Pollock was the eldest son of William Frederick Pollock, Master of the Court of Exchequer, and Juliet Creed, daughter of the Rev, Harry Creed. He was the grandson of Sir Frederick Pollock, 1st Baronet, Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer, the great-nephew of Field Marshal Sir George Pollock, 1st Baronet, and the first cousin of Ernest Pollock, 1st Viscount Hanworth, Master of the Rolls.^[3]

He was educated at Eton College, where he was a King's Scholar, and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he was elected Fellow in 1868 (later Honorable Fellow in 1920).^[4][5] In 1871 he was admitted to the Bar. He wrote a series of text books that took a new approach to the teaching of English Law including The Principles of Contract at Law and in Equity (1876) and The Law of Torts (1887).^[1]

Rather than relying on specific applications of law these works emphasised underlying principles. They acted as models for future textbooks and helped modernise English legal education. Pollock taught at the University of Oxford (1883–1903),^[1] as Corpus Professor of Jurisprudence. He was Professor of Common Law in the Inns of Court (1884–1890).^[5] He was Editor of the Law Reports from 1895 to 1935. He was the first editor of the Law Quarterly Review which was founded in 1885.^[1] He was also, in 1894, the Chairman of The Society of Authors^[6] He was sworn of the Privy Council in 1911.^[7] He was elected Treasurer of Lincoln's Inn in 1931.^[5]

Pollock married on 13 August 1873 to Georgina Harriet Deffell (died on 30 March 1935), a daughter of John Deffell. They had two children:

• Alice Isabella Pollock, born on 15 June 1876, died on 28 June 1953. Married first at St Marylebone Parish Church in London on 19 November 1902 to Sydney Waterlow (1878–1944), a diplomat and grandson of Sir Sydney Waterlow, 1st Baronet.^[8] This marriage was annulled in 1912, and she re-married the same year Captain Orlando Cyprian Williams, MC, CB (d.1967).
• Frederick John Pollock (1878–1963), a noted historian, who succeeded to the baronetcy.^[9]

Together with his younger brother, Walter Herries Pollock, he participated in the first English revival of historical fencing, originated by Alfred Hutton and his colleagues Egerton Castle, Captain Carl Thimm, Colonel Cyril Matthey, Captain Percy Rolt, Captain Ernest George Stenson Cooke, Captain Frank Herbert Whittow.^[10]

He was cited in a 1897 slander case involving the London Fencing Club when Sir John Hutton was sued by a French naval officer, Rene Martin Fortris, who accused Hutton of falsely stating that Fortris had been making unwelcome advances towards his daughter for two years. According to Fortris this led to Sir Frederick Pollock and John Norbury declining his application for membership of the London Fencing Club. The jury was unimpressed by Fortris's case and found in favour of Sir John Hutton.^[11]

• The Principles of Contract at Law and in Equity: Being a Treatise of the General Principles Concerning the Validity of Agreements, With a Special View to the Comparison of Law and Equity, and with References to the Indian Contract Act, and Occasionally to Roman, American, and Continental Law (1st ed.). London: Stevens and Sons. 1876 – via Internet Archive.; 9th edition, 1921.
• A Digest of the Law of Partnership. F.H. Thomas and Company, St. Louis, 1878
• The Law of Torts, a treatise on the principles of obligations arising from civil wrongs in the common law: to which is added the draft of a code of civil wrongs, prepared for the government of India (2nd ed.). London: Stevens and Sons, Limited. 1890. Retrieved 24 October 2020 – via Internet Archive.
• Leading Cases Done into English. London: Macmillan and Co. 1876. Retrieved 24 October 2020 – via Internet Archive.; 2nd edition, 1892
• Spinoza, His Life and Philosophy. London: C. Kegan Paul & Co. 1880. Retrieved 22 October 2020 – via Internet Archive. volume II
• Essays in Jurisprudence and Ethics. London: Macmillan and Co. 1882. Retrieved 22 October 2020 – via Internet Archive.
• The Land Laws (2nd ed.). Macmillan and Co.: London and New York. 1887. Retrieved 24 October 2020 – via Internet Archive.
• Oxford Lectures and Other Discourses. London: Macmillan and Co. 1890. Retrieved 22 October 2020 – via Internet Archive.
• Pollock, Frederick; Maitland, Frederic William (1895). History of English Law before the Time of Edward I. Vol. I (1st ed.). Cambridge & Boston: Cambridge University Press & Little, Brown & Company. Retrieved 23 October 2020 – via Internet Archive.; volume II
• An Introduction to the History of the Science of Politics. London: Macmillan and Co. 1895. Retrieved 22 October 2020 – via Internet Archive.
• A First Book of Jurisprudence For Students of the Common Law (1st ed.). London: Macmillan and Co., Ltd. 1896. Retrieved 24 October 2020 – via Internet Archive.; 4th edition, 1918
• The Expansion of the Common Law. London: Stevens and Sons, Limited. 1904. Retrieved 22 October 2020 – via Internet Archive.
• Benton, Alexander Wood, ed. (1897). "General Introduction". Encyclopædia of the Laws of England: being a New Abridgment by the Most Eminent Legal Authorities. Vol. I. London & Edinburgh: Sweet & Maxwell; Wm. Green & Sons. pp. 1–13. Retrieved 24 October 2020 – via Internet Archive.
• The Etchingham Letters. Dodd, Mead & company. 1898. With Ella Fuller Maitland
• Pollock, Frederick (1911). "Contract" . In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 07 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 35–40.
• Pollock, Frederick (1911). "Tort" . In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 27 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 64–66.
• The Genius of Common Law (Columbia University Lectures). New York: The Columbia University Press. 1912. Retrieved 22 October 2020 – via Internet Archive.
• Introduction and Notes to Sir Henry Maine's "Ancient Law". London: John Murray. 1914. Retrieved 22 October 2020 – via Internet Archive.
• German "Truth" and European Facts About the War. London: The Central Committee for National Patriotic Organizations – via Internet Archive.
• Committee on Alleged German Outrages (James Bryce; Frederick Pollock; Edward Clarke; Kenelm Edward Digby; Alfred Hopkinson ; H. A. L. Fisher; Harold Cox) (1915). Report of the Committee on Alleged German Outrages Appointed by His Britannic Majesty's Government and Presided over by The Right Hon. Viscount Bryce, O.M., &c. New York: Macmillan Company. Retrieved 23 February 2024 – via Internet Archive.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
• The League of Nations. London: Stevens and Sons, Limited. 1920. Retrieved 22 October 2020 – via Internet Archive.
• Essays in the Law. London: Macmillan and CO., Limited. 1922. Retrieved 22 October 2020 – via Internet Archive.
• Outside the law: diversions partly serious. London: Cayme Press. 1927.
• For My Grandson, Remembrances of an Ancient Victorian. London: John Murray. 1933 – via Internet Archive.

• Alfred Hutton
• HEMA

•   Works by or about Sir Frederick Pollock, 3rd Baronet at Wikisource
• Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Pollock" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 22 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 6; see line 11+. ...his eldest son, Sir Frederick Pollock, 3rd Bart. (b. 1845), being ....
• Cosgrove, Richard A. (2004). "Pollock, Sir Frederick, third baronet (1845–1937)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/35563. Retrieved 9 December 2023. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
• Pollock, Frederick; Maitland, Frederic William (1899). The History of English Law Before the Time of Edward I. Vol. I (2nd ed.). Cambridge: University Press. Retrieved 7 June 2008.
• Works by Sir Frederick Pollock: at Online Library of Liberty
• Works by or about Sir Frederick Pollock, 3rd Baronet at Internet Archive
• Portraits of Sir Frederick Pollock, 3rd Baronet at the National Portrait Gallery, London