e became Chief-Justice of
the Common Pleas, in which capacity he maintained the independence of
the Law Courts against ecclesiastical interference. He likewise offered
a resolute opposition to the King's claim to place impositions on
imported merchandise, and to regulate by proclamation such matters as
the erection of new buildings in London and the manufacture of starch
from wheat. In 1613 Coke, much against his will, was promoted, on
Bacon's advice, to the post of Chief-Justice of the King's Bench, where,
though his dignity was greater, his profits were less, and he was less
likely to have opportunity for opposing the King's measures. At the same
time he was made a Privy Councillor. His opposition to the power of the
Chancellor to exercise his equitable jurisdiction by injunction, and to
the King's power to grant commendams proved less successful than his
former measures; and what was considered his excess of zeal in inquiring
into the murder of Sir Thomas Overbury, his opposition to the growth of
the powers of the Ecclesiastical Commission and the Star Chamber, and no
doubt other less public matters, led to his being deprived of his office
on the 5th of November 1616. After his dismissal he became engaged in a
most undignified quarrel with his wife as to whether their daughter
should marry Buckingham's elder brother, which she eventually did. In
1617 he was recalled to the Council, and occasionally judicially
employed. In 1621 he re-entered the House of Commons, and took up the
popular side in resisting monopolies and other abuses. He was engaged in
drawing up the charges against Bacon in the same year. He drew up the
'Protestation' affirming the privileges of Parliament in December 1621,
and was committed to the Tower in consequence. He was released in August
1622, but remained in a kind of qualified confinement. He resisted an
attempt by James to exclude him from the 1624 Parliament by sending him
on a commission to Ireland, and though he continued in opposition
contrived to reconcile himself to the King to some extent. He opposed
Charles's demands for money in his first two parliaments and drafted the
Petition of Right, and made his final appearance in the debate on the
Grand Remonstrance (1628), when he openly accused Buckingham as being
the cause of the misfortunes of the country.

[12] _Post_, p. 45.

[13] Andrews (1555-1626) was appointed to the living of St. Giles,
Cripplegate, in 1589, through Walsingham's