request it and hope the court is willing to exercise its discretion favorably.
2. Scottish usage (closely translated from the Latin de gratia): A Scots law expression functioning similarly to the Latin de novo — referring to a fresh or new grant or proceeding initiated as a matter of favor rather than strict right.
Common Language
Modern common usage (Wiktionary): "Grace" in ordinary English refers to elegance or beauty of movement, divine favor or mercy, a short prayer before meals, or a period of time beyond a deadline during which no penalty applies (a "grace period").
Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): Webster's 1913 defines grace as favor, goodwill, or kindness; divine favor freely given; or an act of clemency or pardon. It also identifies grace as something bestowed freely, not earned or demanded.
The legal meaning maps closely onto the theological and moral sense of grace as freely given favor — but in the courtroom context it acquires a specific procedural dimension. When a court acts "of grace," it is not merely being kind; it is consciously stepping outside the framework of legal entitlement and exercising discretion. The practical consequence for litigants is significant: what is received of grace can be withheld or revoked without legal remedy, because it was never a right to begin with.
Common Confusion
Of grace is sometimes confused with of course or of right, its direct opposites. Something done "of course" (or "as of right") is something a party is legally entitled to demand — the court has no discretion to refuse it. Something done "of grace" is the inverse: the court has full discretion to refuse, modify, or revoke it. Conflating the two matters practically because a party who believes they are entitled to something "of right" may fail to make the proper showing required when they actually need to request it "of grace."
Why It Matters in Research
Researchers encountering the phrase "of grace" in older judicial opinions or procedural materials should treat it as a signal about the nature of the permission or accommodation being described — specifically, that the party receiving it had no legal claim to it and that the court's action was discretionary. This distinction affects appellate review: courts generally reviewed exercises of grace-based discretion deferentially, and a party denied something of grace typically had no appealable error.
In older English and American practice, procedural indulgences such as extensions of time, leave to amend pleadings, or continuances were frequently characterized as of grace. This framing shaped how courts analyzed abuse of discretion and whether any remedy existed when the indulgence was denied.
The Scottish usage connecting "of grace" to the Latin de gratia and the concept of de novo proceedings is a separate but related thread. Researchers working in Scots law materials or early American cases influenced by Scottish legal thinking should be alert to the possibility that "of grace" is doing this different conceptual work rather than the English procedural sense.
Because the phrase is largely absent from modern procedural vocabulary — replaced by more technical frameworks governing discretionary relief — it appears almost exclusively in historical sources. Researchers should not assume that the modern absence of the phrase signals a change in the underlying doctrine; courts still grant and deny discretionary procedural accommodations, but without the explicit "of grace" framing.
Historical Dictionary Support
Black's Law Dictionary (2nd Ed.) provides the primary definition, identifying two meanings: the procedural sense (permission allowed by judicial favor, not claimable as of right) and the Scottish sense (closely translated from de novo). Black's cites Walters v. McElroy, 151 Pa. 549, 25 Atl. 125 in support of the procedural definition.
The entry is compact, reflecting that the concept was understood as relatively settled in early American legal usage — the distinction between rights and grace-based permissions was a foundational structural idea in both English and American courts. What the historical dictionaries do not address is the gradual procedural modernization that displaced the explicit "of grace" framing, leaving the underlying concept intact but renamed or absorbed into general discretion doctrine.