Edward Coke,
The First Part of the Institutes of the Laws of England
(London: John More, 1629).

Edward Coke’s Institutes of the Laws of England had a profound impact on English legal and political life. The work remains one of the great treatises on historical English law, showcasing Coke’s wide, if sometimes wandering, erudition. The most popular volume of the Institutes, showcased here, contains Coke’s commentary on Littleton’s Tenures, the first significant treatise on English property law.

When first printed in 1628, Coke (1552-1634) was a doyen of English law and a champion to those who sought to protect English rights against the prerogative powers of King Charles I. Coke had served as Attorney General, judge of Common Pleas and King’s Bench, and, after being sacked as a judge, served as architect of the Petition of Right, a landmark document in England’s constitutional tradition.

This copy of the First Part of the Institutes is the second edition, corrected by Coke and preferred by contemporaries. It is notable not only for its remarkable frontispiece of Coke by John Payne (1607-1647), one of the best engravers of the day, but also for engravings of Thomas Littleton and a second engraving of Coke made by Thomas Ryder (1746- 1810), which was added later to our copy.