Coke, Edward

Edward (1552-1634), a noted English jurist. In the reigns of Elizabeth, James I, and Charles I, he was a lawyer of the crown. He conducted the prosecution against Sir Walter Raleigh, and was engaged in ferreting out the Gunpowder Plot. He was a rough sort of man, not without integrity. He fell into disrepute with the court of Charles for resisting the arbitrary acts of the king. His fame, however, rests on a large treatise in four parts on the law of England. Portions are still used as text books in the law schools of this country.