Edward Coke

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Edward Coke : biography

01 February 1552 – 03 September 1634

Retirement

When Parliament was dissolved in 1629, Charles decided to govern without one, and Coke retired to his estate at Stoke Poges, Buckinghamshire, about 20 miles west of London, spending his time making revisions to his written works. He made no attempt to return to politics, stating that the Petition of Right would be left as his "greatest inheritance"; his desire to complete his writings, coupled with his advanced age, may also have been factors. Despite his age, Coke was still in good health, and exercised daily. Following an accident in which his horse fell on him, he refused to consult doctors, saying that he had "a disease which all the drugs of Asia, the gold of Africa, nor all the doctors of Europe could cure – old age", and instead chose to remain confined to the house without medical treatment. As he was on his deathbed the Privy Council ordered that his house and chambers be searched, seizing 50 manuscripts, which were later restored; his will was permanently lost.

Coke died on 3 September 1634, aged 82, and lay in state for a month at his home in Godwick to allow for friends and relatives to view the body. He was buried in St Mary’s Church, Tittleshall. His grave is covered by a marble monument with his effigy lying on it in full judicial robes, surrounded by eight shields holding his coat of arms. A Latin inscription on the monument identifies him as "Father of twelve children and thirteen books". A second inscription, in English, gives a brief chronicle of his life and ends by stating that "His laste wordes [were] thy kingdome come, thye will be done. Learne, reader to live so, that thou may’st so die". Coke’s estates, including Holkham Hall, passed to his son Henry.

Practice as a barrister

After being called to the Bar on 20 April 1578 Coke immediately began practising as a barrister. His first case was in the Court of King’s Bench in 1581, and was known as Lord Cromwell’s Case after the claimant, Lord Henry Cromwell, a landlord in Coke’s home county of Norfolk. The case was a charge of slander against a Mr Denny, the Vicar of Northlinham and Coke’s client. In a dispute with Denny, Cromwell had hired two unlicensed preachers to harass him, denounce the Book of Common Prayer and preach the gospel in his area. Denny retorted by telling Cromwell "you like not of me, since you like those that maintain sedition". Cromwell argued that Denny was guilty of scandalum magnatum, slander against a peer of the realm, because his statement implied that Cromwell himself was seditious or had seditious tendencies.

The case was actually two actions, with the first judgement being given in Denny’s favour after Coke’s research found a flaw in the pleadings that invalidated Cromwell’s case. His counsel had worked from an inaccurate English copy of the Latin statute of scandalum magnatum which had mistranslated several passages, forcing them to start the case anew. After the case was restarted, Coke argued that Denny had commented on Cromwell’s support of people attacking the Book of Common Prayer, and was not implying any deeper disloyalty. The judge ruled that Denny’s statement had indeed meant this, and from this position of strength Coke forced a settlement. Coke was very proud of his actions in this case and later described it in his Reports as "an excellent point of learning in actions of slander". The next year he was elected Reader of Lyon’s Inn for three years, something surprising considering his young age and likely related to his conduct in Lord Cromwell’s Case. As Reader he was tasked with reading to the students at the Inn, a group that numbered about thirty at any one time, and the quality of his readings increased his reputation even further. His lectures were on the Statute of Uses, and his reputation was such that when he retired to his house after an outbreak of the plague, "nine Benchers, forty barristers, and others of the Inn accompanied him a considerable distance on his journey" in order to talk to him.