The Selected Writings of Sir Edward Coke

Sir Edward Coke (1552–1634) successfully defended English liberties against the royal prerogative of the Stuart kings and virtually single-handedly established the rule of law for the English-speaking peoples. Coke’s view of English law has had a powerful influence on lawyers, judges, and politicians through the present day.

It was Coke’s astonishing task to set down the whole of the law—from Magna Carta to land law to criminal law, and the system of court procedure, from the High Court of ...