KING, Edward, jurist, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1794; died there, 8 May, 1873. He was well educated, but without the benefit of a collegiate course, studied law with Charles Chauncey, and was admitted to the bar in 1816. He entered politics early in life, first as a Federalist, and then as a Democrat, and before he was thirty years of age was recognized as one of the leaders of the Democratic party in his state. He became clerk of the orphans' court in 1824, and the next year was appointed president judge of the court of common pleas, attaining eminence as a jurist, and doing more to establish the system of equity in Pennsylvania than all the judges of the state had done at the time of his retirement. He left the bench in January, 1852, and shortly afterward was appointed by the governor on a commission to revise the criminal code of the state, which work was performed chiefly by Judge King. The new code, written by him, and reported to the legislature, was adopted almost literally as prepared. Most of the remaining years of his life he passed in travel abroad and in study. He was a member of the American philosophical society, and for many years president of the board of trustees of Jefferson medical college. His decisions are contained in Ashmead's and in Parsons's reports.