Horace Smith

Born in 1836 and active in late Victorian legal circles, he is best remembered as the author of A Treatise on the Law of Negligence, first published in 1880. Later library and legal-history records note that the book stood out for organizing negligence law into clear classes and discussing subjects such as duty, standards of care, contributory negligence, res ipsa loquitur, and damages.

He also wrote on property law. Catalog records link him to A Manual of the Law of Landlord and Tenant, a substantial legal work prepared with Thomas Spooner Soden and later edited by Lewis W. Cave.

Less widely known, but appealing to modern readers, is that he also published Poems in 1897. That combination of lawyerly precision and literary interest gives his work an unusual personality: careful, orderly, and deeply rooted in the concerns of everyday life. He died in 1922.