A Study On Edward Coke's Activities Of Constitutionalism

Britain is such a distinctive country that features both a conservative and traditional nation but actually taking a leading role in the course of world modernization.Edward Coke,a British Chief Justice of the 17 th century,gives a full play of that advanced trend.Since the founding of Tudor,the monarchy has weakened by the power of monarchy and religious reform,getting rid of the dispersed power in Middle Ages,rising to be a modern state with its own sovereignty,steering Britain in the right track of modern era.Consequently,Britain enables to become an inseparable part of Europe in the 16 th century,achieving unprecedented development and prosperity.However,after the establishment of Tudor,the monarchy blocked the country to move forward and failed to respond to the demand of the social system of that time.In the early days of the Stuart Dynasty,in order to uphold its own power,the monarchy,despite the main trend,still pursuing the feudalism,stood on the opposite of the history of England.Therefore,Edward Coke becomes the turning point of British history.As the judge of the Court of King's Bench,Edward Coke actively participated in the activities involving the relationship between the law and the monarchy in the following three aspects.Firstly,Coke,as the Chief Justice of the throne,unswervingly fights against the absolute monarchy in many cases engaging the role of the King.Coke is bold to have confrontation with King James in order to defend the rights of individual in accordance with the traditional common law.Secondly,Coke devotes himself to work out the Institutes of the Laws of England,to reinterpret the Magna Carta,to constrain the power of monarchy under the Magna Carta that follows the rule of "king under law";Last but not least,Coke was active in Parliament after his removal of Chief Justice.With the help of Coke,the monarchy signed the the Petition of Right,which further speeding up British revolution.Coke's constitutional activities exerts significant influence on he development of England.In the 17 th century,there are many regions out of European still persisting in the Middle Ages before the establishment of a sovereign country.While Britain strengthened its national system and achieved the delegation of the power of Monarchy to the masses by shaking the feudal autocracy,which ranking a leading role in the history of the world.At the same time,with such a huge political reform,it did not occur any social unrest that the French did,greatly lowering thecosts of social political revolution."Rule of law",a revolutionary philosophy,plays a vital role in the course of political change.Theoretically,with the participation and guidance of Edward Coke,Britain manages to take a leading role in the world stage by resuming its traditional political system and pursuing the rule of law,giving expression to the advancement and conservation of the nature of modern British history.