Institutes of the Lawes of England
Encyclopedia
The Institutes of the Lawes of England are a series of legal treatises written by Sir Edward Coke. They were first published, in stages, between 1628 and 1644. They are widely recognized as a foundational document of the common law
. They have been cited in over 70 cases decided by the Supreme Court of the United States
, including several landmark cases. For example, in Roe v. Wade
, Coke's Institutes are cited as evidence that under old English common law, an abortion
performed before "quickening" was not an indictable offense. In the much earlier case of United States v. E. C. Knight Co.
, Coke's Institutes are quoted at some length for their definition of monopolies.
The Institutes are divided into four parts:
Common law
Common law is law developed by judges through decisions of courts and similar tribunals rather than through legislative statutes or executive branch action...
. They have been cited in over 70 cases decided by the Supreme Court of the United States
Supreme Court of the United States
The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all state and federal courts, and original jurisdiction over a small range of cases...
, including several landmark cases. For example, in Roe v. Wade
Roe v. Wade
Roe v. Wade, , was a controversial landmark decision by the United States Supreme Court on the issue of abortion. The Court decided that a right to privacy under the due process clause in the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution extends to a woman's decision to have an abortion,...
, Coke's Institutes are cited as evidence that under old English common law, an abortion
Abortion
Abortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to viability. An abortion can occur spontaneously, in which case it is usually called a miscarriage, or it can be purposely induced...
performed before "quickening" was not an indictable offense. In the much earlier case of United States v. E. C. Knight Co.
United States v. E. C. Knight Co.
United States v. E. C. Knight Co., 156 U.S. 1 , also known as the "Sugar Trust Case,'" was a United States Supreme Court case that limited the government's power to control monopolies...
, Coke's Institutes are quoted at some length for their definition of monopolies.
The Institutes are divided into four parts:
- The First Part of the Institutes of the Laws of England, or, a Commentary upon Littleton. Often called "Coke on Littleton" or abbreviated "Co. Litt."
- The Second Part of the Institutes of the Laws of England; Containing the Exposition of Many Ancient and Other Statutes.
- The Third Part of the Institutes of the Laws of England; Concerning High Treason, and Other Pleas of the Crown and Criminal Causes.
- The Fourth Part of the Institutes of the Laws of England; Concerning the Jurisdiction of Courts.
External links
- Three volumes of Coke's writings, with translations, notes, commentary, and an introduction, have been published as The Selected Writings of Sir Edward Coke, edited by Steve Sheppard (ISBN 0-86597-316-4). They are available individually as PDFPortable Document FormatPortable Document Format is an open standard for document exchange. This file format, created by Adobe Systems in 1993, is used for representing documents in a manner independent of application software, hardware, and operating systems....
files: vol 1 (pp. 1–520), vol 2 (pp. 521–1184), vol 3 (pp. 1185–1468). These also contain “The First Part of the Institutes of the Lawes of England: Or A Commentary upon Littleton, Not the name of the Author only, but of the Law it selfe”. - Selected Works of Edward Coke at the Liberty Library of Constitutional Classics, Commentary on English common and statutory law, including the Institutes and the Reports.
- All four institutes are available from Google BooksGoogle Book SearchGoogle Books is a service from Google that searches the full text of books that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical character recognition, and stored in its digital database. The service was formerly known as Google Print when it was introduced at the Frankfurt Book Fair in October...
: First Part http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=NOgyAAAAIAAJ&printsec=titlepage (Volume 1 of 1832 ed.) http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=GOgKAAAAYAAJ&printsec=titlepage http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=JPIKAAAAYAAJ&printsec=titlepage (1853 American ed. in 2 vols) Second Part http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=WCgzAAAAIAAJ&printsec=titlepage (1797 ed.) Third Part http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=E5A0AAAAIAAJ&printsec=titlepage (1669 ed.) http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=_Ik0AAAAIAAJ&printsec=titlepage (1797 ed.) Fourth Part http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=XlE0AAAAIAAJ&printsec=titlepage (1671 ed.) http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=ulE0AAAAIAAJ&printsec=titlepage (1797 ed.)