Sir Percy Maurice Maclardie Sheldon Amos (15 June 1872 – 10 June 1940) was a British

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdiction (area), jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include arguing cases in courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, jurisprud ...

, judge and legal academic who served as an Egyptian judge, advisor to the Egyptian government and Quain Professor of Jurisprudence. Amos is best known for founding and contributing to the ''

Modern Law Review The ''Modern Law Review'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal published by John Wiley & Sons on behalf of Modern Law Review Ltd. and which has traditionally maintained close academic ties with the faculty of law at the London School of Economic ...

''. Educated at

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any ...

, Amos was

called to the Bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...

by the

Inner Temple The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as the Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court and is a professional association for barristers and judges. To be called to the Bar and practice as a barrister in England and Wa ...

in May 1897. Finding that his family could not support him through his early years at the Bar he travelled to

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

, where he was appointed a member of the Cairo Native Court and then the Court of Appeals. After a short return to Britain in 1915 to help at the

Ministry of Munitions The Minister of Munitions was a British government position created during the First World War to oversee and co-ordinate the production and distribution of munitions for the war effort. The position was created in response to the Shell Crisis o ...

, Amos continued to work in Egypt until the end of the British Protectorate in 1922. He returned to Britain, resuming his practice as a barrister, and in 1932 was appointed Quain Professor of Jurisprudence, a position he held for five years. Involved in the founding of the ''Modern Law Review'', his death on 10 June 1940 made him the first founder to die.

Life

Amos was born on 15 June 1872 to

Sheldon Amos Sheldon Amos (1 June 1835 – 3 January 1886) was an English jurist. Life and career Sheldon Amos was born in St Pancras, London, the son of lawyer Andrew Amos and his wife, Margaret. He was educated at Clare College, Cambridge Clare Colle ...

, a legal academic, and

Sarah Bunting Sarah D. Bunting, also known online as Sars, is known as an American writer and journalist, and a co-founder of Television Without Pity (TWoP). She has written for a number of magazines and journals, and has received coverage for her website To ...

, a political activist and the Lady Superintendent of the Working Women's College. Amos was educated by his mother and private tutors in France, Germany and England, until the family travelled to Australia in 1880 due to his father's health problems. Finding the country unpleasant they set out to return to England, but while passing through Egypt Sheldon Amos was offered the position of legal advisor to

Lord Dufferin Frederick Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood, 1st Marquess of Dufferin and Ava, (21 June 182612 February 1902), was a British public servant and prominent member of Victorian society. In his youth he was a popular figure in the court of Queen Victoria, ...

, which he accepted. The family stayed there until Sheldon's death in 1886, after which they returned to Europe to travel. In 1891, Amos matriculated to

to study history, before switching to moral sciences following a talk with

Bertrand Russell Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, (18 May 1872 – 2 February 1970) was a British philosopher, logician, mathematician, and public intellectual. He had influence on mathematics, logic, set theory, and various areas of analytic ...

. He was joint Secretary of the

Cambridge University Liberal Club Cambridge University Liberal Association (CULA) is the student branch of the Liberal Democrats for students at the University of Cambridge. It is the successor to the Cambridge Student Liberal Democrats, which in turn was formed from the merge ...

from 1892 to 1894, and one of the people he shared this role with was Russell. Gaining a first, he graduated in 1895, having won the Cobden Prize, and was

by the

in May 1897. Working as a conveyancing pupil in

Lincoln's Inn The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn, commonly known as Lincoln's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for Barrister, barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister ...

, Amos found that the family income could not support him during his first, profitless years as a barrister, and applied to become an inspector in the Egyptian Ministry of Justice. To work in the courts there, Amos taught himself Arabic and gained the French '' licence en droit'' from the University of Paris in 1889.H. A. H. (1941) p.403 While working as an inspector he lectured at the Khedival School of Law in Cairo. For his work as an inspector, he was awarded the Medjidie, Fourth Class in 1900. In 1903 he was made a judge of the Cairo Native Court, and in 1906 was promoted to the Court of Appeal, where he sat for seven years until offending the British population of Cairo by acquitting an Egyptian accused of assaulting a British child. Retiring from the bench, he became Director of the Khedival School of Law in 1913, where he set up a postgraduate program. On 11 July 1906, Amos married Lucy Scott Moncrieff. The couple had two sons and three daughters. Amos returned to the Court of Appeal in 1915, but was forced to suspend his work when he was called back to Britain to work for the

. Thanks to his fluent French he was much in demand, serving as the liaison officer to the French military mission in London and accompanying

Arthur Balfour Arthur James Balfour, 1st Earl of Balfour (; 25 July 184819 March 1930) was a British statesman and Conservative Party (UK), Conservative politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1902 to 1905. As Foreign Secretary ...

in his trip to the United States. In 1917 he returned to Egypt, where he acted as the Judicial Adviser to the Government of Egypt. He was awarded the Order of the Nile, Second Class in 1918. When the British protectorate ended in 1922, Amos helped draft the new Egyptian constitution and was appointed

Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

on 15 March 1922. He was also promoted to Grand Cordon of the Order of the Nile. Returning to England in 1925, Amos took up his practice as a barrister again and received many briefs from the British government, particularly cases brought under the

Treaty of Lausanne The Treaty of Lausanne (, ) is a peace treaty negotiated during the Lausanne Conference of 1922–1923 and signed in the Palais de Rumine in Lausanne, Switzerland, on 24 July 1923. The treaty officially resolved the conflict that had initially ...

. In 1929 he stood for the Liberal Party at the general election in the constituency of

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

but was unsuccessful. In 1932 he was made a

King's Counsel A King's Counsel (Post-nominal letters, post-nominal initials KC) is a senior lawyer appointed by the monarch (or their Viceroy, viceregal representative) of some Commonwealth realms as a "Counsel learned in the law". When the reigning monarc ...

, and became Quain Professor of Jurisprudence at

University College London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...

(UCL). Both his father and

grandfather Grandparents, individually known as grandmother and grandfather, or Grandma and Grandpa, are the parents of a person's father or mother – paternal or maternal. Every sexually reproducing living organism who is not a genetic chimera has a m ...

were legal academics at UCL, and with this appointment Amos became the third family member in a row to work there. He quickly distinguished himself, and was elected Dean of the Faculty of Law soon after his appointment. He wrote several textbooks and was one of the founders of the ''Modern Law Review'', and the first to die.R. S. T. C. (1940) p.41 Following his retirement in 1937 he continued writing until his death at home on 10 June 1940.

Writings

*''The English Constitution'' (1930) *''Introduction to French Law'' (1935) *''Lectures on the American Constitution'' (1938) *''British Justice'' (1940)Radu-Alexandru FLORESCU, "Justiţia britanică" (traducere), ed. Alexandru I. Botez, București, 1945, pagina 4, nota de subsol nr.1

References

Bibliography

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Amos, Maurice 1872 births 1940 deaths Academics of University College London Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge British expatriates in Egypt 20th-century English judges British legal writers English King's Counsel Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire Members of the Inner Temple 20th-century King's Counsel Lawyers from London Liberal Party (UK) parliamentary candidates