Edward Coke

Sir Edward Coke (pronounced "cook") (1 February 1552–3 September 1634) was an early English colonial entrepreneur and jurist whose writings on the English common law were the definitive legal texts for some 300 years.

Quotes

• The quote believed to have led to the "castle exception" of self-defence:
• "A man's house is his castle – for where shall a man be safe if it be not in his own house?"
• His famous quote about the common law:
• "Reason is the life of the law; nay, the common law itself is nothing else but reason.... The law which is perfection of reason." (First Institute)
• "The King himself should be under no man, but under God and the Law."
• "The Law is the surest sanctuary that a man can take, and the strongest fortress to protect the weakest of all; Lex est tutissima cassis."