Edling was born on 9 December 1908 in Gustaf Vasa Parish [sv], Stockholm, Sweden, the son of the district court judge (häradshövding) Holdo Edling [sv] and his wife Elsa (née Lundberg).
He passed studentexamen in Kristianstad in 1927 and received a Candidate of Law degree from Lund University in 1931.
He served as an assessor in the Svea Court of Appeal in Stockholm in 1943 (temporary officer in 1941), and as director (byråchef) for law matters in the Ministry of Justice in 1946 (acting in 1945).
Edling became hovrättsråd at the Court of Appeal for Southern Norrland in Sundsvall in 1947 and served as a state secretary at the Ministry of Justice in 1949.
[2] In 1934, Edling married Gulli Bärnheim (1909–2005), the daughter of John Nilsson and Selma Persson.