Lawגד פרומקין

Gad Frumkin

Gad Frumkin was a Jerusalem-born jurist who served as a judge on the Supreme Court of Mandatory Palestine from 1920 to 1948.

1887 to 1960Judge on the Mandatory Supreme CourtEarly Jewish attorney in PalestineHebrew translation of the Mejelle

Born: 2 August 1887, Old City of Jerusalem
Died: 10 March 1960
Occupation: judge

Gad Frumkin was born in 1887 in Old City of Jerusalem

Frumkin was born in 1887 in Jerusalem and grew up in the Muslim Quarter of the Old City. His father, Israel Dov Frumkin, edited and published the Havatzelet newspaper. He did not go to school, learned from private tutors, and worked at his father's paper.

He married Hannah Eisenberg, daughter of Aharon Eisenberg, and they had 4 children. In 1908 he went to Constantinople to study law, with his father-in-law's support. There he headed an association of Jewish students, with David Ben-Gurion as its secretary.

In 1914 he became an adviser to the Ottoman Admiralty, but returned home when World War I began. As a lawyer he represented Jewish settlements, banks, and people accused of Zionism and treason, among them Arthur Ruppin.

In 1918 he was appointed a judge of the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court, and in 1920 he joined the Supreme Court, where he served until 1948. He translated the Mejelle into Hebrew in 1928, taught civil law, and chaired the Friends of the Hebrew University. In 1941 he received the OBE.

After independence in 1948 he was not appointed to the Supreme Court of Israel. Justice Minister Pinchas Rosen cited gossip that he had taken a bribe. The claim was never proven or refuted. He died in 1960.