Edwin Maxwell (attorney general)

Honorable Edwin Maxwell
Maxwell photographed in his later life
3rd Attorney General of West Virginia
In office January 1, 1866 – December 31, 1866
Governor	Arthur I. Boreman
Preceded by	Ephraim B. Hall
Succeeded by	Thayer Melvin
Justice of the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia
In office January 1, 1867 – December 31, 1872
Preceded by	Ralph Lazier Berkshire
Succeeded by	Charles Page Thomas Moore
Member of the West Virginia House of Delegates from Harrison County
In office 1893–1895 Serving with Henry Wickenhoover
Preceded by	Charles W. Lynch George F. Randal
Succeeded by	Jeremiah W. Hess Harvey M. Harmer
In office 1903–1903 Serving with Jasper S. Kyle
Preceded by	Lloyd Washburn D. M. Willis
Succeeded by	Haymond Maxwell M. C. Jarrett
Personal details
Born	(1825-07-16)July 16, 1825 Weston, Virginia (now West Virginia), United States
Died	February 5, 1903(1903-02-05) (aged 77) Charleston, West Virginia, United States
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Loretta M. Shuttleworth
Relations	Hu Maxwell (nephew) Lewis Maxwell (uncle)
Children	Edwin Maxwell, Jr. Haymond Maxwell
Parent(s)	Levi Maxwell (father) Sarah Haymond Maxwell (mother)
Occupation	lawyer, judge, and politician
Signature

Edwin Maxwell (July 16, 1825 – February 5, 1903) was an American lawyer, judge, and politician in the U.S. state of West Virginia. Maxwell served as Attorney General of West Virginia in 1866 and was an associate justice of the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia from 1867 until 1872. He was elected to the West Virginia Senate (1863–1866; 1886–1893) and the West Virginia House of Delegates (1893–1895; 1903).

Maxwell was born in 1825 in Weston, Virginia (present-day West Virginia) and raised on a farm until the age of 21. Despite his father's plans for him to become a carpenter, Maxwell studied jurisprudence under his uncle Lewis Maxwell, a U.S. Representative. Maxwell was admitted to the bar in 1848, and relocated to West Union, where he served two terms as the Commonwealth's attorney for Doddridge County. In 1857, Maxwell moved to Clarksburg and established a law partnership with Burton Despard, which was later joined by Nathan Goff, Jr.

He was resolute in his support of the Union during the American Civil War and of the statehood movement for West Virginia. Following the state's creation in 1863, Maxwell began his political career when he was elected to serve in the inaugural session of the West Virginia Senate. He also served as chairman of the Judiciary Committee. In 1865, Maxwell chaired a senate committee that proposed a state constitutional amendment known as the "Maxwell amendment" which aimed to remove citizenship rights from former Confederates returning to West Virginia. Governor Arthur I. Boreman appointed Maxwell as the Attorney General of West Virginia in 1866. In the fall of 1866, Maxwell was elected as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia, on which he served until 1872. He ran unsuccessfully for re-election to the bench in 1880, and was an unsuccessful Greenback-Labor Party gubernatorial candidate in 1884. During his gubernatorial campaign, he was known by the moniker "Old Honesty."

In 1886, Maxwell was elected a member of the West Virginia Senate, representing the Third Senatorial District, serving until 1893. He was subsequently twice elected to the West Virginia House of Delegates representing Harrison County in 1893 and 1903, and served as chairman of the Judiciary Committee during both terms. Maxwell died in 1903 from pneumonia while serving in a session of the House of Delegates in Charleston. At the time of his death at the age of 77, he was the oldest member of the West Virginia Legislature.