柯克(1552～1634年)

Coke, Sir Edward

英国法学家和政治人物。早年在剑桥的三一学院接受教育，1578年成为律师。1592年被任命为伦敦市的副检察长和记录法官，1594年又被任命为总检察长。1606年被任命为民事法院的首席法官。他曾不怕触怒詹姆斯一世，主张普通法是最高法律，「国王以本人的身分不能裁断任何案件」。1610年他再度在王室会议宣布国王不能变更普通法的任何部分，也不能宣告以前的无罪为有罪。詹姆斯为了收买他，曾任命他为王座法院的首席法官，并任命他为枢密院顾问。但他在王座法院任内，仍继续维护普通法对一切人的最高权力，只有议会可以除外。1616年英国枢密院在法兰西斯.培根的策画下对柯克提出控诉，他被解职。1620年重新成为国会议员。由於他反对查理亲王的婚事，参加对培根的控诉，又为国会的自由权利进行辩护，结果被监禁达九个月。但他所提倡的自由权利法案却於1628年最终成为「权利请愿书」。着作有《英国法总论》（共四卷，1628～1644）。

English version：

1552～1634年

Coke, Sir Edward

British jurist and politician. He became a lawyer in 1578 and was made solicitor general in 1592. His further advance to the position of attorney general (1594) frustrated his great rival, Francis Bacon. As attorney general, he conducted several famous treason trials, prosecuting the earls of Essex and Southampton (1600-1), Sir Walter Raleigh (1603), and the Gunpowder Plot conspirators (1605). Named chief justice of the Court of Common Pleas in 1606, Coke earned the ire of James I by declaring that the king's proclamation could not change the law (1610). He upset church leaders by limiting the jurisdiction of ecclesiastical courts. Appointed chief justice of the King's Bench by James (1613), he remained unswayed; he hinted at scandal in high places, and defied a royal injunction in a case involving ecclesiastical privileges. He was dismissed in 1616, partly through Bacon's efforts. In 1620 he reentered Parliament (he had served in 1589), where he denounced interference with the liberties of Parliament (1621) and was imprisoned. In 1628 he helped frame the Petition of Right, a charter of liberties; this defense of the supremacy of the common law over royal prerogative had a profound influence on the English law and constitution. On his death his papers were seized by Charles I. His Reports (1600-15), taken together, are a monumental compendium of English common law, and his Institutes of the Lawes of England (4 vols., 1628-44) is an important treatise.