He was born in Dún Laoghaire, County Dublin, second son of Arthur Samuels, a solicitor, and Katherine Daly, daughter of Owen Daly of Mornington, County Meath.
In common with most of the judges of the old regime, he was not appointed to the High Court established under the 1924 Act.
Maurice Healy in The Old Munster Circuit praised his personal qualities, his erudition and his valuable book on the financial aspects of Home Rule; but as a Law Officer and judge dismissed him as "undistinguished".
The younger Arthur was an authority on Edmund Burke and edited a collection of his correspondence and writings, which he had almost completed when his work was interrupted by the outbreak of World War I.
He became a captain in the Royal Irish Rifles, and was killed on the Western Front in September 1916.