Sir Edward Coke

Sir Edward Coke (1552–1634) was an English jurist and politician who became one of the most influential common-law lawyers of his age. Educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, and the Inner Temple, he served as Speaker of the House of Commons and later as Attorney General. Coke was appointed Chief Justice of the Common Pleas (1606) and then Chief Justice of the King’s Bench (1613). He is best known for his *Reports* and the *Institutes of the Laws of England*, works that systematized legal precedent and shaped later understandings of English constitutional and common law.