'For students and scholars of legal history with at best only a passing interest in Coke, the real value of the book lies in its nature as a case study that illustrates a much deeper challenge to a number of interpretive angles that have tended to govern debates in English political history. Refreshingly, Smith's argument defies the binary terms of liberty and royal prerogative that have structured so many readings of English legal and constitutional history.' Sebastian Sobecki, Journal of British Studies
1. Introduction; 2. Uncertainty and the reformation of the laws; 3. 'The most dangerous oppressor': the misuse of the law; 4. Confidence and corruption: the law in the Fens; 5. Identity and narratives of the past; 6. Reason and reform; 7. Pragmatism and the High Commission; 8. Chancery, reform, and the limits of cooperation; 9. Delegation and moral kingship; 10. Conclusion.