Edwin Milton Abbott was an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 lawyer and poet, born in Philadelphia and educated at Central High School (Philadelphia)

Central High School (Philadelphia)

Central High School is a public secondary school in the Logan section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Central, the second-oldest continuously public high school in the United States , was founded in 1836 and is a four-year university preparatory magnet school...

 and the University of Pennsylvania

University of Pennsylvania

The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...

. He was admitted to the bar

Bar association

A bar association is a professional body of lawyers. Some bar associations are responsible for the regulation of the legal profession in their jurisdiction; others are professional organizations dedicated to serving their members; in many cases, they are both...

 in 1896 and subsequently distinguished himself in criminal cases. He was chief counsel in the fight of the Philadelphia commuters against the railroads, a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives

Pennsylvania General Assembly

The Pennsylvania General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. The legislature convenes in the State Capitol building in Harrisburg. In colonial times , the legislature was known as the Pennsylvania Provincial Assembly. Since the Constitution of 1776, written by...

, 1911–12, chairman of the Commission on the Revision of Criminal Laws in the State of Pennsylvania, 1912–15 and 1917–23, and in 1913 minority nominee for judge of the Court of Common Pleas. He was appointed secretary of the American Institute of Criminal Law

Criminal law

Criminal law, is the body of law that relates to crime. It might be defined as the body of rules that defines conduct that is not allowed because it is held to threaten, harm or endanger the safety and welfare of people, and that sets out the punishment to be imposed on people who do not obey...

 and Criminology

Criminology

Criminology is the scientific study of the nature, extent, causes, and control of criminal behavior in both the individual and in society...

in 1913.

He was the author of Thoughts in Verse (1922) and The Law and Religion (1938).