The English jurist and parliamentarian Sir Edward Coke (1552-1634) fought to prevent royal interference with the independent common-law courts.

Edward Coke was born at Mileham, Norfolk, and was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, from 1567 to 1571. Thereafter he rapidly rose in the legal profession from a student at Lincoln's Inn to barrister, reader at Lyon's Inn, and senior member of the Inner Temple. In 1592 Queen Elizabeth I appointed Coke solicitor general, and in the following year he became attorney general. As attorney general, Coke was a forceful prosecutor on behalf of the Crown, and among his most famous prosecutions were those of the Earl of Essex, Sir Walter Raleigh, and the "Gunpowder" plotters. Coke's ascendancy was at the expense of Sir Francis Bacon, whom Essex had supported for the attorney generalship, and the two were rivals throughout their careers.

In 1582 Coke married Bridget Paston, who brought him a fortune...