Top 50 Edward Coke Quotes (2025 Update)

1. “Precaution is better than a cure.”

— Edward Coke

2. “For a man’s house is his castle.”

— Edward Coke

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

— Edward Coke

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

— Edward Coke

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

— Edward Coke

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

— Edward Coke

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

— Edward Coke

8. “The gladsome light of jurisprudence.”

— Edward Coke

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

— Edward Coke

10. “Things are worth what they will fetch at a sale.”

— Edward Coke

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

— Edward Coke

12. “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.”

— Edward Coke

13. “Though the bribe be small, yet the fault is great.”

— Edward Coke

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

— Edward Coke

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

— Edward Coke

16. “A corporation has no soul.”

— Edward Coke

17. “The cause ceasing, the effect ceases also.”

— Edward Coke

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

— Edward Coke

19. “So use your own property as not to injure that of another.”

— Edward Coke

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

— Edward Coke

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

— Edward Coke

22. “None shall take advantage of his own wrong.”

— Edward Coke

23. “Law is the safest helmet.”

— Edward Coke

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

— Edward Coke

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

— Edward Coke

26. “Certainty is the mother of quiet and repose, and uncertainty the cause of variance and contentions.”

— Edward Coke

27. “Don’t quote the distinction, for the honour of my lord Coke.”

— Edward Coke

28. “Force ought to follow justice and not to precede.”

— Edward Coke

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

— Edward Coke

30. “Success in crime always invites to worse deeds.”

— Edward Coke

31. “One threatens the innocent who spares the guilty.”

— Edward Coke

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

— Edward Coke

33. “Common law is common right.”

— Edward Coke

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

— Edward Coke

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

— Edward Coke

36. “It is the worst oppression, that is done by colour of justice.”

— Edward Coke

37. “Where there are many counsellors there is safety.”

— Edward Coke

38. “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.”

— Edward Coke

39. “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.”

— Edward Coke

40. “Magna Charta is such a fellow, that he will have no sovereign.”

— Edward Coke

41. “He is not cheated who knows he is being cheated.”

— Edward Coke

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

— Edward Coke

43. “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.”

— Edward Coke

44. “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.”

— Edward Coke

45. “Reason is the life of the law.”

— Edward Coke

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

— Edward Coke

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

— Edward Coke

48. “Everyone thirsteth after gaine.”

— Edward Coke

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

— Edward Coke

50. “We should speak as the populace but think as the learned.”

— Edward Coke