John Cowell (jurist)

John Cowell (1554 – 11 October 1611) was an English jurist.

Born in Ernesborough (now Irishborough), Devon, he was educated at Eton, and King's College, Cambridge. In 1594 he became professor of civil law at Cambridge, and in 1598 master of Trinity Hall, Cambridge.

He died at Oxford on 11 October 1611.

In 1607, he compiled a law dictionary, The Interpreter, in which he exalted the king's prerogative; he was prosecuted before the House of Commons by Sir Edward Coke, who had a hostile history with Cowell. He was saved from imprisonment only by the interposition of James I. His book was burnt by order of the House of Commons. The suppression order read in part:

Cowell also wrote a work entitled Institutiones Juris Anglicani.

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