Abstract.A class of well-posed boundary value problems for second order equations in regions with corners and edges is studied. The boundary condition may involve oblique derivatives, and edge values may enter the graph of the associated Hilbert space operator. Uniqueness of weak solutions and e?cistence of strong solutions is shown.Introduction. In this paper, we study boundary value problems for second order linear partial differential equations of standard type (elliptic, parabolic, or hyperbolic), in regions with corners and edges. Our results also cover first order two-by-two systems. Only interior corners with angles normalized as 77/2 have been considered, but much of the theory would appear to extend easily and with minimal changes to problems with exterior corners. This work originated as an attempt to understand formulas developed in [5] in the two-dimensional constant coefficient elliptic case.In Chapter I, we develop the existence and uniqueness theory for elliptic problems with variable coefficients. The principal parts of the differential operator and of the boundary conditions are real. The boundary conditions for the second order equation are coercive and dissipative, in the sense that they lead to quadratic a priori estimates. We begin with the basic (Gárding) inequality (Theorem 1.1), derived by integrations by parts combined with an estimate of the boundary values of the solution u in terms of the H ' norm of u in the interior Q of the region under consideration. We are indebted to Stanley Osher for pointing out that Gârding's inequality is available even with corners. If the boundary conditions involve oblique derivatives, then an additional integration by parts of the boundary term is required, leading in general to a quadratic term in the edge values of u. The signature of this term determines (locally) whether or not u is to be prescribed along the edge (this effect does not occur in dissipative problems for first order systems). In §2, we use duality to show the existence of weak solutions (Theorem 2.1). In §3, we consider problems admitting the maximum principle. The existence of solutions satisfying the maximum principle when the problem is not Dirichlet,