John Chipman Gray, Legal Formalism, and the Transformation of Perpetuities Law

The author uses John Chipman Gray's classic treatise, The Rule Against Perpetuities, as the focal point of an analysis of legal formalism. With the advent of legal formalism, pertpetuities law was reduced to a single rule that courts applied mechanically and with little deference to policy and individualized justice. Exploring the jurisprudence of formalism, the author concludes that current change in the perpetuities doctrine is based on a rejection of the Rule's formalist underpinnings.