thumb|Eduard von Simson, malt av Fritz Paulsen, 1880
'''Martin Eduard Sigismund Simson''', fra 1888 '''von Simson''' (født 10. november 1810 i Königsberg, død 2. mai 1899 i Berlin) var en preussisk og tysk jurist og liberal politiker.

==Liv==

Simson ble født i en jødisk familie, og konverterte i Albertina-universitetet i Königsberg, hvor han var medlem av ''Corps Littuania''. Han tok til slutt den juridiske doktorgrad. Etter lengre studiereiser i Europa (Berlin, Bonn, Paris) avtjente han militærtjenesten, og ble i 1831 privatdosent og 1833 professor i romerrett ved Albertina. Fra 1846 fulgte en karrière som dommer i Königsberg og Frankfurt an der Oder, og fra 1869 var han president for appellasjonsretten i Frankfurt, og fra 1879 til 1891 første president for den tyske riksretten i Leipzig.

Fra Fredrik Vilhelm IV.

Mellom 1849 og 1867 var han med enkelte avbrudd medlem av det preussiske parlamentet. Fra 1867 til 1877 var han så medlem av Riksdagen i Det nordtyske forbund og deretter den tyske Riksdagen. I 1867 ble han valgt til den første presidenten for Det nordtyske forbunds riksdag, og i 1871 til den første presidenten for den tyske Riksdagen.

thumb|right|Eduard von Simson
'''Martin Sigismund Eduard von Simson''' (German jurist and politician of the Kingdom of Prussia and German Empire.

==Education==

Simson was born in Gymnasium'' of his native town, he entered its university in 1826 as a student of doctor juris'', attended lectures at the École de Droit in Paris. Returning to Königsberg in 1831 he established himself as a ''Privatdozent'' in Roman law, becoming two years later extraordinary, and in 1836 ordinary, professor in the faculty of the university.

==National Assembly==
Like many other distinguished German jurists, ''pari passu'' with his professorial activity, Simson followed the judicial branch of the legal profession, and, passing rapidly through the subordinate stages of assessor, became adviser (''Rath'') to the Landgericht in 1846. In this year he stood for the representation of Königsberg in the National Assembly at Frankfurt am Main, and on his election was immediately appointed secretary, and in the course of the same year became successively its vice-president and president.

==Frederick William IV==
In Berlin on Frederick William IV his election as German Emperor by the representatives of the people. The king, either apprehensive of a rupture with the Austrian Empire, or fearing detriment to the prerogatives of the Prussian crown should he accept this dignity at the hands of a democracy, refused the offer. Simson, bitterly disappointed at the outcome of his mission, resigned his seat in the Frankfurt Parliament, but in the summer of the same year was elected deputy for Königsberg in the popular chamber of the Prussian Landtag. Here he soon made his mark as one of the best orators in that assembly. A member of the short-lived Erfurt Parliament of 1850, he was again summoned to the presidential chair.