Sir Edward Fry, (4 November 1827 – 19 October 1918) was an English

Lord Justice of Appeal A Lord Justice of Appeal or Lady Justice of Appeal is a judge of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales, the court that hears appeals from the High Court of Justice, the Crown Court and other courts and tribunals. A Lord (or Lady) Justice ...

(1883–1892) and an arbitrator on the

Permanent Court of Arbitration The Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) is a non-UN intergovernmental organization located in The Hague, Netherlands. Unlike a judicial court in the traditional sense, the PCA provides services of arbitral tribunal to resolve disputes that arise ...

Biography

Joseph Fry (1795-1879) and Mary Ann Swaine were his parents. He was a

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belie ...

from a prominent

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

family which founded and owned the chocolate firm J. S. Fry & Sons. His grandfather was

Joseph Storrs Fry Joseph Storrs Fry (1767–1835) was an English chocolate and confectionery manufacturer and a member of the Fry Family of Bristol, England. Early life He was born in 1767, son of Joseph Fry (1728–1787), in business as a manufacturer of choc ...

(1767–1835) and his brothers included a second

(1826-1913) who ran the firm and Lewis Fry (1832-1921) who was a politician. He was called to the bar in 1854, took

silk Silk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The protein fiber of silk is composed mainly of fibroin and is produced by certain insect larvae to form cocoons. The best-known silk is obtained from the coc ...

in 1869 and became a judge in Chancery in 1877, receiving the customary knighthood. He was raised to the Court of Appeal in 1883, and was sworn of the Privy Council. He retired in 1892. Retirement from the court did not mean retirement from legal work. He sat on some cases in the

Judicial Committee of the Privy Council The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (JCPC) is the highest court of appeal for the Crown Dependencies, the British Overseas Territories, some Commonwealth countries and a few institutions in the United Kingdom. Established on 14 Augus ...

. In 1897 he accepted an offer to preside over the royal commission on the

Irish Land Act The Land Acts (officially Land Law (Ireland) Acts) were a series of measures to deal with the question of tenancy contracts and peasant proprietorship of land in Ireland in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Five such acts were introduced by ...

s. He also acted as an arbitrator in the Welsh coal strike (1898), the Grimsby fishery dispute (1901) and between the London and North Western Railway Company and its employees (1906, 1907). Fry was appointed GCMG and GCB in 1907.

International legal and arbitration career

He was also involved in international law. In 1902 he acted as one of five arbitrators at

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of ...

in the

Pious Fund of the Californias The Pious Fund of the Californias ( es, Fondo Piadoso de las Californias) is a fund, originating in 1697, to sponsor the Roman Catholic Jesuit Spanish missions in Baja California, and Franciscan Spanish missions in Alta California in the Vic ...

dispute between the United States and Mexico, the first dispute between states arbitrated by the

. In 1904 he was the British legal assessor on the commission to investigate the

Dogger Bank incident The Dogger Bank incident (also known as the North Sea Incident, the Russian Outrage or the Incident of Hull) occurred on the night of 21/22 October 1904, when the Baltic Fleet of the Imperial Russian Navy mistook a British trawler fleet fro ...

where the Russian navy accidentally attacked a British herring fleet in the North Sea. He was involved in the second Hague Conference (1907). In 1908/1909 he was an arbitrator between France and Germany over a case where France had seized deserters (including some German citizens) from German

diplomatic protection In international law, diplomatic protection (or diplomatic espousal) is a means for a state to take diplomatic and other action against another state on behalf of its national whose rights and interests have been injured by that state. Diplomatic ...

Zoological and botanical work

Besides law he was on the council of

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

and interested in Zoology (he was elected to the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

in 1883). He wrote two books on

bryophytes The Bryophyta s.l. are a proposed taxonomic division containing three groups of non-vascular land plants (embryophytes): the liverworts, hornworts and mosses. Bryophyta s.s. consists of the mosses only. They are characteristically limited i ...

, ''British Mosses'' (1892) and, with his daughter Agnes, ''The Liverworts: British and Foreign'' (1911).

Suppression of opium

In his preface to the 1884 report to the Houses of Parliament titled ''The Indo-Chinese opium trade considered in relation to its history, morality, and expediency, and its influence on Christian missions'', Fry wrote:

"We English, by the policy we have pursued, are morally responsible for every acre of land in China which is withdrawn from the cultivation of grain and devoted to that of the poppy; so that the fact of the growth of the drug
pium Pium is a municipality in the state of Tocantins in the Northern region of Brazil. The municipality contains the Cantão State Park, created in 1998. It contains 21.56% of the Ilha do Bananal / Cantão Environmental Protection Area The Ilha ...
in China ought only to increase our sense of responsibility".

Judgments

Judgments of Fry include: *''

Foakes v Beer is an English contract law case, which applied the controversial pre-existing duty rule in the context of part payments of debts. It is a leading case from the House of Lords on the legal concept of consideration. It established the rule that pr ...

'' 884UKHL 1, 881-85All ER Rep 106, (1884) 9 App Cas 605; 54 LJQB 130; 51 LT 833; 33 WR 233 - (Fry sitting in the Court of Appeal) - a leading case from the House of Lords on the legal concept of

consideration Consideration is a concept of English common law and is a necessity for simple contracts but not for special contracts (contracts by deed). The concept has been adopted by other common law jurisdictions. The court in ''Currie v Misa'' declared ...

. *'' Smith v Land and House Property Corp'' (1884) LR 28 Ch D 7 -

English contract law English contract law is the body of law that regulates legally binding agreements in England and Wales. With its roots in the lex mercatoria and the activism of the judiciary during the industrial revolution, it shares a heritage with countries ...

case, concerning

misrepresentation In common law jurisdictions, a misrepresentation is a false or misleading '' R v Kylsant'' 931/ref> statement of fact made during negotiations by one party to another, the statement then inducing that other party to enter into a contract. The m ...

and holding that a statement of opinion can represent that one knows certain facts, and can amount to misrepresentation. *''

Isle of Wight Rly Co v Tahourdin ''Isle of Wight Railway Company v Tahourdin'' (1884) LR 25 Ch D 320 is a UK company law case on removing directors under the old Companies Clauses Act 1845. In the modern Companies Act 2006, section 168 allows shareholders to remove of directors ...

(1884) LR 25 Ch D 320 - a

UK company law The United Kingdom company law regulates corporations formed under the Companies Act 2006. Also governed by the Insolvency Act 1986, the UK Corporate Governance Code, European Union Directives and court cases, the company is the primary legal ...

case on removing directors under the

Companies Clauses Act 1845 A company, abbreviated as co., is a legal entity representing an association of people, whether natural, legal or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members share a common purpose and unite to achieve specific, declared go ...

; Fry concurring with

Cotton LJ Sir Henry Cotton (20 May 1821 – 22 February 1892) was a British judge. He was a Lord Justice of Appeal from 1877, when he was made a Privy Counsellor, until his retirement in 1890. Early life He was born in Leytonstone. His father Will ...

and

Lindley LJ Nathaniel Lindley, Baron Lindley, (29 November 1828 – 9 December 1921) was an English judge. Early life He was the second son of the botanist Dr. John Lindley, born at Acton Green, London. From his mother's side, he was descended from Sir Ed ...

*''

Edgington v Fitzmaurice ''Edgington v Fitzmaurice'' (1885) 29 Ch D 459 is an English contract law case, concerning Misrepresentation in English law, misrepresentation. It holds that a statement of present intentions can count as an actionable misrepresentation and that a ...

'' (1885) 29 Ch D 459 - contract law case, concerning

*''

Falcke v Scottish Imperial Insurance Co ''Falcke v Scottish Imperial Insurance Co'' (1886) 34 Ch 234 is an English unjust enrichment law case, which also concerns English contract law. It sets out some fundamental principles of construction of obligations, as viewed to exist by the la ...

'' (1886) 34 Ch 234 - an

English unjust enrichment law The English law of unjust enrichment is part of the English law of obligations, along with the law of contract, tort, and trusts. The law of unjust enrichment deals with circumstances in which one person is required to make restitution of a benefit ...

case, also concerning

, and setting out some fundamental principles of construction of obligations, as viewed to exist by the late 19th-century English judiciary; Fry concurring with

Bowen LJ Charles Synge Christopher Bowen, Baron Bowen, (1 January 1835 – 10 April 1894) was an English judge. Early life Bowen was born at Woolaston in Gloucestershire – his father, Rev. Christopher Bowen, originally of Hollymount, County Mayo, ...

. *'' In the Arbitration between Secretary of State for Home Department and Fletcher'' (1887) - upholding a Queens bench decision supporting the authority of the Inspector of Mines to require the use of

safety lamp A safety lamp is any of several types of lamp that provides illumination in coal mines and is designed to operate in air that may contain coal dust or gases, both of which are potentially flammable or explosive. Until the development of effectiv ...

dissenting. *'' Mogul Steamship Co Ltd v McGregor, Gow & Co'' 892AC 25, (1889) 23 QBD 598, (1888) LR 21 QBD 544 - (Fry sitting in the Court of Appeal) - an

English tort law English tort law concerns the compensation for harm to people's rights to health and safety, a clean environment, property, their economic interests, or their reputations. A "tort" is a wrong in civil, rather than criminal law, that usually requi ...

case concerning the

economic tort Economic torts, which are also called business torts, are torts that provide the common law rules on liability which arise out of business transactions such as interference with economic or business relationships and are likely to involve pure eco ...

of conspiracy to injure. A product of its time, the courts adhered to a ''

laissez faire ''Laissez-faire'' ( ; from french: laissez faire , ) is an economic system in which transactions between private groups of people are free from any form of economic interventionism (such as subsidies) deriving from special interest groups. A ...

'' doctrine allowing firms to form a cartel. *'' British South Africa Co v Companhia de Moçambique''

893 __FORCETOC__ Year 893 ( DCCCXCIII) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * Vladimir, ruler (''khan'') of the Bulgarian Empire, is dethroned by his fat ...

AC 602 (Fry sitting in the Court of Appeal) - the House of Lords overturned Fry's Court of Appeal decision and by so doing established the ''Mozambique rule'', a

common law In law, common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law created by judges and similar quasi-judicial tribunals by virtue of being stated in written opinions."The common law is not a brooding omnipresen ...

rule in

private international law Conflict of laws (also called private international law) is the set of rules or laws a jurisdiction applies to a case, transaction, or other occurrence that has connections to more than one jurisdiction. This body of law deals with three broad t ...

that renders actions relating to title in foreign land, the right to possession of foreign land, and

trespass Trespass is an area of tort law broadly divided into three groups: trespass to the person, trespass to chattels, and trespass to land. Trespass to the person historically involved six separate trespasses: threats, assault, battery, wounding ...

to foreign land non-

justiciable Justiciability concerns the limits upon legal issues over which a court can exercise its judicial authority. It includes, but is not limited to, the legal concept of Standing (law), standing, which is used to determine if the party bringing the ...

in common law jurisdictions.

Family

Edward Fry married in 1859 Mariabella Hodgkin (1833–1930), daughter of John Hodgkin, granddaughter of

Luke Howard Luke Howard, (28 November 1772 – 21 March 1864) was a British manufacturing chemist and an amateur meteorologist with broad interests in science. His lasting contribution to science is a nomenclature system for clouds, which he proposed i ...

, and sister of the historian,

Thomas Hodgkin Thomas Hodgkin RMS (17 August 1798 – 5 April 1866) was a British physician, considered one of the most prominent pathologists of his time and a pioneer in preventive medicine. He is now best known for the first account of Hodgkin's disease, ...

: and they were the parents of seven daughters, one dying young, and two sons. They lived in

Highgate Highgate ( ) is a suburban area of north London at the northeastern corner of Hampstead Heath, north-northwest of Charing Cross. Highgate is one of the most expensive London suburbs in which to live. It has two active conservation organisati ...

at 5 The Grove, a house later owned by the singer

George Michael George Michael (born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou; 25 June 1963 – 25 December 2016) was an English singer and songwriter. He is considered one of the most significant cultural icons of the MTV generation and is one of the best-selling musici ...

. * Edward Portsmouth Fry (1860-1928) * Mariabella Fry (1861-1920) * Joan Mary Fry (1862–1955) Quaker social reformer *Elizabeth Alice Fry (1864-1868) * Roger Eliot Fry (1866–1934) – Artist, member of the

Bloomsbury Group The Bloomsbury Group—or Bloomsbury Set—was a group of associated English writers, intellectuals, philosophers and artists in the first half of the 20th century, including Virginia Woolf, John Maynard Keynes, E. M. Forster and Lytton Strac ...

Agnes Fry Agnes Fry (25 March 1869 - 15 August 1958) was a British bryologist, astronomer, botanical illustrator, writer and poet, who donated Failand House's Estate to the National Trust. Family Fry was born on 25 March 1869, in Highgate. Her fat ...

(1869–1957) – co-writer with her father on several scientific treatises and later wrote a biography of him; and her twin sister

Isabel Fry Isabel Fry (25 March 1869– 26 March 1958) was an English educator and social activist. Early life She was one of twins, with her sister Agnes Fry, born to the barrister and judge Sir Edward Fry and his wife Mariabella Hodgkin. They were younge ...

(1869-1958), educator * (Sara) Margery Fry (1874–1958) – penal reformer, principal of

Somerville College Somerville College, a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England, was founded in 1879 as Somerville Hall, one of its first two women's colleges. Among its alumnae have been Margaret Thatcher, Indira Gandhi, Dorothy Hodgkin, Ir ...

(1926–1931), founder of the

Howard League The Howard League for Penal Reform is a registered charity in the United Kingdom. It is the oldest penal reform organisation in the world, named after John Howard. It was founded as the Howard Association in 1866 and changed its name in 1921, ...

* (Anna) Ruth Fry (1878–1962) – pacifist and Quaker activist.

Notes

References

A Social and Biographical History of British and Irish Field-Bryologists
by Mark Lawley, 2006. Contains information on Edward Fry's interest in Bryology.
AIM25: Institute of Education: Fry, Isabel (1869–1958)
– contains information on her siblings also

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fry, Edward 1827 births 1918 deaths English barristers 19th-century English judges English King's Counsel 19th-century King's Counsel Lords Justices of Appeal Knights Bachelor English Quakers Fellows of the Royal Society

Edward Edward is an English given name. It is derived from the Anglo-Saxon name ''Ēadweard'', composed of the elements '' ēad'' "wealth, fortune; prosperous" and '' weard'' "guardian, protector”. History The name Edward was very popular in Anglo-Sa ...

English botanists Bryologists People associated with University College London Knights Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Members of the Permanent Court of Arbitration Fellows of the British Academy Members of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council British judges of international courts and tribunals Chancery Division judges 19th-century English businesspeople