Peter Benson Maxwell (31 January 181714 January 1893) was a colonial judge and legal writer. Peter Benson Maxwell was born on 31 January 1817, the fourth son of Reverend Peter Benson Maxwell of Birdstown,

County Donegal County Donegal ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county of the Republic of Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster and is the northernmost county of Ireland. The county mostly borders Northern Ireland, sharing only a small b ...

, Ireland. He attended

Trinity College Dublin Trinity College Dublin (), officially titled The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, and legally incorporated as Trinity College, the University of Dublin (TCD), is the sole constituent college of the Unive ...

. He was called to the bar of the

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court entitled to Call to the bar, call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple (with whi ...

on 19 November 1841. Maxwell was the

recorder Recorder or The Recorder may refer to: Newspapers * ''Indianapolis Recorder'', a weekly newspaper * ''The Recorder'' (Massachusetts newspaper), a daily newspaper published in Greenfield, Massachusetts, US * ''The Recorder'' (Port Pirie), a newsp ...

Penang Penang is a Malaysian state located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia along the Strait of Malacca. It has two parts: Penang Island, where the capital city, George Town, is located, and Seberang Perai on the Malay Peninsula. Th ...

(then called Prince of Wales Island) from 1856 to 1866 and of

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

from 1866 to 1871. He became the chief justice of the

Straits Settlements The Straits Settlements () were a group of British territories located in Southeast Asia. Originally established in 1826 as part of the territories controlled by the British East India Company, the Straits Settlements came under control of the ...

in 1867, remaining in office until 1871. His legal treatise, ''On the Interpretation of Statutes'', was first published in 1875 and was in its 12th edition as of 1976. He also wrote a book titled ''The Duties of Police Magistrates'' (1871). Maxwell was knighted on 30 January 1856. He died on 14 January 1893.

Notes

1817 births 1893 deaths British Malaya judges Straits Settlements judges Alumni of Trinity College Dublin Lawyers from County Donegal Members of the Middle Temple 19th-century Irish judges Writers from County Donegal Irish legal writers {{UK-law-bio-stub