Edward Coke Quotations

The home to everyone is to him his castle and fortress, as well for his defence against injury and violence, as for his repose.

Things are worth what they will fetch at a sale

You should trust any man in his own art provided he is skilled in it.

Magna Charta is such a fellow, that he will have no sovereign

Though the bribe be small, yet the fault is great.

One threatens the innocent who spares the guilty.

Certainty is the mother of quiet and repose, and uncertainty the cause of variance and contentions

Reason is the life of the law; nay, the common law itself is nothing else but reasonThe law, which is perfection of reason.

So use your own property as not to injure that of another

Corporations cannot commit treason, nor be outlawed, nor excommunicated, for they have no souls.

Where there are many counsellors there is safety.

Those who consent to the act and those who do it shall be equally punished.

How long soever it hath continued, if it be against reason, it is of no force in law.

Success in crime always invites to worse deeds

We have a maxim in the House of Commons, and written on the walls of our houses, that old ways are the safest and surest ways.

It is not easy to make a simile go on all-fours.

Don't quote the distinction, for the honour of my lord Coke.

The gladsome light of jurisprudence.

We have a saying in the House of Commons; that old ways are the safest and surest ways.

Law is the safest helmet.

Common law is common right.

Every libel, which is called famosus libellus, is made either against a private man, or against a public person. If it be against a private man, it deserves a severe punishment.

It is a fiction, a shade, a nonentity, but a reality for legal purposes. A corporation aggregate is only in abstracto—it is invisible, immortal, and rests only in intendment and consideration of the law.

There is no jewel in the world comparable to learning; no learning so excellent as knowledge of laws.

Force ought to follow justice and not to precede.

A witch is a person who hath conference with the Devil to consult with him or to do some act.

The law compells no man to impossible things. The argument ab impossibili is forcible in law.

Everyone thirsteth after gaine.

A corporation has no soul.

Reason is the life of the law.

Trial by jury is a wise distribution of power which exceeds all other modes of trial.

It is the worst oppression, that is done by colour of justice

The agreement of the parties cannot make that good which the law maketh void.

That Francis Bacon retains his reputation gained, is not strange to any that knows him. The unusual words wherewith he had spangled his speech, were rather gracious for their propriety than strange for their novelty, and like to serve both for occasions to report and means to remember his argument. Certain sentences of his , somewhat obscure, and as it were presuming upon their capacities will, I fear, make some of them rather admire than commend him. In sum, all is as well as words can make it, and if it please Her Majesty to add deeds, the Bacon may be too hard for the Cook.

For when the law doth give any thing to one, it giveth impliedly whatsoever is necessary for the taking and enjoying of the same.

The law doth never enforce a man to doe a vaine thing.

Precaution is better than a cure.

For a man's house is his castle, et domus sua cuique tutissimum refugium [and one's home is the safest refuge to everyone].

The King himself should be under no man, but under God and the Law.

The cause ceasing, the effect ceases also

And the law, that is the perfection of reason, cannot suffer anything that is inconvenient.

It is better, saith the law, to suffer a mischief that is peculiar to one, than an inconvenience that may prejudice many.

There must have been good grounds for belief in witchcraft; otherwise Parliament would not have legislated against it.

The Law ... is perfection of reason.

None shall take advantage of his own wrong.

A thing which is not in esse but in apparent expectancy is regarded in law.

There is no jewel in the world comparable to learning; no learning so excellent both for Prince and subject, as knowledge of laws; and no knowledge of any laws so necessary for all estates and for all causes, concerning goods, lands or life, as the common laws of England.

Fraud and deceit abound in these days more than in former times.

There be three kinds of unhappie men. 1. Qui scit & non docet, Hee that hath knowledge and teacheth not. 2. Qui docet & non vivit, He that teacheth, and liveth not thereafter. 3. Qui nescit, & non interrogat, He that knoweth not, and doth not enquire to understand.

So as grave and learned men may doubt, without any imputation to them; for the most learned doubteth most, and the more ignorant for the most part are the more bold and peremptory.

In the meane time know this, that the learning of warranties is one of the most curious and cunning learnings of the law, and of great use and consequence.

A word must become a friend or you will not understand it. Perhaps you do well to be cool and detached when you are seeking information, but I remind you of the wife who complained, 'When I ask John if he loves me, he thinks I am asking for information'.

The Common lawes of the Realme should by no means be delayed for the law is the surest sanctuary, that a man should take, and the strongest fortresse to protect the weakest of all, lex et tutissima cassis.

Six hours in sleep, in law's grave study six,Four spend in prayer, the rest on Nature fix.

We should speak as the populace but think as the learned.

For a man's house is his castle.

Let us now peruse our ancient authors, for out of the old fields must come the new corn.

The house of every one is to him as his castle.

The law of the realm cannot be changed but by Parliament.

He is not cheated who knows he is being cheated.

No man can be a compleat Lawyer by universalitie of knowledge without experience in particular cases, nor by bare experience without universalitie of knowledge; he must be both speculative & active, for the science of the laws, I assure you, must joyne hands with experience.