Edward Vernon Whiton Sr. (June 2, 1805 – April 12, 1859) was an American lawyer, jurist, politician, and Wisconsin pioneer.

As chief justice, he wrote the court's controversial opinion in the case of Ableman v. Booth, which attempted to nullify the federal Fugitive Slave Act of 1850.

[2] He initially stopped in Lorain County, Ohio, where his elder brother had established a homestead, but then continued west to the Wisconsin Territory in early 1837.

[2] He was re-elected in 1840, and served another two years in the House during the 3rd Wisconsin Territorial Assembly—at the time, he was the only Whig among the five representatives of Rock and Walworth.

At the constitutional convention, Whiton served on the judiciary commission as second to Charles Dunn, who was then the chief justice of the territory's Supreme Court.

Whiton was later described in newspapers and historical reflections as one of the key framers of the Constitution of Wisconsin, earning wide admiration from the other delegates regardless of party affiliation.

The members of the court initially elected Judge Mortimer M. Jackson to serve as chief justice, but when he declined the office, Whiton was chosen.

[8] That fall, Whiton ran for the office of chief justice for the new Supreme Court and won the election as an independent, defeating Democratic circuit judge Charles H. Larrabee.

Booth was arrested by U.S. Marshall Stephen Ableman, but sought a writ of habeas corpus from a Wisconsin court.

Whiton wrote in the majority, with Justice Abram D. Smith, that the Fugitive Slave Act was unconstitutional, and affirmed that Booth should be released.

His opponent, Republican Coles Bashford challenged the result as fraudulent, an allegation which was borne out by the discovery of fabricated votes from non-existent precincts.

[14] Edward's father, Joseph Whiton, had served as a volunteer in the American Revolutionary War under General Horatio Gates.

[2] For his service in the Revolutionary War, he was also granted a tract of land in the Connecticut Western Reserve—land that became part of the state of Ohio—where several of his descendants eventually settled.