Case of Proclamations

James I, wanted to regulate traffic in London and regulate the trade of commodities such as starch, referring the question to Coke in the hope that Coke would affirm his executive right to do so. Coke said that although the king could require his subjects to obey the law, he couldn’t make any new laws by proclamation, nor change the existing common law by proclamation. To do so he would require parliament’s approval. “[T]he Law of England is divided into three parts: Common Law, Statute Law, and Custom; But the King's Proclamation is none of them."