Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume V.djvu/42

38 COKE and was shortly after made lord chancellor. The lord treasurer's office, which Coke expect- ed to have had, was finally given to Montague, who had succeeded him as chief justice ; and instead of his being restored to the chief jus- ticeship, that place was filled by an obscure lawyer. After his removal from office Coke did not intermit his legal pursuits. The 12th and 13th parts of his reports were prepared, though not published, as they contained the obnoxious opinions he had expressed upon pro- clamations, the court of high commission, and some other matters. He had also commenced his great work, the " Commentary on Little- ton." Utterly destitute of orderly arrange- ment, this work is exuberant in legal learning and curious illustrations of English customs ; vigorous in style, and interesting even to non- professional readers by the quaint and amusing analogies with which the gravest discussions are interspersed. The commentary is written in English, for which he deemed it necessary to make an apology in the preface. The reports, that is, the 11 parts which had then appeared, were printed in Norman French; the 12th and 13th parts were not published till 1654, having been translated into English, as were subsequently the other parts. The reports had one peculiarity which has never been adven- tured upon by any other author, viz. : that they represent many questions to have been resolved which in fact did not arise in the cause, or which were not at all events decided ; and these he disposes of according to his own judgment, with abundant citations of authori- ties. Yet such was the respect entertained for his opinion, that these resolutions were always regarded as of equal weight with the opinions of the judges actually expressed. The closing period of the life of Coke was brilliant and event- ful. He was a member of parliament in 1621, and when the motion for a supply was made, secured a reference of the subjects of supply and grievances to a committee of the whole house. His first measure was a report upon the illegal grants of monopolies to Sir Giles Mom- pesson and Sir Edward Villiers, which report was agreed to, and sent to the upper house for concurrence. Consentaneously with this, an in- vestigation of judicial abuses was instituted, which was aimed at Bacon ; and although Coke declined acting as chairman of the committee, yet he directed all the proceedings, prepared the charges, and prescribed the mode of prose- cution. Coke was to have been the manager of the prosecution before the house of lords ; but Bacon shrank from the contest, and by a plea of guilty sought to shelter himself from his re- vengeful adversary under the sympathy of the lords and the dispensing power of the crown. Coke followed up his success by carrying through the house an address against the pro- posed match of Prince Charles with the infanta of Spain. This called forth a threatening re- sponse from the king, in which he mentioned Sir Edward Coke by name as particularly ob- noxious to censure. Finally, in a letter to the speaker, the king intimated his intention "to punish any man's misdemeanor in parliament, as well during the sitting as after." Coke im- mediately moved a protestation for the privi- leges of the house, which having been reported by a committee, setting forth the right of every member of the house to freedom of speech, and the "like freedom from all impeachment, imprisonment, and molestation," on account of anything said or done in parliament, it was car- ried and entered on the journals of the house. The king immediately prorogued parliament, sent for the journals, and with his own hand tore out the offensive protestation. This was followed by a dissolution, and the arrest of Coke, Philips, Pym, and other leaders of the com- mons. The ex-chief justice was confined in the tower, but after some months' imprisonment was set at liberty, upon the intercession of Prince Charles ; his name was however stricken out of the list of privy councillors. He was returned again as member of parliament on the accession of Charles I. (1625), and obtained the appointment of a committee on expenditures, which was proceeding so vigorously that the king suddenly dissolved parliament. An at- tempt was made to keep him out of the next parliament by appointing him sheriff of the county of Norfolk ; nevertheless, he was re- turned as a member, but the parliament was dissolved before his right to a seat was settled. In 1628 he was again elected, and he proceeded at once to attack the recent illegal measures of the king. The first was commitments by order of the privy council, without specifying the cause in the warrant ; and he carried through two resolutions, which constituted the basis of the famous habeas corpus act, passed many years after, in the 31st of Charles II. (16T9). He then framed the famous petition of right, which enumerated the prominent grievances of the nation from the abuse of prerogative, and de- clared them all to be contrary to the laws and customs of the realm. This was carried through the house in spite of all the subterfuges of the king, and finally passed by the lords after a fruitless attempt to nullify the bill by a clause which was rejected by the commons ; and after a treacherous attempt by the king to cheat the house by an evasive form of assent, he was finally compelled to approve the bill and it became a law. In every step of this arduous contest, Coke, now in his 76th year, rendered important service by his sagacity and firmness. It was his last appearance in public ; though he survived six years, he lived in retirement. During this time he prepared a new edition of the commentary on Littleton, and wrote the second, third, and fourth Institutes. In 1633, when he was on his deathbed, his house was searched by order of the king for seditious papers, and all his manuscripts were carried off. He died two days afterward, in his 82d year. It is said that, except a slight attack of the gout, he was never sick until his 80th year.