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COWEL

Volume 5 · 121 words · 1797 Edition

(Dr John), a learned and eminent civilian, born about the year 1554. In 1607 he compiled a Law Dictionary, which gave great offence to Sir Edward Coke and the common lawyers: so that they first accused him to James I, as asserting that the king's prerogative was in some cases limited; and when they failed in that attempt, they complained of him to the house of commons, as a betrayer of the rights of the people, by asserting that the king was not bound by the laws; for which he was committed to custody, and his book publicly burnt. He also published Institutiones Juris Anglicani, in the manner of Justinian's Institutes; and died of the operation for the stone, in 1611.