"THE BASIS OF ENGLISH CONSTITUTIONAL AND COMMON LAW": 1671 FOLIO EDITIONS OF COKE'S THIRD AND FOURTH PARTS OF THE INSTITUTES

COKE, Edward. The Third Part of the Institutes of the Laws of England. Concerning High Treason, and other Pleas of the Crown, and Criminal Causes. BOUND WITH: The Fourth Part… Concerning the Jurisdiction of Courts. London: A. Crooke, et al.; John Streater, et al., 1671. Two volumes bound in one. Small, thick folio (8 by 11-1/2 inches), contemporary full sheep, raised bands, renewed morocco spine label. $3000.

Fifth editions of the Third and Fourth Institutes, dealing with criminal law and court jurisdiction, and re-emphasizing the supremacy of common law over royal prerogative, with frontispiece portraits of Coke by noteworthy engraver John Payne.

The third and fourth parts of the Institutes (as well as the second part, not present here) were all published after Coke's death, by order of the House of Commons. Following the publication of his First Part of the Institutes in 1628, Coke became aware that his remaining views would give offense to the Crown, so he wisely withheld publication during his lifetime. "In three famous cases Judge Coke thwarted the wishes of the King, to demonstrate in each that the royal prerogative could not over-ride the Law; and after a fourth, which resulted in a direct confrontation with James I, he was dismissed from all his offices" (PMM 126). When his works finally appeared in 1642 and 1644, "it was an hour of victory of the common law and the Parliament. The result was that Coke's writings were accepted, and made the basis of [English] constitutional and common law" (Holdsworth, Sources, 143). The Third Part is devoted to criminal law. "Having run over all criminal matters, and their legal punishments, he concludes with the nature of pardons and restitutions, showing how far in each of these, our Kings can proceed alone, and where they want the assistance and joint power of their Parliaments" (Marvin, 208). The Fourth Part deals with the jurisdiction of the courts. "Throughout his book he maintains his views as to the supremacy of the common law and the common law courts… The result of his fight for the supremacy of the common law was to make English law a very much more uniform system than it would otherwise have been" (Holdsworth, 142, 146). First published (both Third and Fourth Parts) in 1644. Wing C4965, C4932. See Sweet & Maxwell, I:360, 258; Marvin, 208-09; Harvard Library Catalogue, I:414.

Upper corner of frontispiece to Third Part torn, not affecting image. Text generally clean. Some scuffing to covers, restoration to spine ends and corners. A very good early folio edition.