Dr. Bonham's Case and the Modern Significance of Lord Coke's Influence

Cognizant of the significant, yet comparatively short-lived, contribution which Lord Edward Coke made to the English society of his day and to the inadvertent, as well as permanent, effect that his theory of fundamental law and judicial review had upon the American revolutionaries and the framers of the Constitution, the scope of this article has been limited primarily to a critical examination of the raison d'etre of the noted Dr. Bonham's Case—or, that case which structured Coke's entire argument for the supremacy of the fundamental law as ensured by judicial review. It is hoped that some idea may be gleaned of the development which the general concepts of judicial review and fundamental law assumed in their original historical-legal perspective and an appreciation developed of their continuing effect in current legal thought