Editing Edward Coke (section)

===''Reports''===
[[File:Coke's Reports.jpg|thumb|left|The [[Book frontispiece|frontispiece]] to the first volume of ''Coke's Reports'' (1600)|alt=The front cover of Coke's Reports. In the centre, the title of the book ("Les Reports de Edward Coke") with a large subtitle. Around the outside is a collection of images centred on a pair of pillars.]]

His ''Law Reports'', known as ''Coke's Reports'', were an archive of judgments from cases he had attended, in which he had participated or about which he had been informed. They started with notes he made as a law student in the winter of 1572, with full reporting of cases from October 1579.<ref>{{Harvnb|Baker|1972|p=59}}</ref> The ''Reports'' were initially written down in seven notebooks, four of which are lost; the first notebook contains not only law reports, but also a draft version of Coke's first ''Institutes of the Lawes of England''.<ref>{{Harvnb|Baker|1972|p=61}}</ref> Coke began reporting cases in the traditional manner, by copying out and repeating cases found in earlier law reports, such as those of [[Edmund Plowden]]. After being called to the Bar in 1578 he began attending court cases at Westminster Hall, and soon drew the attention of court officials – many early reports have noted that he was told "by old Plowden" or "by [[Christopher Wray (English judge)|Wray CJ]]". The original reports were kept in a generally chronological order, interspersed with personal memos, obituaries and notes on court practices.<ref>{{Harvnb|Baker|1972|p=67}}</ref> They are not entirely chronological; during his career, Coke took note of earlier cases which had drawn his attention. These were written down with the [[plea rolls|plea roll]] reference and the year in which Coke recorded them, but later editions failed to include the plea roll reference and led to inaccuracies.<ref>{{Harvnb|Baker|1972|p=68}}</ref>

The ''Reports'' have gained significant academic acclaim; writing in the ''Cornell Law Quarterly, ''Theodore Plucknett describes them as works of "incomparable richness" with a "profound influence upon the literature, and indeed the substance, of English law".<ref>{{Harvnb|Plucknett|1942|p=190}}</ref> John Baker has described them as "perhaps the single most influential series of named reports",<ref name=bak183>{{Harvnb|Baker|2002|p=183}}</ref> and even [[Francis Bacon]], Coke's rival, wrote in praise of them, saying "Had it not been for Sir Edward Coke's Reports (which though they may have errors, and some peremptory and extrajudicial resolutions more than are warranted, yet they contain infinite good decisions and rulings over of cases), for the law by this time had been almost like a ship without ballast; for that the cases of modern experience are fled from those that are adjudged and ruled in former time".<ref>{{Harvnb|Coquillette|1992|p=108}}</ref>

Although loaned to friends and family, and therefore in slight public circulation, Coke's ''Reports'' were never formally used during his lifetime. Select cases were published in 1600, containing the most famous of his decisions and pleadings, while the second volume in 1602 was more chronological in nature.<ref>{{Harvnb|Baker|1972|p=72}}</ref> The third part, published in the same year, was also chronological, while the fourth, published in 1604, was arranged by subject. The fifth part, published in 1605, is arranged similarly, as is the sixth, published in 1607.<ref>{{Harvnb|Baker|1972|p=73}}</ref> Five more volumes were published until 1615, but Coke died before he could publish a single-bound copy. No trace has been found of the draft manuscript.<ref>{{Harvnb|Baker|1972|p=75}}</ref>

Some academics have questioned the accuracy of the ''Reports''. Coke's famous ''Case of Proclamations'', and his speech there, was first brought into the public consciousness through its inclusion in Volume&nbsp;12 of his ''Reports'', and Roland G. Usher, writing in the ''[[English Historical Review]]'', notes that "Certain manuscripts at Hatfield House and elsewhere seem to throw some doubt upon this famous account of a famous interview".<ref>{{Harvnb|Usher|1903|p=664}}</ref> One of the reasons given for possible inaccuracies in the later volumes of the ''Reports'' is that they were published posthumously. In July 1634, officials acting on the order of the King had seized Coke's papers, but a 1641 motion in the House of Commons restored the extant papers to Coke's eldest son. The twelfth and thirteenth volumes of the reports were based on fragments of notes several decades old, not on Coke's original manuscript.<ref>{{Harvnb|Usher|1903|p=665}}</ref>