THE JUDGES OF ENGLAND; WITH SKETCHES OF THEIR LIVES, AND MISCELLANEOUS NOTICES CONNECTED WITH THE COURTS AT WESTMINSTER, FROM THE TIME OF THE CONQUEST. BY EDWARD FOSS, F.S.A. OF THE INNER TEMPLE. VOL. VI. CONTAINING THE REIGNS OF JAMES L AND CHARLES I.; AND THE INTERREGNUM. 1603-1660. LONDON: LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, LONGMANS, & ROBERTS. The right of translation is resorted. THE JUDGES OF ENGLAND. JAMES I. Reigned 22 years and 3 days, from March 24, 1603, to March 27, 1625. SURVEY OF THE REIGN. KING JAMES was not content with merely resuming the practice adopted by some of his predecessors, of occasionally appearing in the Court of King's Bench, when the chief justice made way for him and sat at his feet'; but he even claimed and attempted to exercise a judicial power. This led to a very amusing discussion between his Majesty and the judges, in which Sir Edward Coke, having stated that it was not competent for the king to decide questions of law, the king said, "that he thought the law was founded upon reason, and that he and others had reason as well as the judges." To this Coke answered, "That true it was, that God had endowed his Majesty with excellent science and great endowments of nature, but his Majesty was not learned in the laws of his realm, and causes which concern the life, or inheritance, or goods, or fortunes of his subjects, they are not to be decided by natural reason, but by the artificial reason and judgment of law; which law is an act which requires long study and experience before that a man can State Trials, iii. 942. |