Dictionary of National Biography, 1927 supplement/Macdonell, John
MACDONELL, Sir JOHN (1845–1921), jurist, born 11 August 1845 at Brechin, Forfarshire, was the second son of James Macdonell, of the Glengarry Macdonells, by his wife, Rachel Allardyce, of Dyce, Aberdeenshire. Their eldest son, James Macdonell [q.v.], became a well-known journalist. In 1852 his father, an official in the Inland Revenue, removed to Rhynie, Aberdeenshire, and here John Macdonell received his early education under the Rev. George Stewart, an excellent classical scholar, to whose training he always felt deeply indebted. This was followed by a year at the Aberdeen grammar school, in the old building where Byron had been a pupil. Macdonell entered Aberdeen University in 1861, graduating with honours in classics in 1865. Although most of his boyhood was spent in a remote village, there was no lack of intellectual stimulus at home, and perhaps he owed something of his later wide outlook on life to the fact that his father was a fervent though tolerant Roman Catholic, while his mother and many of his father's friends were Protestants.
After a brief time as a classical tutor at Leamington, Macdonell obtained an appointment on the staff of the Scotsman, then edited by Alexander Russel [q.v.]. A series of articles contributed to that journal formed the basis of his first book, A Survey of Political Economy (1871). Meanwhile, he had entered at the Middle Temple in 1870. He was called to the bar in 1873. During the early years of his professional career he wrote The Land Question, with particular reference to England and Scotland (1873) and The Law of Master and Servant (1883); he also began a connexion with The Times which continued unbroken till the year of his death. He was at the time in good practice as counsel to the Board of Trade and to the London Chamber of Commerce. In 1889 he was made a master of the Supreme Court, and in 1912 he became senior master and King's Remembrancer, retaining both these offices until the year before his death. In 1901 he was appointed Quain professor of comparative law at University College, London, and he held the chair until 1920. He was the first dean of the faculty of law in the university of London. He was made C.B. in 1898, knighted in 1903, and promoted K.C.B. in 1914.
Macdonell edited the Reports of State Trials, new series, vols. 1–3 (1888–1891), and compiled for the Home Office the Civil Judicial Statistics for England and Wales, from 1894 to 1919. During the same period he frequently edited the Criminal Judicial Statistics. He was a member of Lord Gorell's committee (1909) which inquired into the relations between the High Court and the county courts; and he prepared statistical returns for the royal commission on divorce and matrimonial causes (1909–1912), and gave evidence before that commission. He also gave evidence before the joint select committee of the Houses of Parliament on the King's Bench division of the High Court (1909); and he gave evidence and prepared statistical materials for the royal commission on delay in the King's Bench division (1912–1913). He served on the royal commission on shipping combinations (1906–1907) and signed the minority report, and was one of the two sub-commissioners sent to take evidence in South Africa. In November 1919 Macdonell undertook the chairmanship of the commission to inquire into the responsibility of the German Empire for crimes committed by its armed forces on land and sea and in the air during the European War. The report of this commission, which involved immense labour, has not been published. Among the learned bodies with which Macdonell was associated the Society of Comparative Legislation, founded in 1894, whose Journal he edited from 1897 until his death, deserves special mention. In 1912 he edited, with Mr. Edward Manson, The Great Jurists of the World (Continental Legal History series), a collection of studies reproduced from the Journal. In 1900 he became an associate, and in 1912 a member, of the Institut de Droit International. He was one of the founders of the Grotius Society, and its president in 1919–1920 and 1920–1921. His lecture delivered in 1917 on ‘True Freedom of the Seas’ attracted much attention, particularly in the United States. Through his Quain lectures he influenced legal thinkers of many nationalities, among whom were jurists from China and Japan. In 1913 he was elected a fellow of the British Academy.
Macdonell possessed a broad and sane outlook on life, combined with a versatility of mind and a serene humanism rare among any but the greatest jurists.
He married in 1873 Agnes, third daughter of Daniel Harrison, of Beckenham, Kent, and niece of Mary Howitt [q.v.]. Lady Macdonell (who died in 1925) was herself a gifted writer and a constant helper of her husband in all his work. They had two daughters, who survived them. Macdonell died in London 17 March 1921.
[The Times, 19 March 1921; personal knowledge.]