Sir Frederick Pollock, 3rd BaronetPC,FBA (10 December 1845 – 18 January 1937)[1] was an English jurist best known for hisHistory of English Law before the Time of Edward I, written withF.W. Maitland, and his lifelong correspondence with US Supreme Court JusticeOliver Wendell Holmes.[2] He was a member of theCambridge Apostles.
He was educated atEton College, where he was a King's Scholar, andTrinity College, Cambridge, where he was elected Fellow in 1868 (later Honorable Fellow in 1920).[4][5] In 1871 he was admitted to the Bar. He wrote a series of textbooks that took a new approach to the teaching of English Law includingThe Principles of Contract at Law and inEquity (1876) andThe Law ofTorts (1887).[1]
Rather than relying on specific applications of law, these works emphasised underlying principles. They acted as models for future textbooks and helped modernise English legal education. Pollock taught at the University of Oxford (1883–1903),[1] asCorpus Professor of Jurisprudence. He was Professor of Common Law in the Inns of Court (1884–1890).[5] He was Editor of theLaw Reports from 1895 to 1935. He was the first editor of theLaw Quarterly Review which was founded in 1885.[1] He was also, in 1894, the Chairman ofThe Society of Authors[6] He was sworn of thePrivy Council in 1911.[7] He was elected Treasurer of Lincoln's Inn in 1931.[5]
Pollock married on 13 August 1873 to Georgina Harriet Deffell (died on 30 March 1935), a daughter of John Deffell. They had two children:
Alice Isabella Pollock, born on 15 June 1876, died on 28 June 1953. Married first atSt Marylebone Parish Church in London on 19 November 1902 toSydney Waterlow (1878–1944), a diplomat and grandson ofSir Sydney Waterlow, 1st Baronet.[8] This marriage was annulled in 1912, and she remarried the same year Captain Orlando Cyprian Williams, MC, CB (d.1967).
Together with his younger brother,Walter Herries Pollock, he participated in the first English revival ofhistorical fencing, originated byAlfred Hutton and his colleaguesEgerton Castle, Captain Carl Thimm, Colonel Cyril Matthey, Captain Percy Rolt, Captain Ernest George Stenson Cooke, Captain Frank Herbert Whittow.[10]
He was cited in an 1897 slander case involving the London Fencing Club whenSir John Hutton was sued by a French naval officer, Rene Martin Fortris, who accused Hutton of falsely stating that Fortris had been making unwelcome advances towards his daughter for two years. According to Fortris, this led to Sir Frederick Pollock and John Norbury declining his application for membership of the London Fencing Club. The jury was unimpressed by Fortris's case and found in favour of Sir John Hutton.[11]
Benton, Alexander Wood, ed. (1897)."General Introduction".Encyclopædia of the Laws of England: being a New Abridgment by the Most Eminent Legal Authorities. Vol. I. London & Edinburgh: Sweet & Maxwell; Wm. Green & Sons. pp. 1–13. Retrieved24 October 2020 – viaInternet Archive.
^abcdFifoot, C. H. S. (1976). "Pollock, Sir Frederick". In William D. Halsey (ed.).Collier's Encyclopedia. Vol. 19. New York: Macmillan Educational Corporation. p. 218.
Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911)."Pollock" .Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 22 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 6; see line 11+....his eldest son, Sir Frederick Pollock, 3rd Bart. (b. 1845), being ....
Works by or aboutSir Frederick Pollock, 3rd Baronet atWikisource