 The first dent in this stability came about in <unk> , with the Case of <unk> . James VI and I claimed that as monarch , he had a divine right to sit as a judge and interpret the common law as he saw fit . <unk> by Sir Edward Coke , the judiciary rejected this idea , stating that while the monarch was not subject to any individual , he was subject to the law . Until he had gained sufficient knowledge of the law , he had no right to interpret it ; Coke pointed out that such knowledge " demanded mastery of an artificial reason ... which requires long study and experience , before that a man can attain to the <unk> of it " . Similarly , in the Case of <unk> in 1611 , Coke held that the monarch could only exercise those prerogatives he already had , and not create new ones . 
