Chapter 29 of Magna Carta: Two Interpretations of Edward Coke

Abstract

This article considers the evolution of the perception of Chapter 29 of 1215 Magna Carta in pre-revolutionary England. The author refers to two texts written by Edward Coke, an eminent lawyer, Chief Justice of England (1612–1616), in 1604 (the first text), when he held the position of attorney general, committed to represent the interests of the crown and protect them in the courts of law, and in the late 1620s (the second text), when he became one of the most resolute critics of the royal policy. Analysis of Edward Coke’s Memorandum on Chapter 29 (1604) and his treatise Magna Carta (the late 1620s) depicts that at the end of the 1620s, Coke’s interpretation of Chapter 29 of Magna Carta was significantly adjusted and Chapter 29 itself was filled with new meaning. In 1604, even though the lawyer wrote about the “due process of law” and legal guarantees of personal freedom and property in Chapter 29, he made such reservations which turned his statements rather into declarations, allowing the authorities to carry out arrests, without reference to Magna Carta . In the late 1620s, Edward Coke’s interpretations significantly changed. He started treating the practices of arbitrary arrests ‘by special command of the King’, etc. as illegal. He insisted on the “due process of law”, strict enforcement of Chapter 29 of Magna Carta , prohibiting imprisonments without causes, litigations without answers, restrictions in trade by monopolies, financial tributes, property seizures, and even sending subjects to serve abroad without their consent.