1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Fry, Sir Edward

FRY, SIR EDWARD (1827–  ), English judge, second son of Joseph Fry (1795–1879), was born at Bristol on the 4th of November 1827, and educated at University College, London, and London University. He was called to the bar in 1854 and was made a Q.C. in 1869, practising in the rolls court and becoming recognized as a leading equity lawyer. In 1877 he was raised to the bench and knighted. As chancery judge he will be remembered for his careful interpretations and elucidations of the Judicature Acts, then first coming into operation. In 1883 he was made a lord justice of appeal, but resigned in 1892; and subsequently his knowledge of equity and talents for arbitration were utilized by the British government from time to time in various special directions, particularly as chairman of many commissions. He was also one of the British representatives at the Paris North Sea Inquiry Commission (1905), and was appointed a member of the Hague Permanent Arbitration Court. He wrote A Treatise on the Specific Performance of Public Contracts (London, 1858, and many subsequent editions).