Sir Edward Coke
Chief Justice and author of the Institutes; champion of Magna Carta and the common law against royal prerogative.
Who he was
Sir Edward Coke was Chief Justice and the author of the Institutes.
He championed Magna Carta and the common law against the royal prerogative. His commentary on Magna Carta, chapter 29 ("Nullus liber homo"), is in the Second Institute.
Why he is at the Seat
Coke is on the Lutz-based roster. He will be the Seat's voice on Magna Carta and on whether the king is bound by the law.
Why he is coming, not live
His tests pass, but his signature texts are missing or unreadable: Dr. Bonham's Case is in the Reports, which are not in the corpus, and the Second Institute's Magna Carta commentary is mostly unreadable scanned text. The fix is a readable Second Institute and the Reports.
What we hold
- Editions
- The Institutes, Parts 1-4 (1644-1853 printings; scanned text)
- Coke upon Littleton (1853 printing), with Littleton's text and later editors' notes mixed in
- Size
- About 1.7 million words. Word counts are whole files, so they include editors' headnotes and footnotes.
Known limits
- His Reports (13 parts, including Dr. Bonham's Case) were never harvested, and the speech "Magna Charta is such a fellow, that he will have no sovereign" is missing.
- The Second Institute is 17th-century black-letter type, and its scanned text is largely unreadable, so Magna Carta answers would lean on Coke upon Littleton.
Tested questions
The questions his engine was tested on before it was held back.
- What does Magna Carta protect, and is the king bound by the law? (planned)
Published answers
No published answers from his record yet.
More in Prior Questions.