Edward Coke

Edward Coke ( born February 1, 1552 Mileham Norfolk, † September 3, 1634 in Stoke Poges ) was an eminent English judge and politician.

Coke's rise began after he had come by his first marriage in 1589 to wealth. In 1593 he was elected Speaker of the House and the following year the English Attorney General. In this role, he led the 1605 indictment of the conspirators of the Gunpowder Plot. From 1606 to 1613 he was chief judge at the Court of Common Pleas, then until 1616 the chief judge at the Court of King's Bench. During this time he sat opted for the application of the common law and thus entered in opposition to the king and to the church, who wanted the royal decisions determined by the law of equity and the Roman law give greater importance. 1616 Coke was discontinued because of this attitude. This was around the first recorded case in English history in which a judge was suspended for political reasons.

Coke remained to the monarch critical set " opposition leaders " in the House. The first draft of the Petition of Right of 1628 was formulated by him.

Cokes " Law Reports " documented the case law in specific cases. In his " Institutes " he wanted to represent the confusing works of the law of England ordered, but they also laid new according to the needs of his time. Both works represented a hitherto reached systematic review of the legal system and even today are used in the legal education in countries with common law.