Thomas Bonham v College of Physicians, commonly known as Dr. Bonham's Case or simply Bonham's Case, was a case decided in 1610 by the Court of Common Pleas in England, under Sir Edward Coke, the court's Chief Justice, in which it was ruled that Dr. Bonham had been wrongfully imprisoned by the College of Physicians for practising medicine without a licence. Dr. Bonham's attorneys had argued that imprisonment was reserved for malpractice, not illicit practice, with Coke agreeing in the majority opinion.
The case is notable because Coke argued in the decision's rationale that "in many cases, the common law will control Acts of Parliament", the act of Parliament in question being the College of Physicians Act 1553 (1 Mar. Sess. 2. c. 9), which gave the college the right to imprison. The meaning of this phrase has been disputed over the years. According to one interpretation, Coke intended the kind of judicial review that would later develop in the United States, but other scholars believe that Coke meant only to construe a statute, not to challenge parliamentary sovereignty. If Coke intended the former, he may have later changed his view. The statement by Coke is sometimes considered to be an obiter dictum (a statement made 'by the way'), rather than part of the ratio decidendi (rationale for the decision) of the case. Parliamentary sovereignty is now the accepted judicial doctrine in the legal system of England and Wales.
Bonham's Case was met with mixed reactions at the time, with King James I and his Lord Chancellor, Lord Ellesmere, both deeply unhappy with it. In 1613 Coke was removed from the Common Pleas and sent to the King's Bench. He was suspended from duties in 1616 and in October 1617 James I demanded an explanation from Coke for this case, with Coke affirming the validity of his reasoning. Academics in the 19th and the 20th centuries have been scarcely more favourable and called it "a foolish doctrine alleged to have been laid down extra-judicially" The 1803 case Marbury v. Madison formed the basis for the exercise of judicial review in the United States, under Article III of the US Constitution, with the case having both parallels and important differences with Dr Bonham's case. Academics have used this connection to argue that Coke's views form the basis of judicial review in the United States, but there is no consensus on the issue.
Background
thumb|right|250px|A picture of [[St John's College, Cambridge, where Bonham studied, from around 1685]]
The College of Physicians (renamed in 1674 to the Royal College of Physicians) was an elite organisation. Created by royal charter in 1518, it was founded by six English academic doctors trained in English universities. It admitted only British men who had trained at a university and passed a three-part Latin exam in medical theory. Only 24 Fellows were allowed, and if an entrant came at a time when all 24 Fellowships were full, he would instead become a Candidate, the most senior Candidate being admitted to the first vacant Fellowship. An act of Parliament, the Physicians Act 1523, that confirmed the royal charter also gave the college the ability to act as a court to judge other practitioners and to punish those who were acting badly or practising without a licence. A second act, the College of Physicians Act 1553, amended the charter and gave the college the right to imprison indefinitely those judged. That "flew in the face of the common law assumption that to practice medicine one needed only the consent of the patient". Still, on 8 April 1602, John Popham, the Chief Justice, upheld the college's authority to imprison and fine: "That no man, though never so learned a Phisition, or doctor may Practise in London, or within seaven myles, without the Colledge Lycense.... That a free man of London, may lawfully be imprysoned by the Colledge".
Thomas Bonham had been admitted to St John's College, Cambridge, in 1581. Earning a bachelor's degree in 1584, he completed a master's by 1588 and studied for a medical doctorate at Cambridge, which was later granted by the University of Oxford. By 1602, he had completed his studies and moved to London, where he practised medicine and associated himself with the Barber-Surgeons' Company, campaigning for it to be allowed to authorise medical practitioners in a similar way to the College of Physicians. Apparently giving up after a failed petition to Parliament in 1605, Bonham petitioned to join the college on 6 December 1605 but was rejected and told to return after further study. Returning on 14 April 1606, he was again told he could not join and was fined £5 () and threatened with imprisonment for continuing to practise. Bonham still kept working as a doctor; on 3 October it was announced he was to be arrested and fined £10. Bonham again appeared before the college, now with a lawyer, on 7 November. He announced that he would continue to practise without seeking the college's permission, which he claimed had no power over graduates of Oxford or Cambridge. He was then imprisoned (some say at Fleet Prison, and some say at Newgate Prison) for contempt, but his lawyer had a writ of habeas corpus, issued by the Court of Common Pleas, which freed him on 13 November.
Bonham's successful writ worried the college, whose previous success with Popham and "keen cultivation" of same as well as Lord Ellesmere and other Crown officials had left them assured that their jurisdiction would be maintained. As such, the college appealed directly to the Crown officers, and on 1 May 1607, it met with a committee of judges at Ellesmere's house. The committee were Ellesmere, Popham, Thomas Fleming, two judges from the Court of Common Pleas and two from the Court of King's Bench. The judges all agreed that "for not well doeing useing or practicing the facultie or arte of physike or for disobedience or contempte donne and committed against anye ordynaunce made by the colledge... they may committ the offenders without bayle or mayneprise". That success spurred the college to move against Bonham yet again, now by suing him in the King's Bench for £60 () for maintaining an illicit practice. In a counterattack, Bonham brought a suit in the Common Pleas, requesting £100 (£) damages, and alleging that they had trespassed against his person and wrongfully imprisoned him "against the law and custom of this kingdom of England".
Case
left|thumb|200px|[[Edward Coke|Sir Edward Coke, the Chief Justice of the Common Pleas who decided in favour of Bonham]]
The case was heard in the Court of Common Pleas by Warburton J, Daniel J, Foster J, Walmisley J and the Chief Justice Sir Edward Coke, with a decision finally reached in the winter of 1610. The college's lawyers had argued that the two acts of Parliament and the royal charter "intends, that none shall practise here but those who are most learned and expert, more than ordinary". As such, the college was free to punish for both practising without a licence and for malpractice, with the 1553 act giving them the authority to imprison those they judged. Bonham's lawyers replied by arguing that the acts and charter were intended to prevent malpractice, not practising without a licence.
Moreover, Bonham's study "[in the texts at university] is practise [sic]", and to become a doctor means to be considered capable of teaching: "when a man brings with him the ensign of doctrine, there is no reason that he should be examined again, for then if thou will not allow of him, he shall not be allowed, though he is a learned and grave man, and it is not the intent of the King to make a monopoly of this practise". As such, the act "doth not inhibit a doctor to practice [sic], but [only] punisheth him for ill using, exercising, and making [of physic]". In other words, it covered malpractice, not illicit practice.
Walmisley and Foster sided with the college, with Walmisley delivering the joint opinion. He said that since the statute clearly said "no person" could practise without the college's licence, only one verdict was acceptable, as the college had a valid licensing authority. The royal charter was to be interpreted as granting the college a duty on behalf of the king:
As such, in Walmisley's mind, the king had a duty to protect the health of his subjects and had delegated it to the college. In addition, Bonham had given "an absurd and contemptuous answer" when he claimed that he would not submit to the college, and "it should be a vain law if it did not provide punishment for them that offend against that". The king had delegated part of his prerogative powers to the college, for the purposes of punishment and imprisonment, and as such, it had the right to sit as a court.
Coke delivered the majority opinion in favour of Bonham, with Daniel and Warburton agreeing. He undertook a closer reading of the college's charter and associated acts and divided the relevant passage into two clauses. One gave the power to fine practitioners without licences. The latter specified that they could imprison a practitioner for "not well doing, using or practicing physic". He argued that they constituted separate powers and issues; the former dealt with authorisation to punish for illicit practise, and the other covered punishment for malpractice. Simply practising without a licence did not constitute malpractice. As such, the college did not have the power to imprison Bonham, who was accused of practising without a licence, not of practising dangerously.
Coke also went further by arguing against the validity of the charter and its associated acts, which gave the college the right to act as both as a judge and as a party to a case, which "provided for an absurdity":