Coke << kuk, >> Sir Edward (1552-1634), was a brilliant and influential English courtroom lawyer and politician. He rose to prominence as speaker of Parliament in 1593. In 1594, he was selected over his chief political rival, the noted English jurist and philosopher Sir Francis Bacon, as Queen Elizabeth I’s attorney general. In 1606, Coke became chief justice of the Court of Common Pleas under King James I. As chief justice, Coke insisted that even the king was subject to the law. Coke was punished for his assertion in 1613, by being named to the lower-paying position of chief justice of the Court of the King’s Bench.
Coke also was a leading member of Parliament during the reign of King James, and later, of King Charles I, after James’s death. Coke clashed frequently with the monachy in his efforts to limit the authority of the royal courts. His four-volume work Institutes of the Laws of England and 13-volume Reports (1600-1615) include many principles of modern law.
Coke was born in Mileham, England, on Feb. 1, 1552. He died on Sept. 3, 1634.
