"This year marks the 50th anniversary of the publication of The Law of Admiralty, the much-celebrated hornbook penned by Grant Gilmore and Charles L. Black, Jr," writes Robert M. Jarvis, Nova Southeastern University, in a new essay. He continues:When it debuted in 1957, it was the subject of 16 flattering reviews written by such maritime luminaries as Raoul P. Colinvaux, Brainerd Currie, Nicholas J. Healy, Lawrence Jarett, and Arnold W. Knauth. All agreed it was a singular contribution, not just to its particular field but to legal writing in general. The second edition, which appeared in 1975, netted additional (if more muted) praise from such admiralty giants as David R. Owen and David W. Robertson. Together with other references, most of them
in judicial opinions, the book easily qualifies as the most-cited maritime work in history.What more, then, is there to say about it?
in judicial opinions, the book easily qualifies as the most-cited maritime work in history.What more, then, is there to say about it?You can find out in this essay, Gilmore & Black at 50, which is just being published in the Journal of Maritime Law and Commerce.
For a preview, the abstract is just this sentence: The story of the writing of the famous American treatise, The Law of Admiralty, with biographical sketches of its co-authors and evidence of its extraordinary influence on the maritime law of the twentieth century.
Photo credits: Grant Gilmore and Charles Black.
