Researcher Resurrects Written Works that Form the Basis of Modern Law

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Monopolies, wartime laws, environmental concerns and faith-based initiatives sound like the fodder of modern-day headlines, but a British lawyer wrote extensively about all of these issues more than 400 years ago, according to University of Arkansas law professor Steve Sheppard. To help people understand the origins of current legal debates, Sheppard has resurrected the writings of Sir Edward Coke in the first anthology of his work ever published.

In "The Selected Writings of Sir Edward Coke," published by Liberty Fund, Sheppard not only presents the most significant writings of this legal scholar, but he also puts those missives in context with an introduction and a chronology of events.

"This is the history of modern law," Sheppard said. Coke's work was brought to the colonies by the pilgrims. "For centuries, the world has loved Sir Francis Bacon (Coke's contemporary). Bacon is perhaps more widely read and is thought by some to be more erudite. But he didn't change the world as much as Coke did."

Coke wrote extensively and exhaustively about the law. He defined the role of the courts in making decisions, and he was the first to announce the power of judicial review, one of the fundamental powers in the American constitution. He also developed the English notion of the Rule of Law, which states that the law protects people's rights against the state.

Coke successfully argued that the king was not above the law, even in wartime, a ruling that has modern-day implications for world leaders. His treatise on sewers became a precedent in environmental case law. And his arguments on religion formed the basis for separation of church and state.

"He's even got Bill Gates in there — he's grappling with monopolies," Sheppard said.

Coke lived in a changing world, where commerce was changing from a barter system to a cash system, a feudal, agricultural economy was giving way to commerce and trade, and England had started expanding its colonies. Legal issues sprang from these changesÑdisagreements about property, commerce, natural resources, religion and government. This background provided the context that allowed Coke to create and enact sweeping changes in law that still affect it in modern times.

Sheppard became interested in Coke while in law school and spent the past 12 years researching, compiling and translating the information for this book. He traveled to the British Library, Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard, Yale, Berkeley and Chicago to read Coke's original works, and worked with legal historians and translators to bring to life writings first penned in old English, Latin and French.

"For a modern lawyer to read this material in the original, a great deal of effort is required," Sheppard said. "The Selected Writings" offer a glimpse of Coke's immense body of work, including passages that Sheppard felt would most resonate with modern-day law professionals and students. He points out that the complete works of Coke could easily fill a dozen books with big spines and small print.

The three-volume set is $35 and is available through the Liberty Fund at http://www.libertyfund.org.