Sir Edward Coke
A Force for Freedom
Description:... "Coke was, as John Hostettler reminds us, "a skillful lawyer, a great Judge, an outstanding jurist, and a remarkable Parliamentary leader...who suffered imprisonment and risked his life in defence of freedom and of its essential ingredients, the principle of public trial, habeas corpus, the right to bail and against self-incrimination." Nevertheless, he had a darker side and he is, perhaps, revelaed at his worst when, for example, as Attorney-General he paid scant regard to both the law and evidence during his prosecution of Sir Walter Raleigh for treason. This account of Coke's life pulls no punches as it guides the reader from Coke's early days, through his activities while holding the highest judicial offices of state and, after his dismissal, to his time in Parliament."
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