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) Justic ...

(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 a ...

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 denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belief in each human's abili ...

from a prominent

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, city, Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Glouces ...

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 cho ...

(1767–1835) and his brothers included a second

(1826-1913) who ran the firm and

Lewis Fry Lewis Fry (16 April 1832 – 10 September 1921) was a Quaker, lawyer, philanthropist and a Liberal and later Liberal and Unionist politician who sat in the House of Commons in three spells between 1878 and 1900. Early life Fry was the son of ...

(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 th ...

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 Aug ...

. In 1897 he accepted an offer to preside over the royal commission on the Irish Land Acts. 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 o ...

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 from ...

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 ...

, ''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 piumin 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 ...

884 __NOTOC__ Year 884 ( DCCCLXXXIV) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * March 1 – Diego Rodríguez Porcelos, count of Castile, founds and repo ...

UKHL 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'' declar ...

. *'' 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 ...

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 (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 lega ...

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 Willi ...

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 Edw ...

*''

Edgington v Fitzmaurice ''Edgington v Fitzmaurice'' (1885) 29 Ch D 459 is an English contract law case, concerning misrepresentation. It holds that a statement of present intentions can count as an actionable misrepresentation and that a misrepresentation need not be the ...

'' (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 lat ...

'' (1886) 34 Ch 234 - an English unjust enrichment law 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 ''Mogul Steamship Co Ltd v McGregor, Gow & Co'' 892AC 25 is an English tort law case concerning the economic tort of conspiracy to injure. A product of its time, the courts adhered to a '' laissez faire'' doctrine allowing firms to form a cartel ...

892 Year 892 ( DCCCXCII) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * Summer – Poppo II, duke of Thuringia (Central Germany), is deposed by King Arnu ...

AC 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 requ ...

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. ...

'' doctrine allowing firms to form a cartel. *''

British South Africa Co v Companhia de Moçambique The Moçambique rule, or (to adopt an anglicised form of spelling) Mozambique rule, is a common law rule in private international law. The rule renders actions relating to title in foreign land, the right to possession of foreign land, and tr ...

'' 893AC 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 omniprese ...

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 ...

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, woundi ...

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, which is used to determine if the party bringing the suit is a party ...

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 ...

, 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 organisat ...

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 music ...

. * Edward Portsmouth Fry (1860-1928) * Mariabella Fry (1861-1920) *

Joan Mary Fry Joan Mary Fry (27 July 1862 – 25 November 1955) was an English Quaker campaigner for peace and social reform. Early life Joan Fry was born on 27 July 1862 in London, into a wealthy family of Quakers. She was the daughter of a judge, Sir ...

(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 St ...

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, ...

(1926–1931), founder of the Howard League * (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-Sax ...

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