Why did Sir Edward Coke oppose the Court of High Commission’s power to imprison people for adultery?

Sir Edward Coke’s opposition to the Court of High Commission regarding its power to imprison individuals for adultery was rooted in his staunch defense of the common law and his belief in its supremacy over ecclesiastical institutions.1

As a champion of the common law, Coke maintained that the king and his prerogative courts could not create offenses or exercise judicial powers that were not established by the common law. His resistance was part of a broader, traditional hostility between lay common-law courts and church courts. By challenging the commission's authority to impose secular penalties like imprisonment for moral offenses such as adultery, Coke sought to limit the reach of prerogative courts and uphold the principle that the common law was the supreme authority in England.12