William Martin Geldart

William Martin Geldart (7 June 1870 – 12 February 1922) was a British jurist. A classical scholar of Balliol College, Oxford, he went on to become Vinerian Professor of English Law at Oxford and a leading jurist of his day.

Early life

Son of the Rev. Edmund Martin Geldart, he was educated at Whitgift School, Croydon; St Paul's School, and Balliol College, Oxford, where he was a scholar and in 1890 won the Gaisford Prize for Greek Verse.^[1] He graduated MA in 1892.^[2]

Career

Elected a Fellow of St John's College, Oxford, in 1892, he was called to the bar from Lincoln's Inn in 1896, continuing at St John's until 1899. He was Official Fellow and Lecturer in Law at Trinity College, Oxford, from 1901 to 1909, All Souls Reader in English Law in the University, from 1906 to 1909, and a member of the Hebdomadal Council from 1905.^[1]

Geldart was the author of the influential Elements of English Law (1907), still in print under the title Introduction to English Law (Oxford University Press, 11th edition, ed. David Yardley). According to one review "Geldart has over the years established itself as the standard account of English law..."^[3]

The law society of St Anne's College, Oxford, is named 'The Geldart Society' in Geldart's honour, and the law library at St Anne's College is named after Geldart.^[3]

Honours

He was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1917.^[1]

References