Ellen A. Peters, Southmayd Professor of Law, 1956-78

Ellen Ash Peters

REFERENCES:

Connecticut Women’s Hall of Fame profile.

Lawrence A. Cunningham, “Cardozo and Posner: A Study in Contracts,” 36 Wm. & Mary L. Rev. 1379, 1385 (1995).

Who’s Who in American Law: 2005-2006  (2005).

Yale Law School Mourns the Death of Trailblazing Professor Ellen Ash Peters ’54, Yale Law School News (Apr. 18, 2024).

Ellen Ash Peters (1930-2024) came to the United States in 1939, fleeing Nazi Germany at the age of nine. A graduate of the Law School in 1954, two years after her graduation she became the first woman lawyer to be appointed to the faculty.

While at Yale, Peters was a leading scholar of contracts and commercial law. Among her many articles was her oft-cited “Remedies for Breach of Contracts Relating to the Sale of Goods Under the Uniform Commercial Code: A Roadmap for Article Two,” 73 Yale L. J. 199 (1963), which discussed the ambiguities inherent in Article 2’s damage provisions. Peters was the first woman at the Law School to gain full professorship in 1964 and was named Southmayd Professor of Law in 1975.

Peters took adjunct status in 1978 when she was appointed to the Supreme Court of Connecticut, and discontinued teaching in 1984 upon her elevation to chief justice. She remained chief justice until 1996, when she took senior status.

A 1995 survey of contracts textbooks revealed that they contained more opinions by Justice Peters than by any other active jurist other than Judge Richard Posner. She has received numerous awards for distinguished service and was a fellow of the Yale Corporation from 1984-90.