Grant S. Nelson

Professor of Law Emeritus

  • B.A. University of Minnesota, 1960
  • J.D. University of Minnesota, 1963
  • UCLA Faculty Since 1991

Grant Nelson teaches Real Estate Finance, Advanced Real Estate Transactions, Property, Land Use Regulation, and Remedies. He is the recipient of the School of Law's Rutter Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2000 and the university's Distinguished Teaching Award in 2002. Professor Nelson was also elected Professor of the Year by the UCLA Law Classes of 2004 and 2005. He was the Co-Reporter for the American Law Institute's Restatement of Property (Third)--Mortgages (1997), serves on the Law School Editorial Advisory Board of the West Academic Publishing, and has served as a Commissioner of the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws for nine years.

While in law school, Professor Nelson was an editor on the Minnesota Law Review. After serving as an officer in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam era, he practiced real estate finance at Faegre and Benson, a large Minneapolis law firm. He taught at the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Law for twenty-four years, where he was the Enoch H. Crowder & Earl F. Nelson Professor of Law and was elected Outstanding Professor by three classes. He was elected Professor of the Year at two other law schools where he was visiting. He chaired the Missouri State Bar Property Committee.

Professor Nelson, who is also William H. Rehnquist Professor of Law, Emeritus at Pepperdine University, has published many books and articles on real estate finance law, property and remedies, the most recent of which include: Real Estate Transfer, Finance and Development (with Dale A. Whitman, Ann Burkhart and Wilson Freyermuth), 9th ed. St. Paul: West Academic (2015); Real Estate Finance Law (with Dale A. Whitman), 6th ed. St. Paul: West Academic (2014); and Contemporary Property (with Dale A. Whitman, Colleen Medill and Shelley Saxer), 4th ed. St. Paul: West Academic (2013).

Bibliography

  • Books
    • Real Estate Transfer, Finance and Development (with Dale A. Whitman, Ann Burkhart, and Wilson Freyermuth). 9th ed. West Academic (2015). Prior editions: 8th, 2009; 7th, 2008; 6th, 2003; 5th, 1998; 4th, 1992; 3rd, 1987; 2nd, 1981; and 1st, 1976. Supplements: 1986; 1983.
    • Real Estate Finance Law (with Dale A. Whitman, Ann Burkhart, and Wilson Freyermuth). 6th ed. West Academic (2014). Prior editions: Hornbook, 2001; Student edition, 1994; Practitioner’s, 2014 (two volumes); Lawyer’s, 1985; 2nd, 1985; and 1st, 1979.  Supplements (two volumes): 2000; 1989.
    • Contemporary Property (with Dale A. Whitman, Colleen Medill, and Shelley Saxer). West Academic (2013). Prior editions: 2nd 2002; 1st, 1996. Teacher’s Manual.
    • Equitable Remedies, Restitution and Damages (with Candace Kovacic-Fleischer and Jean Love). 8th ed. West Academic (2011). Prior editions: 7th, 2007; 6th, 2000; 5th, 1994; 4th, 1986; 3rd, 1980; and 2nd, 1973. Teacher’s Manual.
    • Land Transactions and Finance (with Dale A. Whitman). 4th ed. St. Paul: West Publishing (2004). Prior editions: 3rd, 1998; 2nd, 1988; and 1st, 1983.
  • Articles And Chapters
    • Likely Impact of National Federation on Commerce Clause Jurisprudence (with Robert J. Pushaw Jr.), 40 Pepperdine Law Review 975 (2013). Full Text
    • Strategic Defaulters versus the Federal Taxpayer: A Brief for the Preemption of State and Anti-Deficiency Law for Residential Mortgages (with Gabe Serbulia), 65 Arkansas Law Review 65 (2013).
    • Forty-Five Years as a Remedies Teacher: A Retrospective, 57 St. Louis Law Journal 751 (2013).
    • Confronting the Mortgage Meltdown: A Brief for the Federalization of State Mortgage Foreclosure Law, 37 Pepperdine Law Review 583 (2010). Full Text
    • The Foreclosure Purchase by the Equity of Redemption Holder or Other Junior Interests: When Should Principles of Fairness Trump Normal Priority Rules?, in 72 Missouri Law Review, 1259 (2007).
    • Adopting Restatement Mortgage Subrogation Principles: Saving Billions of Dollars for Refinancing Homeowners (with Dale Whitman), 2006 Brigham Young University Law Review 305-366 (2006).
    • Reforming Foreclosure: The Uniform Nonjudicial Foreclosure Act (with Dale Whitman), 53 Duke Law Journal 1399-1514 (2004).
    • A Commerce Clause Standard for the New Millennium: “Yes” to Broad Congressional Control over Commercial Transactions; “No” to Federal Legislation on Social and Cultural Issues, 55 Arkansas Law Review 1213-51 (2003).
    • A Critique of the Narrow Interpretation of the Commerce Clause (with Robert J. Pushaw, Jr.), 96 Northwestern University Law Review 695-719 (2002).
    • Protection of Property, in Common Law, Common Values, Common Rights: Essays on Our Common Heritage by Distinguished British and American Authors, (Chicago: American Bar Association, 2000).
    • Rethinking the Commerce Clause: Applying First Principles to Uphold Federal Commercial Regulations but Preserve State Control over Social Issues (with Robert J. Pushaw, Jr.), 85 Iowa Law Review 1-173 (1999). Abstract
    • The Contract for Deed as a Mortgage: The Case for the Restatement Approach, 1998 Brigham Young University Law Review 1111-67 (1998).
    • Tribute. Judge Elwood J. Thomas (with Timothy J. Heinsz, et al.), 61 Missouri Law Review vi-20 (1996).
    • Rethinking Future Advances Mortgages: A Brief for the Restatement Approach (with Dale A. Whitman), 44 Duke Law Journal 657-703 (1995).
    • Avoidance of Completed Real Estate Foreclosures in Bankruptcy (with William H. Henning), 41 Journal of the Missouri Bar 285-90 (1985).
    • Enduring Durrett and the Use of Sec. 547 as an Alternative Method of Avoiding Completed Foreclosure Sales (with William H. Henning), Norton Bankruptcy Law Advisor (Apr. 1985).
    • The Impact of Mortgagor Bankruptcy on the Real Estate Mortgagee: Current Problems and Some Suggested Solutions, 50 Missouri Law Review 217-57 (1985).
    • Installment Land Contracts: The National Scene Revisited (with Dale A. Whitman), 1985 Brigham Young University Law Review 1-63 (1985).
    • Congressional Preemption of Mortgage Due-on-Sale Law: An Analysis of the Garn - St. Germain Act (with Dale A. Whitman), 35 Hastings Law Journal 241-312 (1983).
    • Deficiency Judgments after Real Estate Foreclosures in Missouri: Some Modest Proposals, 47 Missouri Law Review 151-70 (1982).
    • Tribute. Joe E. Covington: From the Faculty, 47 Missouri Law Review xxii-xxiii (1982).
    • Constitutional Problems with Power of Sale Real Estate Foreclosure: A Judicial Dilemma, 43 Missouri Law Review 25-44 (1978).
    • The Installment Land Contract: A National Overview (with Dale A. Whitman), 2 Brigham Young University Law Review 541-76 (1977).
    • The Use of Installment Land Contracts in Missouri: Courting Clouds on Titles, 33 Journal of the Missouri Bar 161-68 (1977).
    • Deed of Trust Foreclosure under Powers of Sale: Constitutional Problems: Legislative Alternatives, 28 Journal of the Missouri Bar 428-37 (1972).
    • Building Health and Housing Code Inspection in Missouri: A Need for Legislation, 27 Journal of the Missouri Bar 572-78 (1971).
    • Court-Martial Jurisdiction over Servicemen for “Civilian” Offenses: An Analysis of O’Callahan v. Parker (with James E. Westbrook), Minnesota Law Review 1-65 (1969).
    • Purchase-Money Resulting Trusts in Land in Missouri, 33 Missouri Law Review 552-607 (1968).
    • The Need for Clarification in Military Habeas Corpus (with Lewis R. Katz), 27 Ohio State Law Journal 193-218 (1966).
    • Comment: The Effect of State Statutes on the Civil Rights of Convicts, 47 Minnesota Law Review 835-52 (1963).
    • Casenote: Accord and Satisfaction: Creditor’s Acceptance of Part Payment, 47 Minnesota Law Review 255-59 (1962).
    • Casenote: Infant Donee Beneficiary: Rescission of Executory Contract, 47 Minnesota Law Review 259-62 (1962).
    • Casenote: Release Agreements: Vacating for Mistake or Improvidence, 47 Minnesota Law Review 262-66 (1962).
    • Casenote: Evidence Obtained Through a Private Unreasonable Search and Seizure Inadmissible in a Civil Action, 46 Minnesota Law Review 1119-26 (1962).
  • Other
    • Reporter (with Dale A. Whitman), Restatement of the Law of Property, Third: Security (Mortgages): Tentative Draft No. 4. (Philadelphia: American Law Institute, 1995). Prior drafts: Tentative Draft No. 3, 1994; Tentative Draft No. 2, 1992; and Tentative Draft No. 1, 1991.
    • Book Review, 67 American Bar Association Journal 886-90 (1981). Reviewing A Lawyer Looks at the ERA, by Rex E. Lee.
    • Special Education Placement: The Federal Constitution and Its Implications, in The Legal and Educational Consequences of the Intelligence Testing Movement: Handicapped Children and Minority Group Children (edited by Grant S. Nelson, et al., Univ. of Missouri Press, 1972). (Proceedings of the Missouri Conference on Socio-Legal Aspects of Intelligence Testing).
    • Book Review, 57 Cornell Law Review 137-43 (1971). Reviewing Cases and Materials on Land Financing, by Norman Penny and Richard F. Broude.
    • Book Review, 23 Journal of Legal Education 369-76 (1971). Reviewing Constitutional Law, by William B. Lockhart, et al.

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