The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Coke, Edward

Born Feb. 1, 1552, in Mileham, Norfolk; died Sept. 3, 1634, in Stoke Poges, Buckinghamshire. An English political figure, lawyer. Attorney general from 1594 to 1606, chief justice of the King’s Bench from 1613 to 1616.

In the 1620’s, Coke was one of the leaders of the opposition in Parliament to the Stuarts’ absolutism. He was a prominent expert and commentator on common law. Basing his argument on medieval legal documents (mainly, Magna Carta) and customs, he spoke out for limitation of the king’s prerogatives and establishment of a constitutional monarchy. This position was in the interest of the growing bourgeoisie and the new gentry. Coke was one of the authors of the Petition of Right (1628), which demanded from the crown a guarantee of personal and property rights. Because of his speeches in parliament (in particular those against arbitrary taxation and illegal arrests) he fell into disgrace and was imprisoned (1621).

WORKS

Reports. . . , vols. 1–11. London, 1600–15.
Institutes of the Laws of England, parts 1–4. London, 1628–44.
The Complete Copyholder. London, 1641.

REFERENCE

Holdsworth, W. A History of English Law, vol. 5, 2nd ed. London, 1937.

References in periodicals archive

Recorder Edward Coke told him: "It is with hesitation I do not send you (to prison).

Man sent imposter to theory test after failing it 18 TIMES

In England, Sir Edward Coke invoked the Common Law; John Pym, parliamentary supremacy to limit royal prerogatives; and John Locke's First Treatise cited a mythical ancient constitution, as Peter Laslett has shown, to refute Robert Filmer's devastating defense of absolutism.

Hybrid Constitutions: Challenging Legacies of Law, Privilege, and Culture in Colonial America

Edward Coke, defending, said: "The original transaction was genuine.

90.YEAR.OLD OAP CONNED OUT OF pounds 300k; Court hears how workman went on run after charges laid

He explores the cognitive and dialectical structure of the Warren Supreme Court and compares it to the Edward Coke period in England, examines the legitimacy of public encumbrances on private contracts and analyzes the similarities between the case that denied campaign finance reform and that which upheld slavery.

The twenty-first century left; cognitions in the Constitution and why Buckley is wrong

Recorder Edward Coke said: "The issue is his intention."

All clear for 'Semtex' man

The champion of the doctrine of the ancient constitution and the revival of Magna Carta was Sir Edward Coke (d.

The meaning of Magna Carta since 1215: Ralph V. Turner considers how and why Magna Carta became a beacon of liberty in Britain and, increasingly, in the United States

But, the Crown Prosecution Service appealed and counsel Edward Coke told the High Court yesterday the term "Paki" was racially insulting.

CHANTING 'PAKI' ON TERRACES IS A CRIME; Fan to be fined for taunt

For example, Bertelli pays scant attention to Sir Edward Coke and Edmund Plowden, the Tudor and Stuart jurists who were so central to Kantorowicz's original interpretation of the king's two bodies.

The King's Body: Sacred Rituals of Power in Medieval and Early Modern Europe

Recorder Edward Coke told Bashir - who turned off his car lights to make it "more difficult" for police - that it was only good fortune no-one had been injured or killed.

Driver sped at 100mph to flee cops

Recorder Edward Coke slashed the sentence from three years because he said Willden had been terrorised into co-operating.

Drug factory addict jailed; COURT: Dealers force schizophrenic to grow cannabis

Hulsebosch effectively challenges assumptions about Edward Coke's legal theory in regard to the colonies, as Coke responded to the new imperial reality that emerged with James's reign.

The Accession of James I: Historical and Cultural Consequences

A Sir Edward Coke died without issue in 1727, After which the property went to a senior branch of the family, Sir Thomas Coke, 1st Earl of Leicester, who already had his own great house under construction, Holkham Hall in Norfolk.

Residential Property: Grand Grade II* house in 11 acres