Sheldon Amos

Sheldon Amos (1835–1886) was an English jurist

Life and career

Sheldon Amos was the son of Andrew Amos. He was educated at Clare College, Cambridge, and was called to the bar as a member of the Middle Temple in 1862. He was invited by F. D. Maurice to teach at The Working Men's College, with fellow Cambridge graduates and friends Richard Chevenix Trench and J. R. Seeley. In 1869 he was appointed to the chair of jurisprudence in University College, London, and in 1872 became reader under the council of legal education and examiner in constitutional law and history to the University of London. Failing health led to his resignation of those offices, and he took a voyage to the South Seas.

He resided for a short time at Sydney, and finally settled in Egypt, where he practised as an advocate. After the bombardment of Alexandria, and the reorganization of the Egyptian judicature, he was appointed judge of the court of appeal, but being without any previous experience of administrative work he found the strain too great for his health.

Death

He came to England on leave in the autumn of 1885, and on his return to Egypt he died suddenly at Alexandria on 3 January 1886.

Publications

His principal publications are:

• Systematic View of the Science of Jurisprudence (1872)
• Lectures on International Law (1873)
• Science of Law (1874)
• Science of Politics (1883)
• History and Principles of the Civil Law of Rome as Aid to the Study of Scientific and Comparative Jurisprudence (1883)

Family

His wife, the former Sarah Maclardie Bunting, took a prominent part in Liberal Nonconformist politics and in movements connected with the position of women. She died at Cairo on 21 January 1908.

Their son was Maurice Amos.

References

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