[2] The late Supreme Court Justice Roddy Meagher describes Jordan as being one of New South Wales's foremost Equity Judges.

He is described by biographer John Bennett as a "man of bookish tastes, ... respected rather than liked by most of his colleagues who, while recognizing his brilliance as a lawyer, found him cold as a person.

He delighted to relax in his vast library, indulging his voracious appetite for Romance languages, and committing to memory the entire contents of many literary works".

He married Bertha Maud Clay on 9 January 1928 at St Stephen's Presbyterian Church,[b] on Macquarie Street, Sydney.

[3] Jordan was appointed Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of New South Wales on 1 February 1934 in succession to Sir Philip Street.

[3] Jordan was dominant when presiding on a Full Court, with a reputation for being remote, devoid of "human passions and that he was only at home when plumbing the depths of Equity or when writing judgments replete with citation of authority and exposition of legal principle"[8] and whose public utterances were said to be limited to "a few well-frozen words".

The following passage is often cited in court decisions around Australia where Jordan said: "The writ of subpoena duces tecum may be addressed to a stranger to the case or to a party.

A subpoena duces tecum ought not to be issued to such a person requiring him to search for and produce all such documents as he may have in his possession or power relating to a particular subject matter".

In the former class of case, if a tight rein were not kept upon interference with the orders of judges of first instance, the result would be disastrous to the proper administration of justice.

The disposal of cases could be delayed interminably, and costs heaped up indefinitely, if a litigant with a long purse or a litigious disposition could, at will, in effect transfer all exercises of discretion in interlocutory applications from a judge in Chambers to a Court of Appeal."

[15] Chief Justice Jim Spigelman writing in the Quadrant magazine,[16] noted an interesting case of Browning v The Water Conservation & Irrigation Commission of NSW.

This was a time when irrigation was being introduced into the Riverina area of New South Wales as a result of the Snowy Mountains water scheme.

[16] Sir Owen Dixon spoke of Jordan saying that it was a tragedy that Sir Frederick Jordan had not been appointed to the High Court stating that "I really do not know what, if anything happened; but at all events he was not appointed and by one of those curious twists which seem to touch the finest natures, this highly scholarly man and a very great lawyer eventually took some queer views about federation.

[23] Jordan's notes of lectures delivered in the Law School of the University of Sydney were subsequently published as books,[24][25][26][27] which were a major contribution to the practice of equity in Australia.

The foreword was written by Roddy Meagher QC, then a leading barrister and lecturer in the Faculty of Law at Sydney University, who stated that an indication of the 'current utility' of Sir Frederick's work was the reliance on them in recent High Court decisions,[29] by reference to Legione v Hatley,[30] and Hewett v Court.

[31] On a lighter note, Roddy Meagher, by then a judge on the NSW Court of Appeal, argued that one particular footnote in "Chapters On Equity",[32] was wrong.